For all you NCAA hoops experts.......

[S2M]

Explain to me how UNC has lost 4 games and is STILL ranked #9 in the nation.

WTF?

[Red13JoePa]

Explain to me how UNC has lost 4 games and is STILL ranked #9 in the nation.

WTF?

Brutal BRUTAL force-feeding by the voters of their agendas to prove why they were right in the fist place.
See Oklahoma, University of in college football.

[S2M]

IMHO - there should be NO OOC games.....extend conference play, and invite more teams to the dance. OOC games are sad. Duke is 12-1, and has played absolutely nobody of any strength. What a joke. Although I must say that year after year Duke is ranked no lower than 10th in Strength of Schedule....

Give me 4 games against UNC, 4 games against the Terps, and another 4 games against BC.....fuck the Fairfields and Troy States of the world!

[kgdjpubs]

Explain to me how UNC has lost 4 games and is STILL ranked #9 in the nation.

WTF?

It probably has a lot to do with the general state of college basketball than UNC in particular, though I will admit they looked AWFUL last night--due to sloppy play, cold-as-ice shooting and 2 big injuries. With a full and healthy team, they have--at times--looked quite dangerous for short stretches. They were absolutely dismantling Michigan State at the end of the 1st half, pulled quite a comeback against Kentucky (but couldn't pull it off), and held their own in the first half quite well against Syracuse---until falling apart completely at the start of the 2nd half when Syracuse got REALLY hot.

The ratings issue has more to do with WHO they have played more than the losses. Lost to Syracuse (who is ranked pretty high), Kentucky (ranked high), Texas (ranked high), and College of Charleston (which I'll skip, but 14 made 3pt shots by COC had a lot to do with it).

Ginyard is the key to whether UNC does well this year. He's the leader and lock-down defender of the team. He's been out the last 2 games, and without him, they have looked awful. Losing Graves (another 3pt threat), and being cold as ice last night didn't help. With Ginyard healthy, they will probably make 1st or 2nd round of NCAA (maybe Sweet 16 as an outside stretch depending on matchups and how well they gell and when they peak). With Ginyard out, they may not make NCAA. It's that simple.

They are talented enough when healthy to compete with anyone. They are young and inexperienced enough to lose to anyone. They shouldn't be ranked at #9 right now, but the ratings have more to do with how often you lose more than WHO you play. For example, I'm not sure Kentucky deserves their ranking when the only teams they have played are UConn, UNC (who almost took them out), and Stanford (who they needed OT to beat)---and let's not discuss the Louisville slugfest which did nothing but give a black eye to both programs.

Duke looks good, but the only real test so far has been Wisconsin--and they lost that one.
Kansas looks good...but who have they played that would test them? Temple doesn't count.
Same with many other teams.

At best, the rating system isn't perfect...but it's not UNC's fault for it.

[Ehwmatt]

IMHO - there should be NO OOC games.....extend conference play, and invite more teams to the dance. OOC games are sad. Duke is 12-1, and has played absolutely nobody of any strength. What a joke. Although I must say that year after year Duke is ranked no lower than 10th in Strength of Schedule....

Give me 4 games against UNC, 4 games against the Terps, and another 4 games against BC.....fuck the Fairfields and Troy States of the world!

I went to Fairfield for a year Basketball games were a blast.

I just haven't watched regular season college ball other than catcing a game when nothing is on in a few seasons just because the talent is way down. NBA or Europe/wherever else snatches all these guys up quick. I still love March Madness, but for me, the last season that was exciting and featured many nationally renowned players was 05-06. That was a really fun year, especially George Mason's run in the tourney.

[Hollywood]

IMHO - there should be NO OOC games.....extend conference play, and invite more teams to the dance. OOC games are sad. Duke is 12-1, and has played absolutely nobody of any strength. What a joke. Although I must say that year after year Duke is ranked no lower than 10th in Strength of Schedule....

Give me 4 games against UNC, 4 games against the Terps, and another 4 games against BC.....fuck the Fairfields and Troy States of the world!

You are kidding right? I am a UNLV fan and do not like them, but Duke played at Wisconsin and lost. They also played Gonzaga (neutral), St Johns, UConn, and just beat Clemson. They played a tough enough schedule. It could have been tougher, but they destroyed Gonzaga. I would like to see more than one road game on their non-conference schedule though.

UNC was #9 before that loss. They will fall mightily next week. Loss to an unranked and not very good team. Charleston finished 7th in an 8 team tournament 2 weeks ago.

[kgdjpubs]

UNC was #9 before that loss. They will fall mightily next week. Loss to an unranked and not very good team. Charleston finished 7th in an 8 team tournament 2 weeks ago.

Probably. Giving COC its due credit, it they can make 13 3pt shots, they will give plenty of teams in the conference fits this year. They shouldn't have been in the position to win that game (and UNC shooting something like 36% for the game had a lot to do with it), but give them their due. If they play like they did the other night, they will do better than you think.

Looking at their Yahoo schedule page, I only see 3 conference games listed so far and they won all of those (ie 3-0 in conference). Since it's not listed, who did they lose to in that tournament??

[Hollywood]

The Diamond Head Classic Featured USC, UNLV, St. Mary's, and Hawaii. They lost to Hawaii, and Western Michigan. The beat SMU by one to stay out of the 8th spot. USC won the tournament. To put it in perspective they played the 4th best team and down in that tournament and did not do very well.

In conference they have beaten Davidson (7-8), Georgia Souther (3-12), and UNC Greensboro (2-11). Nothing to be pround of yet. This league will get one bid this year and will have to overcome Western Carolina to odds on favorite. Maybe two if Western Carolina tears up the league and loses in the conference tourney finals.