Atlantic Region - 2019-20

[Scrub]

National Rankings:

5. IUP
24. Ship

Receiving Votes:
WLU (15)
Charleston (6)
UPJ (6)

Notes:
--Ship finally cracks the Top-25 (much deserved).
--IUP inching up the big board to #5 (getting the least respect of all the 1-loss teams in the country though).
--Charleston chokes on that #21 ranking and falls out.
--West Chester is in the wind.
--Bellarmine's 2-loss week sends them to #8.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

National Rankings:

5. IUP
24. Ship

Receiving Votes:
WLU (15)
Charleston (6)
UPJ (6)

Notes:
--Ship finally cracks the Top-25 (much deserved).
--IUP inching up the big board to #5 (getting the least respect of all the 1-loss teams in the country though).
--Charleston chokes on that #21 ranking and falls out.
--West Chester is in the wind.
--Bellarmine's 2-loss week sends them to #8.

Ship was actually ranked No. 25 earlier in the year but fell out after one week.

For IUP to be where they are with what they've gone through is quite an accomplishment. Very few teams could sustain the losses they've had and still be functioning at a high level.

[jrshooter]

To a degree, Ship is still paying for the losses to Virginia State and Fairmont. Which is to be expected. The cross-league games are a favored means of comparison.

[Ship69]

Ship was actually ranked No. 25 earlier in the year but fell out after one week.

For IUP to be where they are with what they've gone through is quite an accomplishment. Very few teams could sustain the losses they've had and still be functioning at a high level.

It seems to be a combination of IUP probably having more quality depth than other teams in the league, plus perhaps the league being a little down this season. Ship has a good team, but I certainly wasn't expecting a 12-1 PSAC record at this point in the season.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It seems to be a combination of IUP probably having more quality depth than other teams in the league, plus perhaps the league being a little down this season. Ship has a good team, but I certainly wasn't expecting a 12-1 PSAC record at this point in the season.

You could say everybody is down. The MEC has no ranked teams. That never happens. The CIAA best team has 6 losses.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

WBCA Women's Top 25

5. IUP
10. Virginia Union


Dropped out: Notre Dame

Votes: Notre Dame, Bowie State

[Ship69]

You could say everybody is down. The MEC has no ranked teams. That never happens. The CIAA best team has 6 losses.

It's been a weird year. As jrshooter said in a post a few days back, I feel Ship can beat anybody if they're shooting well and lose to almost anyone in the league if they're not. The 3s that weren't falling at the beginning of the year have been falling lately, which is a prime reason they've been on a hot streak. That, and they go to the boards well, hit FTs, and play good defense most nights. Even though they handled Bloom and Kutztown at home, I worry some about those road games as both those teams have enough offensive weapons to pull the upset if Ship has an off shooting night. Millersville also has been a tough place for them over the years. Tonight's game at Shepherd will be a tough rivalry game. The Rams actually beat Ship at home last year with a so-so team. I'm very glad for the four-game cushion right now.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It's been a weird year. As jrshooter said in a post a few days back, I feel Ship can beat anybody if they're shooting well and lose to almost anyone in the league if they're not. The 3s that weren't falling at the beginning of the year have been falling lately, which is a prime reason they've been on a hot streak. That, and they go to the boards well, hit FTs, and play good defense most nights. Even though they handled Bloom and Kutztown at home, I worry some about those road games as both those teams have enough offensive weapons to pull the upset if Ship has an off shooting night. Millersville also has been a tough place for them over the years. Tonight's game at Shepherd will be a tough rivalry game. The Rams actually beat Ship at home last year with a so-so team. I'm very glad for the four-game cushion right now.

I'm not really buying in to the 'PSAC is down' notion that's been on the board a lot this year. Top to bottom, I actually think the league is stronger. There are more 'good' teams which is causing mass parity in the standings. The East, minus Ship's record, is just a jumbled mess.

This year's West has three strong teams in IUP, UPJ and California. Slippery Rock is an extremely tough out now that Till has rounded in to shape and has his timing back. They are getting better with each game. Gannon and Mercyhurst aren't easy to play. Granted, Edinboro, SH and Clarion aren't very good. Edinboro just didn't have the depth to sustain its star going down.

When all the actual metrics go together, don't be shocked if the Regional Rankings have three West teams in the Top 10. That does't happen very often. Cal is 13-6 but doesn't have a bad loss, per se. They've lost to Charleston (neutral), at Ship, at IUP, at West Chester, UPJ and Bowie State (neutral). The Vulcans are going to grade out well in the metrics so long as they keep it up. The other side of Cal's argument, however, is they don't have many (any) signature wins. The win at SRU will grow in value if the Rock goes on a run (which I suspect). Cal did win at Glenville State.

In my opinion, the West is vastly stronger this year than it was a year ago.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

National Rankings:

5. IUP
24. Ship

Receiving Votes:
WLU (15)
Charleston (6)
UPJ (6)

Notes:
--Ship finally cracks the Top-25 (much deserved).
--IUP inching up the big board to #5 (getting the least respect of all the 1-loss teams in the country though).
--Charleston chokes on that #21 ranking and falls out.
--West Chester is in the wind.
--Bellarmine's 2-loss week sends them to #8.

For comparison sake, the other national poll is the D2SIDA. This week it has:

4. IUP (1)
7. Nova Southeastern
15. Jefferson (PA)
16. Shippensburg

Votes: West Liberty, Charleston

Notes: I included Nova for our Church of Crutch parishioners in WV.

[Scrub]

I'm not really buying in to the 'PSAC is down' notion that's been on the board a lot this year. Top to bottom, I actually think the league is stronger. There are more 'good' teams which is causing mass parity in the standings. The East, minus Ship's record, is just a jumbled mess.

This year's West has three strong teams in IUP, UPJ and California. Slippery Rock is an extremely tough out now that Till has rounded in to shape and has his timing back. They are getting better with each game. Gannon and Mercyhurst aren't easy to play. Granted, Edinboro, SH and Clarion aren't very good. Edinboro just didn't have the depth to sustain its star going down.

When all the actual metrics go together, don't be shocked if the Regional Rankings have three West teams in the Top 10. That does't happen very often. Cal is 13-6 but doesn't have a bad loss, per se. They've lost to Charleston (neutral), at Ship, at IUP, at West Chester, UPJ and Bowie State (neutral). The Vulcans are going to grade out well in the metrics so long as they keep it up. The other side of Cal's argument, however, is they don't have many (any) signature wins. The win at SRU will grow in value if the Rock goes on a run (which I suspect). Cal did win at Glenville State.

In my opinion, the West is vastly stronger this year than it was a year ago.

But the downside is that having bunch of "good" teams (and fewer stellar teams) makes it that much harder to acquire your signature wins. Is Ship's win against Bloom a "signature win"? I doubt it. But Bloom is a "good" team. Unfortunately, seeding committees are probably not likely to be impressed by Ship beating a "good" Bloom team . . . that they're supposed to beat.

The story of the PSAC East is the same story here in the MEC. Plenty of "good" teams (UC, WLU, Glenville, WVSU, Fairmont, and maybe even Wheeling). But it just doesn't feel like WLU's wins against, say, Glenville, WVSU, or Wheeling (despite those being "good" teams) are earning them a bump in stock.

At least in the days of a stellar Fairmont or Wheeling team, you knew you were getting a bump in stock if you pulled out those wins. Instead, the scenario is that you're having to work harder than normal this year to beat a WVSU (or a Bloom) but potentially getting the same benefit out of the win (i.e., the committee seeing you beat a team you were supposed to beat).

In short, a bunch of "good" teams is good for the league's regular season, but it makes tourney time more of a crap shoot (which is much more stressful for fans of blue blood teams to live with).

[jrshooter]

But the downside is that having bunch of "good" teams (and fewer stellar teams) makes it that much harder to acquire your signature wins. Is Ship's win against Bloom a "signature win"? I doubt it. But Bloom is a "good" team. Unfortunately, seeding committees are probably not likely to be impressed by Ship beating a "good" Bloom team . . . that they're supposed to beat.

The story of the PSAC East is the same story here in the MEC. Plenty of "good" teams (UC, WLU, Glenville, WVSU, Fairmont, and maybe even Wheeling). But it just doesn't feel like WLU's wins against, say, Glenville, WVSU, or Wheeling (despite those being "good" teams) are earning them a bump in stock.

At least in the days of a stellar Fairmont or Wheeling team, you knew you were getting a bump in stock if you pulled out those wins. Instead, the scenario is that you're having to work harder than normal this year to beat a WVSU (or a Bloom) but potentially getting the same benefit out of the win (i.e., the committee seeing you beat a team you were supposed to beat).

In short, a bunch of "good" teams is good for the league's regular season, but it makes tourney time more of a crap shoot (which is much more stressful for fans of blue blood teams to live with).

Which is exactly why you have to treat those cross-conference games like they're valued treasure. If, say, East Stroudsburg knocks off West Liberty, I believe a pollster extrapolates that to mean that any PSAC team that would beat ESU might be better than West Liberty. If East Stroudsburg knocks off West Chester, the same pollster says, "So what does that mean?"

[Scrub]

Which is exactly why you have to treat those cross-conference games like they're valued treasure.

Which might explain why Howlett felt the need to schedule games like Shaw & Daemen.

Enter stage left, Boat. (Let's see if he takes the bait). ; )

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Which might explain why Howlett felt the need to schedule games like Shaw & Daemen.

Enter stage left, Boat. (Let's see if he takes the bait). ; )

Shaw is 4-17

That one didn't work out this year.

[Scrub]

Shaw is 4-17

That one didn't work out this year.

Nope. When you do your schedule in advance of a season, I assume you try to find programs that historically put a good product on the court. Shaw fits that category. But this is a pretty down year for those guys.

[Ship69]

I'm not really buying in to the 'PSAC is down' notion that's been on the board a lot this year. Top to bottom, I actually think the league is stronger. There are more 'good' teams which is causing mass parity in the standings. The East, minus Ship's record, is just a jumbled mess.

This year's West has three strong teams in IUP, UPJ and California. Slippery Rock is an extremely tough out now that Till has rounded in to shape and has his timing back. They are getting better with each game. Gannon and Mercyhurst aren't easy to play. Granted, Edinboro, SH and Clarion aren't very good. Edinboro just didn't have the depth to sustain its star going down.

When all the actual metrics go together, don't be shocked if the Regional Rankings have three West teams in the Top 10. That does't happen very often. Cal is 13-6 but doesn't have a bad loss, per se. They've lost to Charleston (neutral), at Ship, at IUP, at West Chester, UPJ and Bowie State (neutral). The Vulcans are going to grade out well in the metrics so long as they keep it up. The other side of Cal's argument, however, is they don't have many (any) signature wins. The win at SRU will grow in value if the Rock goes on a run (which I suspect). Cal did win at Glenville State.

In my opinion, the West is vastly stronger this year than it was a year ago.

You see more of the West than I do. I've definitely seen the East better than it has been so far this season. What I've seen is a lot of good offense-no defense, or mediocre offense,-decent defense in the East so far. I think Ship is ahead so far because the Raiders do pretty well on both sides of the ball.