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Not very much changed in the composite rankings, 15 teams! had no change in ranking. Which that's expected I guess when the only minor upset is Florida Tech beats West Florida - which actually removed West Florida all together from the composite. The only other top 25 team to loose was OH Dominican but they lost to a team, Tiffin, that was ranked higher anyway. A third minor surprise could be argued when Morehouse won at Benedict basically securing Morehouse as the SIAC champ. So the only interesting things in the composite are minor - Tarleton and Grand Valley swapped places of 5th and 7th for some reason; and Lenoir-Rhyne getting a big boost up 8 spots having reeled off 7 straight wins. Oh, and despite the valiant effort by S&T fans in last week's post, MO S&T like West Florida fell out of the rankings. This week's newcomers California (PA) (again) and Hillsdale, making SR1 a crowded field.
I'll add this about the rankings because MIAA is certainly over represented and it's due to the Massey ratings so I got a reply by Mr. Massey on twitter (i don't know how to embed) so his answer to how silo scheduling messes with conferences in D2 in his rankings was
"Makes rating those conferences very unstable. Just have to go on previous years' playoff results. I don't go to a lot of trouble to do it well."
So there you have it, if you like looking at Massey ratings; I'll let people ponder in the comments how that impacts the computer rankings.
So let's get into some of the fun quirks of regional rankings (disclosure - I'm doing this as a fun exercise being a fan of D2, I know the real rankings have real rules that will be followed - play along please)
SR1 - I jostled my top 7 teams around a bit again; West Chester and Kutztown battle for #1 in the region this weekend! I've watched a lot of Notre Dame this year because of Jaleel McLaughlin, and they've had some very close calls even with the best player in the nation who might be hurt; so no way I put them #1.
SR2 - here we go in some interesting scenarios. Morehouse as I've had in the rankings for a while, beat Benedict. Morehouse lost to Albany earlier which at the time I thought was bad but Albany is likely to finish 8-3, so not bad. Somebody will have to tell me for sure that SIAC has earned access, for some reason I thought they may not. Fayetteville St., I put them in so I could talk about their situation (and they technically lead the CIAA). They had two games cancelled due to the hurricane earlier in the year so they only have 8 games on the schedule now, so as we've discussed with Ferris that would be the minimum games to compete so they are in a tight spot. However, the CIAA plays a championship game so assuming Fayetteville finishes 7-1 they should get to the champ game for game #9. And I still have West Florida in the playoffs as the GSC deserves 4 teams more than any conference.
SR3 - Fort Hays and Pitt St. are lame horses trying desperately to finish the race. If either gets to 9-2 they'll limp into that 7th stall grateful for the chance. I know Harding lost to S Arkansas but I just like Harding better and that will sort itself out as well. And then there's Ferris, who we all sit and ponder how they are going to get out of a jam, have games cancelled/nullified and yet still get the glass slipper to the dance; as long as we know the slipper hasn't shattered they are the belle of the ball.
SR4 - I don't know how MN St. can be #1 in two polls and Duluth 5th and 6th in those polls and Duluth gets top seed, so I got MN St as the top. Tarleton is certainly making a bid for that spot, again not sure how you can put 3 LSC teams in, Tarleton having beaten two teams then in the regional already and not be the top team. Then again as you can see I don't think Commerce should be in anyway and Central Washington should.
I'll add this about the rankings because MIAA is certainly over represented and it's due to the Massey ratings so I got a reply by Mr. Massey on twitter (i don't know how to embed) so his answer to how silo scheduling messes with conferences in D2 in his rankings was
"Makes rating those conferences very unstable. Just have to go on previous years' playoff results. I don't go to a lot of trouble to do it well."
So there you have it, if you like looking at Massey ratings; I'll let people ponder in the comments how that impacts the computer rankings.
So let's get into some of the fun quirks of regional rankings (disclosure - I'm doing this as a fun exercise being a fan of D2, I know the real rankings have real rules that will be followed - play along please)
SR1 - I jostled my top 7 teams around a bit again; West Chester and Kutztown battle for #1 in the region this weekend! I've watched a lot of Notre Dame this year because of Jaleel McLaughlin, and they've had some very close calls even with the best player in the nation who might be hurt; so no way I put them #1.
SR2 - here we go in some interesting scenarios. Morehouse as I've had in the rankings for a while, beat Benedict. Morehouse lost to Albany earlier which at the time I thought was bad but Albany is likely to finish 8-3, so not bad. Somebody will have to tell me for sure that SIAC has earned access, for some reason I thought they may not. Fayetteville St., I put them in so I could talk about their situation (and they technically lead the CIAA). They had two games cancelled due to the hurricane earlier in the year so they only have 8 games on the schedule now, so as we've discussed with Ferris that would be the minimum games to compete so they are in a tight spot. However, the CIAA plays a championship game so assuming Fayetteville finishes 7-1 they should get to the champ game for game #9. And I still have West Florida in the playoffs as the GSC deserves 4 teams more than any conference.
SR3 - Fort Hays and Pitt St. are lame horses trying desperately to finish the race. If either gets to 9-2 they'll limp into that 7th stall grateful for the chance. I know Harding lost to S Arkansas but I just like Harding better and that will sort itself out as well. And then there's Ferris, who we all sit and ponder how they are going to get out of a jam, have games cancelled/nullified and yet still get the glass slipper to the dance; as long as we know the slipper hasn't shattered they are the belle of the ball.
SR4 - I don't know how MN St. can be #1 in two polls and Duluth 5th and 6th in those polls and Duluth gets top seed, so I got MN St as the top. Tarleton is certainly making a bid for that spot, again not sure how you can put 3 LSC teams in, Tarleton having beaten two teams then in the regional already and not be the top team. Then again as you can see I don't think Commerce should be in anyway and Central Washington should.
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