What is the Pac 10's best win?

[hurleyfor3]

You can count conference games if you'd like. Washington beat Texas A&M and Southern Cal beat Tennessee but both these were at home. So I'm leaning towards Southern Cal over Unlv (neutral) or perhaps Ucla at Berkeley.

[CDu]

You can count conference games if you'd like. Washington beat Texas A&M and Southern Cal beat Tennessee but both these were at home. So I'm leaning towards Southern Cal over Unlv (neutral) or perhaps Ucla at Berkeley.

I'd take the Tennessee win or the Texas A&M win over that UNLV win, even with those wins being at home compared to the neutral-site win. Now, if the UNLV win came as a true road win, maybe I'd have a different opinion.

But it is impressive how weak the Pac-10 is this year, and the fact that we're discussing a handful of wins including UNLV is pretty amazing.

[Kewlswim]

Hi,

Because of recruiting violations, etc. USC is not involved in any post-season play. I don't think this has anything to do with NCAA sanctions. I think they are doing so to get in the good graces of the NCAA. Furthermore, this coach had nothing to do with those violations so the NCAA might look favorably on their not participating.

GO DUKE!

[Mal]

Obviously, the Pac-10's a lot worse than the ACC this year, but we might consider not throwing too many stones here, anyway. If I recall, our two biggest non-conf wins, oddly enough, were UNC victories over Ohio State (pre-Turner) and Michigan State. Beyond that, what have we got amongst our tourney-bound or bubble teams? Duke neutral site over Gonzaga? Clemson over Butler? Other than that, we lost to all the top teams in the ACC/Big Televen challenge, and off the top of my head I can't think of any victories over the top half of the Big East.

Anyway, yes, it's amazing how awful the Pac-10 is this season. I mean, if the 4-seed wins the conference tourney they'll steal an at-large from a mid-major! Going into that tourney, the conference has one lock!

But it hasn't been a banner year for the ACC, either. We have our worst profile for NCAA bids and seedings in recent memory, with possibly only one 4-seed or better for the big tourney, and 5 bids is still a possibility. Although 6 looks likely, we'll have at best three teams seeded 6 or higher, so it shouldn't surprise anyone if we're quite sparsely represented after the first weekend again. The surprising thing is that this isn't that much of a dropoff from recent years. This has become an alarming trend already. No one outside of the two traditional powers in this conference has made the Sweet 16 since BC, four years ago. If it weren't for [can't speak it here, but it's happened twice in the last half decade], there would be a lot of national talk about the prolonged slump of the ACC in the postseason. Let's hope the Devils keep that spotlight off the rest of the conference this year by making a nice run!

[CDu]

Obviously, the Pac-10's a lot worse than the ACC this year, but we might consider not throwing too many stones here, anyway. If I recall, our two biggest non-conf wins, oddly enough, were UNC victories over Ohio State (pre-Turner) and Michigan State. Beyond that, what have we got amongst our tourney-bound or bubble teams? Duke neutral site over Gonzaga? Clemson over Butler? Other than that, we lost to all the top teams in the ACC/Big Televen challenge, and off the top of my head I can't think of any victories over the top half of the Big East.

Anyway, yes, it's amazing how awful the Pac-10 is this season. I mean, if the 4-seed wins the conference tourney they'll steal an at-large from a mid-major! Going into that tourney, the conference has one lock!

Wake also beat Gonzaga at Gonzaga, and Richmond and Xavier at home. FSU and NC State both beat Marquette at Marquette. And Miami beat South Carolina and Minnesota.

That's not a ton of great wins, but it's not that bad (we didn't play that many games against the top teams), especially when you include the wins by Duke over UConn and the UNC wins.

[hurleyfor3]

The ACC has done well in not having a lot of bad losses, though. I come up with

Maryland vs. Bill&Mary
BC vs. St. Joes and Hahvahd
Unc vs. Charleston
UVa vs. Stanford

considering teams ranked >100 on Pomeroy. All the other losses were at least to teams that will go to the NIT. (Well, ignoring us vs. NCSU.) Twelve schools, five bad losses. That really helps your conference rating.

[WiJoe]

USC over tennessee. Absolutely crushed them, with a point guard who had been unable to play because he was a transfer running a circle around the vols. Easy. USC over tennessee.

[Mal]

Wake also beat Gonzaga at Gonzaga, and Richmond and Xavier at home. FSU and NC State both beat Marquette at Marquette. And Miami beat South Carolina and Minnesota.

That's not a ton of great wins, but it's not that bad (we didn't play that many games against the top teams), especially when you include the wins by Duke over UConn and the UNC wins.

Thanks for filling that in for me. I felt like I was missing something, but figured if I couldn't remember it it couldn't have been that big of a win. Definitely some decent wins (@ Gonzaga, especially), although none of them are against even top 15 teams. I don't really count our win over UConn as anything worth noting anymore, however, as they're probably not even a tournament team. Neither are Minnesota or South Carolina. The dearth of opportunities is another good point, though.

Hurleyfor3's comment seems to make the picture make even more sense - we've got a decent number of good but not very good teams who've managed to avoid the really ugly losses without really distinguishing themselves, either. One would think that should lead to a decent number of 6-10 seed bids in the NCAA's, which is exactly what we'll get.

I still say the conference looks down to me this year. Although it's not nearly as poor as the Pac-10, which is almost catastrophically bad.

[sagegrouse]

The ACC has done well in not having a lot of bad losses, though. I come up with

Maryland vs. Bill&Mary
BC vs. St. Joes and Hahvahd
Unc vs. Charleston
UVa vs. Stanford

considering teams ranked >100 on Pomeroy. All the other losses were at least to teams that will go to the NIT. (Well, ignoring us vs. NCSU.) Twelve schools, five bad losses. That really helps your conference rating.

Wake also lost to Bill and Mary at home.

Methodology shouldn't consider intra-conference games; it doesn't help in evaluating the conference vs. other conferences.

sagegrouse
'A "candidate species" for the "endangered species" list. Still a hunting season, however, for one week during September.'

[LSanders]

This is slightly off-topic, but I noticed Jamal Boykin made the All PAC-10 Second Team ... Kudos!!

[dball]

Getting JD to coach Stanford?

Getting Jamal closer to home?