PiRate Ratings College Football For December 17-19, 2020

This Week’s PiRate Rating Spreads

We apologize for having to totally re-work this section, but the crazy off-the-cuff scheduling and cancellations have done a number on all of the power ratings specialists throughout the land. We keep in touch with many of our brethren, and they too are having to deal with hourly changes to the sports schedules.

This schedule is up to date as of Monday afternoon, 12/14/2020 at 4:00 PM EST.

Monday night update: Vanderbilt & Georgia game cancelled. Georgia is attempting to find a replacement team from outside the SEC.

SMU has opted out of Saturday’s Frisco Bowl. A replacement will be attempted by the bowl.

Tuesday update–The Frisco Bowl has been cancelled. Troy and UL-Monroe have cancelled. And, the Old Oaken Bucket Game–Indiana and Purdue has been cancelled. Michigan’s game with Iowa has been cancelled. The Michigan State-Maryland game has been cancelled.

Thursday update– The Sun Belt Conference Championship Game between Coastal Carolina and Louisiana has been cancelled.

Friday update–Florida State and Wake Forest game has been cancelled.

Regular Season Games
Thursday, December 17
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Troy	UL-Monroe	25.3	26.5	27.3
Friday, December 18
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Indiana	Purdue	14.7	15.0	16.5
Rutgers	Nebraska	-2.9	-3.4	-4.8
Saturday, December 19
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Wake Forest	Florida St.	7.8	9.4	8.8
Wisconsin	Minnesota	14.0	11.8	13.5
Penn St.	Illinois	10.8	10.2	10.6
Iowa	Michigan	16.3	16.8	17.0
Maryland	Michigan St.	-2.4	-1.9	-3.2
Army	Air Force	-5.3	-4.6	-5.3
Utah	Washington St.	6.4	8.0	6.7
UCLA	Stanford	5.3	6.1	4.9
Oregon St.	Arizona St.	-3.2	-2.7	-3.6
Georgia	Vanderbilt	38.1	38.0	39.8
Tennessee	Texas A&M	-13.8	-14.4	-14.4
LSU	Ole Miss	6.8	7.2	7.9
Mississippi St.	Missouri	0.6	0.2	0.2
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
Friday, December 18
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Buffalo (n)	Ball St.	11.3	12.5	11.9
Marshall	UAB	6.2	6.2	6.5
USC	Oregon	5.2	4.2	4.8
Saturday, December 19
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Cincinnati	Tulsa	17.2	18.1	18.8
Clemson (n)	Notre Dame	5.8	6.8	8.0
Iowa St. (n)	Oklahoma	-1.1	-1.3	-0.9
Ohio St. (n)	Northwestern	19.5	18.5	19.2
Alabama (n)	Florida	18.1	19.7	19.9
Coastal Carolina	Louisiana	3.3	4.3	4.5
San Jose St. (n)	Boise St.	-10.4	-8.5	-9.5
(n): Neutral Site
BOWL GAME
Frisco Bowl—Cancelled
Team	Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias
SMU	UTSA	15.9	15.0	14.8

This Week’s PiRate Ratings

#	Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg.	Conference
1	Alabama	140.4	141.3	142.7	141.5	SEC-W
2	Ohio St.	131.4	130.5	133.7	131.9	BTen-E
3	Clemson	129.2	130.0	131.4	130.2	ACC
4	Georgia	124.4	123.6	125.2	124.4	SEC-E
5	Notre Dame	124.4	124.2	124.4	124.3	ACC
6	Florida	122.2	121.7	122.8	122.2	SEC-E
7	Texas A&M	121.6	121.6	122.3	121.8	SEC-W
8	Oklahoma	121.6	121.1	121.8	121.5	B12
9	Iowa St.	120.5	119.8	120.9	120.4	B12
10	Iowa	119.7	119.3	121.4	120.1	BTen-W
11	N. Carolina	119.8	119.9	120.3	120.0	ACC
12	Wisconsin	119.7	118.0	120.9	119.5	BTen-W
13	Cincinnati	119.2	118.7	119.4	119.1	AAC
14	Indiana	117.1	117.5	119.6	118.1	BTen-E
15	U S C	118.6	116.0	117.7	117.5	P12-S
16	Texas	117.0	115.8	116.9	116.6	B12
17	Auburn	115.6	114.7	115.7	115.3	SEC-W
18	Oregon	115.5	113.9	114.9	114.8	P12-N
19	BYU	114.7	114.5	114.9	114.7	Ind.
20	L S U	114.3	113.6	115.4	114.4	SEC-W
21	Oklahoma St.	114.5	113.2	113.6	113.8	B12
22	Northwestern	111.9	112.0	114.4	112.8	BTen-W
23	Miami (Fla.)	110.8	112.7	111.3	111.6	ACC
24	Penn St.	111.8	110.5	112.4	111.6	BTen-E
25	UCF	110.4	110.3	110.7	110.5	AAC
26	T C U	110.5	109.3	110.9	110.3	B12
27	Kentucky	109.1	109.0	110.1	109.4	SEC-E
28	Washington	109.4	108.0	109.8	109.1	P12-N
29	Arizona St.	109.2	108.5	108.8	108.8	P12-S
30	Ole Miss	109.0	107.9	109.0	108.6	SEC-W
31	Utah	108.2	108.3	108.9	108.5	P12-S
32	U C L A	108.2	107.3	107.4	107.6	P12-S
33	Buffalo	106.9	108.0	107.7	107.5	MAC-E
34	Coastal Car.	107.0	107.6	107.7	107.4	SUN-E
35	Minnesota	106.7	107.2	108.3	107.4	BTen-W
36	Boise St.	107.2	107.2	106.9	107.1	MWC-M
37	Louisville	107.1	107.0	106.5	106.8	ACC
38	Tennessee	106.3	105.7	106.4	106.1	SEC-E
39	Pittsburgh	105.5	106.4	105.8	105.9	ACC
40	Missouri	105.3	105.0	106.1	105.5	SEC-E
41	Michigan	105.4	104.5	106.3	105.4	BTen-E
42	Louisiana	105.7	105.3	105.3	105.4	SUN-W
43	Nebraska	105.0	104.5	106.3	105.3	BTen-W
44	Wake Forest	104.7	105.5	105.5	105.3	ACC
45	California	105.4	105.1	105.1	105.2	P12-N
46	Virginia	104.6	105.0	105.1	104.9	ACC
47	W. Virginia	104.7	104.4	104.9	104.7	B12
48	Virginia Tech	103.9	104.5	104.9	104.4	ACC
49	Miss. St.	104.4	103.7	104.8	104.3	SEC-W
50	Tulane	104.3	104.3	103.9	104.2	AAC
51	Boston Coll.	103.6	103.9	104.2	103.9	ACC
52	Stanford	104.4	102.7	104.0	103.7	P12-N
53	Oregon St.	104.0	103.8	103.2	103.7	P12-N
54	Purdue	103.4	103.5	104.1	103.7	BTen-W
55	Washington St.	103.7	102.3	104.2	103.4	P12-N
56	Memphis	104.4	103.1	102.6	103.4	AAC
57	Appal. St.	103.4	102.9	103.5	103.3	SUN-E
58	Illinois	102.9	102.3	103.8	103.0	BTen-W
59	Tulsa	103.5	102.1	102.1	102.5	AAC
60	Arkansas	102.2	102.8	102.4	102.5	SEC-W
61	Baylor	102.3	101.8	102.1	102.1	B12
62	Air Force	101.7	102.4	101.7	101.9	MWC-M
63	NC State	101.4	101.9	101.8	101.7	ACC
64	Houston	102.3	100.9	101.2	101.5	AAC
65	Liberty	100.0	102.9	100.8	101.2	Ind.
66	Colorado	101.0	101.8	99.8	100.9	P12-S
67	Kansas St.	100.4	99.6	100.7	100.2	B12
68	Rutgers	100.6	99.6	100.0	100.1	BTen-E
69	SMU	100.1	99.6	99.2	99.7	AAC
70	S. Carolina	100.5	98.8	99.7	99.7	SEC-E
71	Marshall	99.6	99.9	99.2	99.5	CUSA-E
72	Michigan St.	99.1	98.6	99.7	99.2	BTen-E
73	San Diego St.	98.5	99.5	98.8	98.9	MWC-W
74	Texas Tech	98.8	97.6	98.9	98.4	B12
75	San Jose St.	96.9	98.6	97.4	97.6	MWC-W
76	Florida St.	97.9	97.2	97.7	97.6	ACC
77	Wyoming	96.0	97.1	96.4	96.5	MWC-M
78	Nevada	95.2	96.1	95.6	95.7	MWC-W
79	Ball St.	95.6	95.5	95.8	95.7	MAC-W
80	U A B	95.3	95.7	94.7	95.2	CUSA-W
81	Georgia Tech	95.7	95.2	94.8	95.2	ACC
82	E. Carolina	95.6	95.4	94.5	95.2	AAC
83	Maryland	95.2	95.2	95.0	95.1	BTen-E
84	Ohio	94.4	95.1	95.3	94.9	MAC-E
85	Army	93.9	95.3	93.9	94.4	Ind.
86	Arizona	94.1	92.5	92.9	93.2	P12-S
87	Georgia Sou.	92.7	93.5	93.0	93.1	SUN-E
88	Fresno St.	92.7	93.2	92.2	92.7	MWC-W
89	Hawaii	92.7	93.0	92.0	92.5	MWC-W
90	Western Mich.	91.6	93.3	92.4	92.4	MAC-W
91	Toledo	92.1	93.2	91.9	92.4	MAC-W
92	Troy	91.8	92.9	92.2	92.3	SUN-E
93	Central Mich.	92.0	92.1	92.2	92.1	MAC-W
94	Georgia St.	91.8	92.1	92.3	92.1	SUN-E
95	Miami (O)	92.4	91.5	92.1	92.0	MAC-E
96	Navy	92.7	91.4	90.7	91.6	AAC
97	W. Kentucky	91.2	91.7	90.8	91.2	CUSA-E
98	Kent St.	91.2	90.7	90.7	90.9	MAC-E
99	Syracuse	90.1	91.3	90.8	90.8	ACC
100	Duke	90.5	90.3	89.3	90.0	ACC
101	Colorado St.	89.5	90.3	89.5	89.8	MWC-M
102	Vanderbilt	88.3	87.5	87.4	87.8	SEC-E
103	Arkansas St.	87.6	88.2	87.0	87.6	SUN-W
104	Temple	87.9	87.6	86.3	87.3	AAC
105	Rice	88.1	86.2	87.2	87.2	CUSA-W
106	USF	87.8	86.5	86.2	86.8	AAC
107	Fla. Atlantic	85.9	86.8	86.2	86.3	CUSA-E
108	New Mexico	86.0	86.8	85.4	86.1	MWC-M
109	Florida Int’l.	85.7	85.5	85.3	85.5	CUSA-E
110	U T S A	85.2	85.6	85.4	85.4	CUSA-W
111	Eastern Mich.	83.8	85.6	84.5	84.6	MAC-W
112	Utah St.	84.4	84.1	83.5	84.0	MWC-M
113	La. Tech	83.6	84.2	83.6	83.8	CUSA-W
114	Charlotte	83.5	83.6	83.2	83.4	CUSA-E
115	Middle Tenn.	82.2	82.5	82.3	82.3	CUSA-E
116	Southern Miss.	82.3	82.8	81.8	82.3	CUSA-W
117	S. Alabama	81.8	82.7	81.7	82.1	SUN-W
118	N. Illinois	80.7	82.0	80.8	81.2	MAC-W
119	Texas St.	81.0	81.5	80.2	80.9	SUN-W
120	U N L V	79.5	80.6	78.7	79.6	MWC-W
121	Kansas	78.7	78.0	77.4	78.1	B12
122	North Texas	75.4	75.6	74.8	75.3	CUSA-W
123	U T E P	67.9	70.3	68.0	68.7	CUSA-W
124	Akron	67.5	69.2	66.1	67.6	MAC-E
125	UL-Monroe	68.0	67.9	66.5	67.5	SUN-W
126	Bowling Green	65.1	66.4	61.8	64.4	MAC-E
127	Mass.	61.7	67.5	59.9	63.0	Ind.

PiRate Rating By Conference

American Athletic Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	AAC	Overall
Cincinnati	119.2	118.7	119.4	119.1	6-0	8-0
UCF	110.4	110.3	110.7	110.5	5-3	6-3
Tulane	104.3	104.3	103.9	104.2	3-5	6-5
Memphis	104.4	103.1	102.6	103.4	5-3	7-3
Tulsa	103.5	102.1	102.1	102.5	6-0	6-1
Houston	102.3	100.9	101.2	101.5	3-3	3-4
SMU	100.1	99.6	99.2	99.7	4-3	7-3
E. Carolina	95.6	95.4	94.5	95.2	3-4	3-6
Navy	92.7	91.4	90.7	91.6	3-4	3-7
Temple	87.9	87.6	86.3	87.3	1-6	1-6
USF	87.8	86.5	86.2	86.8	0-7	1-8
AAC Avg.	100.7	100.0	99.7	100.1
Atlantic Coast Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	ACC	Overall
Clemson	129.2	130.0	131.4	130.2	8-1	9-1
Notre Dame	124.4	124.2	124.4	124.3	9-0	10-0
N. Carolina	119.8	119.9	120.3	120.0	7-3	8-3
Miami (Fla.)	110.8	112.7	111.3	111.6	7-2	8-2
Louisville	107.1	107.0	106.5	106.8	3-7	4-7
Pittsburgh	105.5	106.4	105.8	105.9	5-5	6-5
Wake Forest	104.7	105.5	105.5	105.3	3-4	4-4
Virginia	104.6	105.0	105.1	104.9	4-5	5-5
Virginia Tech	103.9	104.5	104.9	104.4	5-5	5-6
Boston Coll.	103.6	103.9	104.2	103.9	5-5	6-5
NC State	101.4	101.9	101.8	101.7	7-3	8-3
Florida St.	97.9	97.2	97.7	97.6	2-6	3-6
Georgia Tech	95.7	95.2	94.8	95.2	3-6	3-7
Syracuse	90.1	91.3	90.8	90.8	1-9	1-10
Duke	90.5	90.3	89.3	90.0	1-9	2-9
ACC Avg.	106.0	106.3	106.2	106.2
Big 12 Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	B12	Overall
Oklahoma	121.6	121.1	121.8	121.5	6-2	7-2
Iowa St.	120.5	119.8	120.9	120.4	8-1	8-2
Texas	117.0	115.8	116.9	116.6	5-3	6-3
Oklahoma St.	114.5	113.2	113.6	113.8	6-3	7-3
T C U	110.5	109.3	110.9	110.3	5-4	6-4
W. Virginia	104.7	104.4	104.9	104.7	4-4	5-4
Baylor	102.3	101.8	102.1	102.1	2-7	2-7
Kansas St.	100.4	99.6	100.7	100.2	4-5	4-6
Texas Tech	98.8	97.6	98.9	98.4	3-6	4-6
Kansas	78.7	78.0	77.4	78.1	0-8	0-9
Big 12 Avg.	106.9	106.1	106.8	106.6
Big Ten Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Ohio St.	131.4	130.5	133.7	131.9	5-0	5-0
Indiana	117.1	117.5	119.6	118.1	6-1	6-1
Penn St.	111.8	110.5	112.4	111.6	3-5	3-5
Michigan	105.4	104.5	106.3	105.4	2-4	2-4
Rutgers	100.6	99.6	100.0	100.1	3-5	3-5
Michigan St.	99.1	98.6	99.7	99.2	2-5	2-5
Maryland	95.2	95.2	95.0	95.1	2-3	2-3
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Iowa	119.7	119.3	121.4	120.1	6-2	6-2
Wisconsin	119.7	118.0	120.9	119.5	2-3	2-3
Northwestern	111.9	112.0	114.4	112.8	6-1	6-1
Minnesota	106.7	107.2	108.3	107.4	3-3	3-3
Nebraska	105.0	104.5	106.3	105.3	2-5	2-5
Purdue	103.4	103.5	104.1	103.7	2-4	2-4
Illinois	102.9	102.3	103.8	103.0	2-5	2-5
Big Ten Avg.	109.3	108.8	110.4	109.5
Conference USA
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	CUSA	Overall
Marshall	99.6	99.9	99.2	99.5	4-1	7-1
W. Kentucky	91.2	91.7	90.8	91.2	4-3	5-6
Fla. Atlantic	85.9	86.8	86.2	86.3	4-2	5-3
Florida Int’l.	85.7	85.5	85.3	85.5	0-3	0-5
Charlotte	83.5	83.6	83.2	83.4	2-2	2-4
Middle Tenn.	82.2	82.5	82.3	82.3	2-4	3-6
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	CUSA	Overall
U A B	95.3	95.7	94.7	95.2	3-1	5-3
Rice	88.1	86.2	87.2	87.2	2-3	2-3
U T S A	85.2	85.6	85.4	85.4	5-2	7-4
La. Tech	83.6	84.2	83.6	83.8	4-2	5-4
Southern Miss.	82.3	82.8	81.8	82.3	2-4	3-7
North Texas	75.4	75.6	74.8	75.3	3-4	4-5
U T E P	67.9	70.3	68.0	68.7	0-4	3-5
CUSA Avg.	85.1	85.4	84.8	85.1
FBS Independents
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
BYU	114.7	114.5	114.9	114.7	x	10-1
Liberty	100.0	102.9	100.8	101.2	x	9-1
Army	93.9	95.3	93.9	94.4	x	8-2
Mass.	61.7	67.5	59.9	63.0	x	0-4
Ind. Avg.	92.6	95.1	92.4	93.3
Mid-American Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Buffalo	106.9	108.0	107.7	107.5	5-0	5-0
Ohio	94.4	95.1	95.3	94.9	2-1	2-1
Miami (O)	92.4	91.5	92.1	92.0	2-1	2-1
Kent St.	91.2	90.7	90.7	90.9	3-1	3-1
Akron	67.5	69.2	66.1	67.6	1-5	1-5
Bowling Green	65.1	66.4	61.8	64.4	0-5	0-5
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Ball St.	95.6	95.5	95.8	95.7	5-1	5-1
Western Mich.	91.6	93.3	92.4	92.4	4-2	4-2
Toledo	92.1	93.2	91.9	92.4	4-2	4-2
Central Mich.	92.0	92.1	92.2	92.1	3-3	3-3
Eastern Mich.	83.8	85.6	84.5	84.6	2-4	2-4
N. Illinois	80.7	82.0	80.8	81.2	0-6	0-6
MAC Avg.	87.8	88.5	87.6	88.0
Mountain West Conference
Mountain Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Boise St.	107.2	107.2	106.9	107.1	5-0	5-1
Air Force	101.7	102.4	101.7	101.9	2-2	3-2
Wyoming	96.0	97.1	96.4	96.5	2-4	2-4
Colorado St.	89.5	90.3	89.5	89.8	1-3	1-3
New Mexico	86.0	86.8	85.4	86.1	2-5	2-5
Utah St.	84.4	84.1	83.5	84.0	1-5	1-5
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
San Diego St.	98.5	99.5	98.8	98.9	4-2	4-4
San Jose St.	96.9	98.6	97.4	97.6	6-0	6-0
Nevada	95.2	96.1	95.6	95.7	6-2	6-2
Fresno St.	92.7	93.2	92.2	92.7	3-3	3-3
Hawaii	92.7	93.0	92.0	92.5	4-4	4-4
U N L V	79.5	80.6	78.7	79.6	0-6	0-6
MWC Avg.	93.3	94.1	93.2	93.5
Pac-12 Conference
North Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Oregon	115.5	113.9	114.9	114.8	3-2	3-2
Washington	109.4	108.0	109.8	109.1	3-1	3-1
California	105.4	105.1	105.1	105.2	1-3	1-3
Stanford	104.4	102.7	104.0	103.7	3-2	3-2
Oregon St.	104.0	103.8	103.2	103.7	2-4	2-4
Washington St.	103.7	102.3	104.2	103.4	1-2	1-2
South Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
U S C	118.6	116.0	117.7	117.5	5-0	5-0
Arizona St.	109.2	108.5	108.8	108.8	1-2	1-2
Utah	108.2	108.3	108.9	108.5	2-2	2-2
U C L A	108.2	107.3	107.4	107.6	3-3	3-3
Colorado	101.0	101.8	99.8	100.9	3-1	4-1
Arizona	94.1	92.5	92.9	93.2	0-5	0-5
P12 Avg.	106.8	105.8	106.4	106.4
Southeastern Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SEC	Overall
Georgia	124.4	123.6	125.2	124.4	7-2	7-2
Florida	122.2	121.7	122.8	122.2	8-2	8-2
Kentucky	109.1	109.0	110.1	109.4	4-6	4-6
Tennessee	106.3	105.7	106.4	106.1	3-6	3-6
Missouri	105.3	105.0	106.1	105.5	5-4	5-4
S. Carolina	100.5	98.8	99.7	99.7	2-8	2-8
Vanderbilt	88.3	87.5	87.4	87.8	0-9	0-9
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SEC	Overall
Alabama	140.4	141.3	142.7	141.5	10-0	10-0
Texas A&M	121.6	121.6	122.3	121.8	7-1	7-1
Auburn	115.6	114.7	115.7	115.3	6-4	6-4
L S U	114.3	113.6	115.4	114.4	4-5	4-5
Ole Miss	109.0	107.9	109.0	108.6	4-4	4-4
Miss. St.	104.4	103.7	104.8	104.3	2-7	2-7
Arkansas	102.2	102.8	102.4	102.5	3-7	3-7
SEC Avg.	111.7	111.2	112.1	111.7
Sunbelt Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SBC	Overall
Coastal Car.	107.0	107.6	107.7	107.4	8-0	11-0
Appal. St.	103.4	102.9	103.5	103.3	6-2	8-3
Georgia Sou.	92.7	93.5	93.0	93.1	4-4	7-5
Georgia St.	91.8	92.1	92.3	92.1	4-4	5-4
Troy	91.8	92.9	92.2	92.3	3-6	5-6
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SBC	Overall
Louisiana	105.7	105.3	105.3	105.4	7-1	9-1
Arkansas St.	87.6	88.2	87.0	87.6	2-6	4-7
S. Alabama	81.8	82.7	81.7	82.1	3-5	4-7
Texas St.	81.0	81.5	80.2	80.9	2-6	2-10
UL-Monroe	68.0	67.9	66.5	67.5	0-7	0-10
Sun Avg.	91.1	91.4	90.9	91.2

Conference Ratings

#	League	Avg
1	SEC	111.7
2	BTen	109.5
3	B12	106.6
4	P12	106.4
5	ACC	106.2
6	AAC	100.1
7	MWC	93.5
8	Ind.	93.3
9	Sun	91.2
10	MAC	88.0
11	CUSA	85.1

The Playoffs–What Will Be This Week & What Should Be

The Playoff Committee won’t adjust this week’s top four teams. Only one of the four from last week played a game this past weekend, and Alabama basically showed the nation that they look like the best team in college football since the 2001 Miami of Florida Hurricanes. If somebody tells you that the playoffs need to be expanded from 4 to either 6, 8, or 12 teams, because Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Buffalo, and San Jose St. deserve a chance this year, you should reply that they are incorrect when talking about this year only. If the NCAA Playoff Committee wanted to make any changes to make the 2020-2021 college season end the right way, they should change the number of teams in the playoffs–from four to zero!

Alabama is clearly the best team in the nation. If they played Notre Dame, Ohio State, or Clemson next week, the Tide would be favored by two touchdowns minimum over any of the three contenders. If you are old enough to remember UCLA basketball during the three seasons that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and his additional all-American teammates suited up for the Bruins, the NCAA Tournaments were less eventful than the middle of the season Christmas and New Year’s tournaments. For three years, UCLA was the basketball equivalent of the 1927 New York Yankees. The NCAA Tournament was no different than the Bruin Invitational, as UCLA beat Dayton, North Carolina, and Purdue so handily that the games were not meaningful. Alabama is going to do the same thing this year.

We believe that Clemson will edge Notre Dame in the ACC Championship, as the Tigers almost beat the Irish in South Bend without having Trevor Lawrence available. Notre Dame will assuredly drop to #4 in the playoff rankings, but they will stay in the top 4 to be Sugar Bowl fodder for Alabama. Ohio State and Clemson would then face off in the Rose Bowl. Ten days later, Alabama will run roughshod over the Ohio State-Clemson winner, most likely Clemson, and it will be like the Yankees-Dodgers in the World Series during the 1950’s, with Alabama being the Yankees.

If you ask us whether Ohio State deserves to be in the Playoffs, as they have only played five games, when the Big Ten had previously stated that a team had to play at least six games to be eligible for the Big Ten Championship, we have a somewhat divided opinion. First, we 100% agree that Ohio State should be in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Let’s say that rather than declare the Michigan game postponed, that Ohio State forfeited the game to show a six-game slate. Even with the one loss, Ohio State beats out Indiana on the tiebreaker, and it doesn’t affect their eye test rating. So, the Buckeyes deserve the East Division championship. We kind of compare this to the rule where a Major League batter can be the batting champion even if he fails to get the required 502 plate appearances in a 162-game schedule, if you take his at-bats and include additional outs until you reach the 502 required PA’s. If the batter still has the highest batting average with those outs added, he is the batting champion.

For example, in 1996, legendary hitter Tony Gwynn batted .353, but he only made 498 plate appearances, which did not qualify for the batting crown. He needed four additional plate appearances. With four outs added to Gwynn’s actual record, his batting average dropped to .349, which was still better than the next highest average, Rockies’ star Ellis Burks at .344. So, Gwynn won the batting title at .353.

Likewise, adding one loss to Ohio State’s record still allows the Buckeyes to win the Big Ten East in a tiebreaker with Indiana.

That being said, do we believe that Ohio State is one of the four best teams in the nation this year? The short answer is that our own ratings show the Buckeyes to be the second best team. However, if we were on the Playoff Committee, we would be totally at a loss to separate Ohio State and USC. As for any of the G5 teams, we hate to say it, but none of them can play either Ohio State or USC to within 10 points. A G5 Playoff with Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Buffalo, and San Jose State would be quite entertaining and much better TV choices than the bowl games, even the New Year’s Six games. But, the only teams outside the current top four that should be in consideration for the Playoffs are USC and Texas A&M. Additionally, it is more accurate to state that the loser of the ACC Championship Game should be removed in favor of an undefeated USC team this year. A one-loss Texas A&M team that beat Florida and played Alabama better than any other opponent might be the second best team in the nation, and it would be hard to convince us that they don’t belong in the Big Four if the ACC loser loses by a substantial margin.

Here is our belief as to what will happen depending on whether each of the contenders win or lose this week.

Alabama–If the Crimson Tide wins, they are in the Sugar Bowl as the #1 seed. If the Crimson Tide loses, they are in the Rose Bowl as the #3 seed.

Ohio State–If the Buckeyes win, they are in the Rose Bowl as the #2 or #3 seed. If the Buckeyes lose, they are in a NY6 bowl and not in the playoffs.

Notre Dame–If the Irish win, they are in the Rose Bowl as the #2 seed or Sugar Bowl as the #1 seed if Bama were to lose. If the Irish lose, they are in the Sugar Bowl as the #4 seed.

Clemson–If the Tigers win, they are in the Rose Bowl as the #2 or #3 seed based on what Ohio State does. If the Tigers lose, they are in the Orange Bowl and not in the playoffs.

Texas A&M–The Aggies must win and then hope for Clemson or Ohio State to lose, possibly Notre Dame to lose by 20 or more points. If the Aggies back into the Playoffs, they will be headed to the Sugar Bowl as the #4 seed if Alabama is #1, or to the Rose Bowl if Ohio State or Notre Dame is #1

USC–Notre Dame must beat Clemson, and Northwestern must upset Ohio State, while USC beats Washington by 28 or more points, and Texas A&M doesn’t slaughter Tennessee.

Cincinnati–Clemson, Ohio State, and USC must lose, and maybe even Texas A&M.

Any 2-loss team–We don’t see any scenario where Oklahoma, Iowa State, Florida, or Clemson could make the playoffs with two losses.

PiRate Ratings–College Football For December 10-12, 2020

This Week’s PiRate Rating Spreads

Thursday, December 10
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Southern Miss.	Fla. Atlantic	-6.2	-7.0	-7.8
Georgia Tech	Pittsburgh	-7.7	-9.1	-8.7
Friday, December 11
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Colorado	Utah	-2.8	-1.7	-4.7
UTEP	North Texas	-6.7	-4.5	-6.5
Marshall	Charlotte	17.6	17.8	17.5
Arizona	Arizona St.	-6.5	-7.4	-7.4
San Jose St.	Nevada	0.1	0.9	-0.4
Saturday, December 12
Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Florida	LSU	13.9	14.1	13.7
Tulsa	Cincinnati	-13.7	-14.6	-15.3
Miami (Fla.)	North Carolina	1.0	2.9	1.0
West Virginia	Oklahoma	-14.4	-14.3	–14.4
Indiana	Purdue	15.2	15.5	17.0
Northwestern	Illinois	8.0	8.7	9.7
Iowa	Wisconsin	-4.1	-2.6	-3.4
UCLA	USC	-9.4	-7.8	-9.3
Oregon	Washington	7.6	7.4	6.6
Oregon St.	Stanford	1.7	3.8	1.7
Washington St.	California	-0.7	-1.8	0.2
Virginia Tech	Virginia	-3.3	-3.3	-3.3
Maryland	Rutgers	-4.1	-3.1	-3.9
Nebraska	Minnesota	1.8	0.7	1.8
Penn St.	Michigan St.	14.6	13.9	14.7
Mississippi St.	Auburn	-9.3	-8.9	-8.6
New Mexico	Fresno St.	-11.4	-11.2	-11.8
Memphis	Houston	3.6	3.7	2.9
Florida St.	Duke	6.2	5.2	6.6
Louisville	Wake Forest	3.9	2.9	2.4
Missouri	Georgia	-11.8	-10.9	-11.4
Texas A&M	Ole Miss	14.6	15.7	15.4
Vanderbilt	Tennessee	-15.2	-15.1	-15.8
Arkansas	Alabama	-32.8	-33.3	-35.0
Ohio St.	Michigan	28.0	28.0	29.3
Kent St.	Ohio	-2.2	-3.4	-3.6
Bowling Green	Miami (O)	-26.3	-24.1	-29.3
Eastern Mich.	Northern Ill.	4.2	4.6	4.6
Ball St.	Western Mich.	5.7	3.7	5.1
Rice	UAB	-5.3	-7.7	-5.5
Buffalo	Akron	36.2	34.8	38.4
Troy	Coastal Carolina	-15.5	-15.2	-16.4
Toledo	Central Mich.	2.3	3.5	2.1
Kansas	Texas	-36.8	-36.2	-38.0
Army	Navy	1.1	3.9	2.8
Georgia Southern	Appalachian St.	-9.2	-7.9	-9.0
Wyoming	Boise St.	-9.3	-8.1	-8.6
Baylor	Oklahoma St.	-2.6	-1.8	-1.9
TCU	Louisiana Tech	25.1	22.5	24.9
Colorado St. (*****)	Utah St.	6.6	7.7	7.5
BYU	San Diego St.	18.9	17.6	19.1
Hawaii	UNLV	16.7	15.9	16.8

***** Utah State’s players voted not to play this game due to statements made by the school President concerning the interim head coach.

FBS vs. FCS Game

(Oddly Arkansas St.’s last game of the year and Incarnate Word’s first and only game of the year)

Update: It was cancelled!

FBS	FCS	PiRate
Arkansas St.	Incarnate Word	18.0

This Week’s PiRate Ratings

12/6/2020
#	Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg.	Conference
1	Alabama	138.5	139.4	140.8	139.6	SEC-W
2	Ohio St.	131.4	130.5	133.7	131.9	BTen-E
3	Clemson	129.2	130.0	131.4	130.2	ACC
4	Notre Dame	124.4	124.2	124.4	124.3	ACC
5	Florida	124.0	123.6	124.8	124.1	SEC-E
6	Wisconsin	123.0	121.2	124.1	122.8	BTen-W
7	Texas A&M	121.6	121.6	122.3	121.8	SEC-W
8	Oklahoma	121.6	121.1	121.8	121.5	B12
9	Georgia	121.5	120.5	122.1	121.4	SEC-E
10	Iowa St.	120.5	119.8	120.9	120.4	B12
11	Cincinnati	119.2	118.7	119.4	119.1	AAC
12	Indiana	117.1	117.5	119.6	118.1	BTen-E
13	U S C	118.6	116.0	117.7	117.5	P12-S
14	Iowa	116.9	116.6	118.7	117.4	BTen-W
15	Texas	117.0	115.8	116.9	116.6	B12
16	N. Carolina	115.3	115.4	115.8	115.5	ACC
17	BYU	115.0	114.8	115.4	115.1	Ind.
18	Auburn	115.4	114.4	115.3	115.0	SEC-W
19	Oregon	115.5	113.9	114.9	114.8	P12-N
20	Miami (Fla.)	113.8	115.7	114.3	114.6	ACC
21	L S U	112.7	111.9	113.6	112.7	SEC-W
22	Northwestern	110.9	111.0	113.4	111.8	BTen-W
23	Penn St.	111.8	110.5	112.4	111.6	BTen-E
24	UCF	110.4	110.3	110.7	110.5	AAC
25	Oklahoma St.	110.7	109.4	109.8	110.0	B12
26	Kentucky	109.1	109.0	110.1	109.4	SEC-E
27	Washington	109.4	108.0	109.8	109.1	P12-N
28	Ole Miss	109.0	107.9	109.0	108.6	SEC-W
29	Coastal Car.	107.8	108.5	108.8	108.4	SUN-E
30	T C U	108.6	107.0	108.7	108.1	B12
31	Missouri	107.7	107.6	108.7	108.0	SEC-E
32	U C L A	108.2	107.3	107.4	107.6	P12-S
33	Utah	107.0	106.9	107.7	107.2	P12-S
34	Boise St.	107.2	107.2	106.9	107.1	MWC-M
35	Louisville	107.1	107.0	106.5	106.8	ACC
36	Virginia	106.4	106.9	107.1	106.8	ACC
37	Minnesota	106.0	106.5	107.4	106.6	BTen-W
38	Arizona St.	106.7	106.0	106.3	106.3	P12-S
39	Nebraska	105.7	105.2	107.2	106.1	BTen-W
40	Baylor	106.1	105.6	105.9	105.9	B12
41	Pittsburgh	105.2	106.1	105.4	105.6	ACC
42	Michigan	105.4	104.5	106.3	105.4	BTen-E
43	Louisiana	105.7	105.3	105.3	105.4	SUN-W
44	Wake Forest	104.7	105.5	105.5	105.3	ACC
45	California	105.4	105.1	105.1	105.2	P12-N
46	Tennessee	105.4	104.7	105.3	105.1	SEC-E
47	Buffalo	104.3	105.0	105.1	104.8	MAC-E
48	W. Virginia	104.7	104.4	104.9	104.7	B12
49	Miss. St.	104.6	104.0	105.2	104.6	SEC-W
50	Tulane	104.3	104.3	103.9	104.2	AAC
51	Oregon St.	104.3	104.4	103.7	104.1	P12-N
52	Illinois	103.9	103.3	104.8	104.0	BTen-W
53	Boston Coll.	103.6	103.9	104.2	103.9	ACC
54	Arkansas	103.6	104.2	103.8	103.9	SEC-W
55	Purdue	103.4	103.5	104.1	103.7	BTen-W
56	Washington St.	103.7	102.3	104.2	103.4	P12-N
57	Memphis	104.4	103.1	102.6	103.4	AAC
58	Appal. St.	103.4	102.9	103.5	103.3	SUN-E
59	Stanford	104.1	102.1	103.5	103.2	P12-N
60	Tulsa	103.5	102.1	102.1	102.5	AAC
61	Virginia Tech	102.1	102.6	102.9	102.5	ACC
62	Colorado	102.2	103.2	101.0	102.1	P12-S
63	Air Force	101.7	102.4	101.7	101.9	MWC-M
64	NC State	101.4	101.9	101.8	101.7	ACC
65	Houston	102.3	100.9	101.2	101.5	AAC
66	Liberty	100.0	102.9	100.8	101.2	Ind.
67	Kansas St.	100.4	99.6	100.7	100.2	B12
68	Rutgers	100.7	99.7	100.2	100.2	BTen-E
69	SMU	100.1	99.6	99.2	99.7	AAC
70	S. Carolina	100.5	98.8	99.7	99.7	SEC-E
71	Marshall	99.6	99.9	99.2	99.5	CUSA-E
72	Michigan St.	99.1	98.6	99.7	99.2	BTen-E
73	San Diego St.	98.2	99.2	98.3	98.6	MWC-W
74	Texas Tech	98.8	97.6	98.9	98.4	B12
75	Arizona	99.1	97.5	97.9	98.2	P12-S
76	San Jose St.	96.1	97.8	96.3	96.7	MWC-W
77	Nevada	96.0	96.9	96.7	96.6	MWC-W
78	Wyoming	96.0	97.1	96.4	96.5	MWC-M
79	Florida St.	96.5	95.6	96.1	96.1	ACC
80	Ball St.	95.7	95.5	95.9	95.7	MAC-W
81	Georgia Tech	96.0	95.5	95.2	95.6	ACC
82	U A B	95.3	95.8	94.7	95.3	CUSA-W
83	E. Carolina	95.6	95.4	94.5	95.2	AAC
84	Fresno St.	95.0	95.6	94.7	95.1	MWC-W
85	Maryland	95.1	95.1	94.8	95.0	BTen-E
86	Ohio	94.4	95.1	95.3	94.9	MAC-E
87	Army	92.8	94.3	92.7	93.3	Ind.
88	Georgia Sou.	92.7	93.5	93.0	93.1	SUN-E
89	Navy	93.8	92.4	91.9	92.7	AAC
90	Toledo	92.2	93.4	92.1	92.6	MAC-W
91	Hawaii	92.7	93.0	92.0	92.5	MWC-W
92	Western Mich.	91.5	93.3	92.3	92.4	MAC-W
93	Georgia St.	91.8	92.1	92.3	92.1	SUN-E
94	Miami (O)	92.4	91.5	92.1	92.0	MAC-E
95	Central Mich.	91.9	91.9	92.0	91.9	MAC-W
96	Duke	91.9	91.9	90.9	91.5	ACC
97	W. Kentucky	91.2	91.7	90.8	91.2	CUSA-E
98	Kent St.	91.2	90.7	90.7	90.9	MAC-E
99	Syracuse	90.1	91.3	90.8	90.8	ACC
100	Troy	90.3	91.3	90.4	90.7	SUN-E
101	Colorado St.	89.5	90.3	89.5	89.8	MWC-M
102	Vanderbilt	89.2	88.5	88.5	88.8	SEC-E
103	Fla. Atlantic	87.7	88.8	88.4	88.3	CUSA-E
104	Arkansas St.	87.6	88.2	87.0	87.6	SUN-W
105	Temple	87.9	87.6	86.3	87.3	AAC
106	Rice	88.1	86.1	87.2	87.1	CUSA-W
107	USF	87.8	86.5	86.2	86.8	AAC
108	La. Tech	85.5	86.5	85.8	86.0	CUSA-W
109	Florida Int’l.	85.7	85.5	85.3	85.5	CUSA-E
110	U T S A	85.2	85.6	85.4	85.4	CUSA-W
111	Eastern Mich.	83.6	85.4	84.2	84.4	MAC-W
112	Utah St.	84.4	84.1	83.5	84.0	MWC-M
113	New Mexico	83.7	84.4	82.9	83.7	MWC-M
114	Charlotte	83.5	83.6	83.2	83.4	CUSA-E
115	Middle Tenn.	82.2	82.5	82.3	82.3	CUSA-E
116	S. Alabama	81.8	82.7	81.7	82.1	SUN-W
117	N. Illinois	80.9	82.2	81.1	81.4	MAC-W
118	Texas St.	81.0	81.5	80.2	80.9	SUN-W
119	Southern Miss.	80.5	80.8	79.6	80.3	CUSA-W
120	U N L V	79.5	80.6	78.7	79.6	MWC-W
121	Kansas	78.7	78.0	77.4	78.1	B12
122	North Texas	75.5	75.7	75.1	75.5	CUSA-W
123	Akron	70.1	72.2	68.7	70.3	MAC-E
124	U T E P	67.8	70.2	67.7	68.6	CUSA-W
125	UL-Monroe	68.0	67.9	66.5	67.5	SUN-W
126	Bowling Green	65.1	66.4	61.8	64.4	MAC-E
127	Mass.	61.7	67.5	59.9	63.0	Ind.

PiRate Ratings By Conference

American Athletic Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	AAC	Overall
Cincinnati	119.2	118.7	119.4	119.1	6-0	8-0
UCF	110.4	110.3	110.7	110.5	5-3	6-3
Tulane	104.3	104.3	103.9	104.2	3-5	6-5
Memphis	104.4	103.1	102.6	103.4	4-3	6-3
Tulsa	103.5	102.1	102.1	102.5	6-0	6-1
Houston	102.3	100.9	101.2	101.5	3-2	3-3
SMU	100.1	99.6	99.2	99.7	4-3	7-3
E. Carolina	95.6	95.4	94.5	95.2	3-4	3-6
Navy	93.8	92.4	91.9	92.7	3-4	3-6
Temple	87.9	87.6	86.3	87.3	1-6	1-6
USF	87.8	86.5	86.2	86.8	0-7	1-8
AAC Avg.	100.8	100.1	99.8	100.2
Atlantic Coast Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	ACC	Overall
Clemson	129.2	130.0	131.4	130.2	8-1	9-1
Notre Dame	124.4	124.2	124.4	124.3	9-0	10-0
N. Carolina	115.3	115.4	115.8	115.5	6-3	7-3
Miami (Fla.)	113.8	115.7	114.3	114.6	7-1	8-1
Virginia	106.4	106.9	107.1	106.8	4-4	5-4
Louisville	107.1	107.0	106.5	106.8	2-7	3-7
Pittsburgh	105.2	106.1	105.4	105.6	4-5	5-5
Wake Forest	104.7	105.5	105.5	105.3	3-3	4-3
Boston Coll.	103.6	103.9	104.2	103.9	5-5	6-5
Virginia Tech	102.1	102.6	102.9	102.5	4-5	4-6
NC State	101.4	101.9	101.8	101.7	7-3	8-3
Florida St.	96.5	95.6	96.1	96.1	1-6	2-6
Georgia Tech	96.0	95.5	95.2	95.6	3-5	3-6
Duke	91.9	91.9	90.9	91.5	1-8	2-8
Syracuse	90.1	91.3	90.8	90.8	1-9	1-10
ACC Avg.	105.9	106.2	106.1	106.1
Big 12 Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	B12	Overall
Oklahoma	121.6	121.1	121.8	121.5	6-2	7-2
Iowa St.	120.5	119.8	120.9	120.4	8-1	8-2
Texas	117.0	115.8	116.9	116.6	5-3	6-3
Oklahoma St.	110.7	109.4	109.8	110.0	5-3	6-3
T C U	108.6	107.0	108.7	108.1	5-4	5-4
Baylor	106.1	105.6	105.9	105.9	2-6	2-6
W. Virginia	104.7	104.4	104.9	104.7	4-4	5-4
Kansas St.	100.4	99.6	100.7	100.2	4-5	4-6
Texas Tech	98.8	97.6	98.9	98.4	3-6	4-6
Kansas	78.7	78.0	77.4	78.1	0-8	0-9
Big 12 Avg.	106.7	105.8	106.6	106.4
Big Ten Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Ohio St.	131.4	130.5	133.7	131.9	5-0	5-0
Indiana	117.1	117.5	119.6	118.1	6-1	6-1
Penn St.	111.8	110.5	112.4	111.6	2-5	2-5
Michigan	105.4	104.5	106.3	105.4	2-4	2-4
Rutgers	100.7	99.7	100.2	100.2	2-5	2-5
Michigan St.	99.1	98.6	99.7	99.2	2-4	2-4
Maryland	95.1	95.1	94.8	95.0	2-2	2-2
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Wisconsin	123.0	121.2	124.1	122.8	2-2	2-2
Iowa	116.9	116.6	118.7	117.4	5-2	5-2
Northwestern	110.9	111.0	113.4	111.8	5-1	5-1
Minnesota	106.0	106.5	107.4	106.6	2-3	2-3
Nebraska	105.7	105.2	107.2	106.1	2-4	2-4
Illinois	103.9	103.3	104.8	104.0	2-4	2-4
Purdue	103.4	103.5	104.1	103.7	2-4	2-4
Big Ten Avg.	109.3	108.9	110.5	109.5
Conference USA
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	CUSA	Overall
Marshall	99.6	99.9	99.2	99.5	4-1	7-1
W. Kentucky	91.2	91.7	90.8	91.2	4-3	5-6
Fla. Atlantic	87.7	88.8	88.4	88.3	4-1	5-2
Florida Int’l.	85.7	85.5	85.3	85.5	0-3	0-5
Charlotte	83.5	83.6	83.2	83.4	2-2	2-4
Middle Tenn.	82.2	82.5	82.3	82.3	2-4	3-6
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	CUSA	Overall
U A B	95.3	95.8	94.7	95.3	2-1	4-3
Rice	88.1	86.1	87.2	87.1	2-2	2-2
La. Tech	85.5	86.5	85.8	86.0	4-2	5-3
U T S A	85.2	85.6	85.4	85.4	5-2	7-4
Southern Miss.	80.5	80.8	79.6	80.3	1-4	2-7
North Texas	75.5	75.7	75.1	75.5	2-4	3-5
U T E P	67.8	70.2	67.7	68.6	0-3	3-4
CUSA Avg.	85.2	85.6	85.0	85.3
FBS Independents
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
BYU	115.0	114.8	115.4	115.1	x	9-1
Liberty	100.0	102.9	100.8	101.2	x	9-1
Army	92.8	94.3	92.7	93.3	x	6-2
Mass.	61.7	67.5	59.9	63.0	x	0-4
Ind. Avg.	92.4	94.9	92.2	93.2
Mid-American Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Buffalo	104.3	105.0	105.1	104.8	4-0	4-0
Ohio	94.4	95.1	95.3	94.9	2-1	2-1
Miami (O)	92.4	91.5	92.1	92.0	2-1	2-1
Kent St.	91.2	90.7	90.7	90.9	3-1	3-1
Akron	70.1	72.2	68.7	70.3	1-4	1-4
Bowling Green	65.1	66.4	61.8	64.4	0-5	0-5
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Ball St.	95.7	95.5	95.9	95.7	4-1	4-1
Toledo	92.2	93.4	92.1	92.6	3-2	3-2
Western Mich.	91.5	93.3	92.3	92.4	4-1	4-1
Central Mich.	91.9	91.9	92.0	91.9	3-2	3-2
Eastern Mich.	83.6	85.4	84.2	84.4	1-4	1-4
N. Illinois	80.9	82.2	81.1	81.4	0-5	0-5
MAC Avg.	87.8	88.5	87.6	88.0
Mountain West Conference
Mountain Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Boise St.	107.2	107.2	106.9	107.1	4-0	4-1
Air Force	101.7	102.4	101.7	101.9	2-2	3-2
Wyoming	96.0	97.1	96.4	96.5	2-3	2-3
Colorado St.	89.5	90.3	89.5	89.8	1-3	1-3
Utah St.	84.4	84.1	83.5	84.0	1-5	1-5
New Mexico	83.7	84.4	82.9	83.7	1-5	1-5
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
San Diego St.	98.2	99.2	98.3	98.6	4-2	4-3
San Jose St.	96.1	97.8	96.3	96.7	5-0	5-0
Nevada	96.0	96.9	96.7	96.6	6-1	6-1
Fresno St.	95.0	95.6	94.7	95.1	3-2	3-2
Hawaii	92.7	93.0	92.0	92.5	3-4	3-4
U N L V	79.5	80.6	78.7	79.6	0-5	0-5
MWC Avg.	93.3	94.1	93.1	93.5
Pac-12 Conference
North Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Oregon	115.5	113.9	114.9	114.8	3-2	3-2
Washington	109.4	108.0	109.8	109.1	3-1	3-1
California	105.4	105.1	105.1	105.2	1-3	1-3
Oregon St.	104.3	104.4	103.7	104.1	2-3	2-3
Washington St.	103.7	102.3	104.2	103.4	1-2	1-2
Stanford	104.1	102.1	103.5	103.2	2-2	2-2
South Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
U S C	118.6	116.0	117.7	117.5	4-0	4-0
U C L A	108.2	107.3	107.4	107.6	3-2	3-2
Utah	107.0	106.9	107.7	107.2	1-2	1-2
Arizona St.	106.7	106.0	106.3	106.3	0-2	0-2
Colorado	102.2	103.2	101.0	102.1	3-0	4-0
Arizona	99.1	97.5	97.9	98.2	0-4	0-4
P12 Avg.	107.0	106.0	106.6	106.6
Southeastern Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SEC	Overall
Florida	124.0	123.6	124.8	124.1	8-1	8-1
Georgia	121.5	120.5	122.1	121.4	6-2	6-2
Kentucky	109.1	109.0	110.1	109.4	4-6	4-6
Missouri	107.7	107.6	108.7	108.0	5-3	5-3
Tennessee	105.4	104.7	105.3	105.1	2-6	2-6
S. Carolina	100.5	98.8	99.7	99.7	2-8	2-8
Vanderbilt	89.2	88.5	88.5	88.8	0-8	0-8
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SEC	Overall
Alabama	138.5	139.4	140.8	139.6	9-0	9-0
Texas A&M	121.6	121.6	122.3	121.8	7-1	7-1
Auburn	115.4	114.4	115.3	115.0	5-4	5-4
L S U	112.7	111.9	113.6	112.7	3-5	3-5
Ole Miss	109.0	107.9	109.0	108.6	4-4	4-4
Miss. St.	104.6	104.0	105.2	104.6	2-6	2-6
Arkansas	103.6	104.2	103.8	103.9	3-6	3-6
SEC Avg.	111.6	111.1	112.1	111.6
Sunbelt Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SBC	Overall
Coastal Car.	107.8	108.5	108.8	108.4	7-0	10-0
Appal. St.	103.4	102.9	103.5	103.3	5-2	7-3
Georgia Sou.	92.7	93.5	93.0	93.1	4-3	7-4
Georgia St.	91.8	92.1	92.3	92.1	4-4	5-4
Troy	90.3	91.3	90.4	90.7	3-5	5-5
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SBC	Overall
Louisiana	105.7	105.3	105.3	105.4	7-1	9-1
Arkansas St.	87.6	88.2	87.0	87.6	2-6	4-7
S. Alabama	81.8	82.7	81.7	82.1	3-5	4-7
Texas St.	81.0	81.5	80.2	80.9	2-6	2-10
UL-Monroe	68.0	67.9	66.5	67.5	0-7	0-10
Sun Avg.	91.0	91.4	90.9	91.1

Rating of Conferences

#	League	Avg
1	SEC	111.6
2	BTen	109.5
3	P12	106.6
4	B12	106.4
5	ACC	106.1
6	AAC	100.2
7	MWC	93.5
8	Ind.	93.2
9	Sun	91.1
10	MAC	88.0
11	CUSA	85.3

PiRate Ratings–College Football For November 4-7, 2020

This Week’s PiRate Ratings Spreads

Home	Visitors	PiRate	Mean	Bias
Kent St.	Eastern Mich.	9.2	6.4	8.3
Akron	Western Mich.	-14.5	-14.2	-17.3
Northern Ill.	Buffalo	-12.3	-11.2	-12.9
Central Mich.	Ohio	0.4	-0.9	-1.2
Miami (O)	Ball St.	3.5	2.8	2.4
Toledo	Bowling Green	15.6	15.1	19.0
Nevada	Utah St.	3.9	5.3	5.7
Colorado St.	Wyoming	-8.6	-9.2	-10.0
NC St.	Miami (Fla.)	-7.4	-9.4	-7.4
San Diego St.	San Jose St.	9.7	9.2	11.0
Boise St.	BYU	1.6	2.1	1.2
Ohio St.	Rutgers	36.7	37.0	41.1
Kansas St.	Oklahoma St.	-5.0	-5.1	-4.5
Indiana	Michigan	0.6	1.8	1.3
Penn St.	Maryland	30.9	29.7	32.5
Iowa St.	Baylor	6.3	5.9	6.8
Northwestern	Nebraska	2.1	2.8	3.3
Illnois	Minnesota	-2.3	-3.6	-2.9
Army	Air Force	–3.4	–2.3	–3.0
Duke	North Carolina	-10.3	-10.4	-11.9
USC	Arizona St.	10.9	8.7	9.9
Temple	SMU	-6.2	-5.8	-6.6
Memphis	USF	20.9	21.6	22.0
East Carolina	Tulane	-4.1	-4.2	-4.4
Navy	Tulsa	-7.3	-7.0	-7.4
Iowa	Michigan St.	11.7	11.6	12.6
Texas	West Va.	11.6	10.5	11.7
Georgia St.	UL-Monroe	17.5	17.4	18.6
Virginia Tech	Liberty	17.0	14.8	17.4
Louisiana	Arkansas St.	17.1	15.7	16.8
Georgia Southern	Troy	2.3	1.7	2.0
Syracuse	Boston College	-11.7	-10.4	-12.0
Marshall	UMass	42.7	35.9	44.3
Texas St.	Appalachian St.	-20.0	-18.7	-21.9
Florida (N)	Georgia	-3.3	-2.8	-3.4
Cincinnati	Houston	16.7	17.6	18.1
Wisconsin	Purdue	21.3	18.3	21.0
Oklahoma	Kansas	39.1	39.0	40.7
Rice	UTSA	11.2	8.7	10.5
Middle Tenn.	Charlotte	-2.7	-2.7	-2.6
TCU	Texas Tech	10.9	9.8	10.7
UNLV	Fresno St.	-10.5	-9.7	-11.0
Utah	Arizona	10.3	11.7	12.2
Mississippi St.	Vanderbilt	16.8	17.1	19.0
UTEP	Florida Intl.	-18.9	-16.2	-18.9
Florida St.	Pittsburgh	3.4	1.1	3.5
Fla. Atlantic	Western Ky.	-2.7	-2.1	-2.1
South Carolina	Texas A&M	-0.8	-2.7	-1.2
North Texas	Louisiana Tech	-7.8	-8.2	-8.1
Colorado	UCLA	-1.9	0.9	-2.1
Notre Dame	Clemson	-1.7	-3.3	-4.8
Oregon	Stanford	16.9	17.9	17.6
Arkansas	Tennessee	-4.0	-2.8	-5.3
Coastal Carolina	South Alabama	21.0	20.5	22.0
Virginia	Louisville	-2.3	-1.8	-1.1
Oregon St.	Washington St.	0.2	1.8	-2.1
California	Washington	–0.7	0.8	–1.1
Hawaii	New Mexico	15.7	15.0	16.1

Games with Strike-through lines have been cancelled this week

FBS vs. FCS
FBS	FCS	PiRate
Southern Miss.	N. Alabama	14.0

*** 10 games out of 48 scheduled means that more than 20% of scheduled games fell victim to the virus this week! ***

This Week’s PiRate Ratings

11/01/2020
#	Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg.	Conference
1	Ohio St.	132.8	131.8	135.7	133.4	BTen-E
2	Alabama	130.1	131.2	132.4	131.2	SEC-W
3	Clemson	126.5	127.4	129.1	127.7	ACC
4	Wisconsin	125.3	123.0	126.3	124.9	BTen-W
5	Georgia	123.9	122.9	124.8	123.9	SEC-E
6	Notre Dame	122.3	121.6	121.8	121.9	ACC
7	Florida	120.6	120.1	121.4	120.7	SEC-E
8	Penn St.	120.8	119.5	121.5	120.6	BTen-E
9	Oregon	119.5	117.9	119.3	118.9	P12-N
10	Oklahoma	117.9	117.3	118.1	117.8	B12
11	Cincinnati	116.9	116.3	117.0	116.7	AAC
12	Auburn	116.6	115.3	116.6	116.2	SEC-W
13	L S U	115.7	114.8	117.3	115.9	SEC-W
14	U S C	116.2	113.5	115.2	115.0	P12-S
15	Oklahoma St.	115.3	114.5	115.0	114.9	B12
16	Texas A&M	114.2	114.3	114.3	114.3	SEC-W
17	Texas	114.3	113.1	114.4	113.9	B12
18	Michigan	112.5	111.9	114.2	112.9	BTen-E
19	UCF	112.6	112.7	113.3	112.9	AAC
20	N. Carolina	112.4	112.7	113.4	112.8	ACC
21	Indiana	111.1	111.7	113.5	112.1	BTen-E
22	Kentucky	111.7	111.7	112.9	112.1	SEC-E
23	BYU	111.4	111.0	111.7	111.4	Ind.
24	Iowa	110.5	110.1	112.0	110.9	BTen-W
25	Iowa St.	111.0	110.2	111.2	110.8	B12
26	Boise St.	110.5	110.6	110.4	110.5	MWC-M
27	Virginia Tech	109.9	110.3	111.3	110.5	ACC
28	S. Carolina	110.9	109.1	110.6	110.2	SEC-E
29	Miami (Fla.)	109.2	111.5	109.7	110.1	ACC
30	Washington	110.2	108.9	110.9	110.0	P12-N
31	Utah	109.3	108.9	110.0	109.4	P12-S
32	Northwestern	107.4	107.5	110.0	108.3	BTen-W
33	Tennessee	108.4	107.9	108.7	108.3	SEC-E
34	Louisville	108.3	108.2	107.6	108.0	ACC
35	California	107.5	107.7	107.8	107.7	P12-N
36	Arizona St.	107.8	107.4	107.8	107.6	P12-S
37	Nebraska	107.3	106.7	108.7	107.6	BTen-W
38	Kansas St.	107.8	106.9	108.0	107.6	B12
39	Minnesota	106.6	107.1	108.0	107.2	BTen-W
40	Purdue	106.5	107.2	107.8	107.2	BTen-W
41	Ole Miss	107.3	106.2	107.2	106.9	SEC-W
42	Baylor	106.7	106.3	106.4	106.5	B12
43	T C U	107.0	104.7	106.9	106.2	B12
44	Memphis	106.9	105.9	105.8	106.2	AAC
45	W. Virginia	105.2	105.1	105.2	105.2	B12
46	Missouri	104.4	104.3	105.6	104.8	SEC-E
47	Washington St.	104.8	103.5	105.9	104.7	P12-N
48	Coastal Car.	103.9	104.6	104.8	104.4	SUN-E
49	Virginia	104.0	104.3	104.4	104.3	ACC
50	Miss. St.	104.2	103.6	104.9	104.2	SEC-W
51	Wake Forest	103.5	104.2	104.0	103.9	ACC
52	Stanford	105.0	102.5	104.2	103.9	P12-N
53	Boston Coll.	103.4	103.6	104.1	103.7	ACC
54	Appal. St.	102.8	102.0	103.3	102.7	SUN-E
55	Oregon St.	103.0	103.3	101.8	102.7	P12-N
56	Tulsa	103.6	101.9	101.9	102.4	AAC
57	Louisiana	102.8	102.1	102.1	102.3	SUN-W
58	Illinois	102.2	101.5	103.2	102.3	BTen-W
59	Marshall	102.3	102.2	101.7	102.0	CUSA-E
60	Arkansas	101.8	102.6	101.0	101.8	SEC-W
61	Houston	102.7	101.2	101.4	101.8	AAC
62	San Diego St.	100.8	102.1	101.8	101.6	MWC-W
63	Michigan St.	101.3	101.0	101.8	101.4	BTen-E
64	U C L A	102.2	100.7	100.3	101.1	P12-S
65	Florida St.	101.2	100.1	101.0	100.8	ACC
66	SMU	101.0	100.5	100.2	100.6	AAC
67	Pittsburgh	100.3	101.4	100.0	100.6	ACC
68	Arizona	101.4	99.7	100.4	100.5	P12-S
69	Duke	100.6	100.8	100.0	100.4	ACC
70	NC State	99.8	100.1	100.3	100.1	ACC
71	Air Force	99.8	100.4	99.5	99.9	MWC-M
72	Wyoming	98.9	100.3	100.0	99.7	MWC-M
73	Tulane	99.1	98.9	98.2	98.7	AAC
74	Texas Tech	98.1	96.9	98.3	97.8	B12
75	Rutgers	98.6	97.3	97.1	97.7	BTen-E
76	Colorado	97.8	99.1	95.7	97.5	P12-S
77	Buffalo	96.7	97.3	97.6	97.2	MAC-E
78	Liberty	94.9	97.5	95.9	96.1	Ind.
79	U A B	95.8	96.3	95.2	95.8	CUSA-W
80	Ohio	94.3	95.1	96.0	95.1	MAC-E
81	Hawaii	94.9	94.9	94.1	94.6	MWC-W
82	Army	93.9	95.6	94.0	94.5	Ind.
83	Miami (O)	94.7	93.2	94.0	93.9	MAC-E
84	San Jose St.	93.1	94.9	92.8	93.6	MWC-W
85	Fresno St.	93.5	94.0	93.2	93.6	MWC-W
86	Georgia Sou.	92.9	93.7	93.3	93.3	SUN-E
87	Troy	92.6	94.0	93.2	93.3	SUN-E
88	Navy	94.3	92.9	92.4	93.2	AAC
89	Georgia Tech	93.7	93.0	92.8	93.2	ACC
90	Central Mich.	93.2	92.7	93.3	93.1	MAC-W
91	E. Carolina	93.0	92.8	91.8	92.5	AAC
92	Ball St.	92.6	91.9	93.0	92.5	MAC-W
93	Temple	92.8	92.8	91.6	92.4	AAC
94	Nevada	91.4	92.2	92.3	92.0	MWC-W
95	Maryland	91.9	91.8	91.0	91.6	BTen-E
96	Florida Int’l.	91.3	91.0	91.3	91.2	CUSA-E
97	Syracuse	89.7	91.2	90.1	90.4	ACC
98	Western Mich.	89.1	91.2	90.4	90.2	MAC-W
99	W. Kentucky	89.7	90.3	89.6	89.9	CUSA-E
100	Kent St.	90.1	89.4	89.5	89.7	MAC-E
101	Vanderbilt	89.9	89.0	88.4	89.1	SEC-E
102	Colorado St.	88.7	89.5	88.5	88.9	MWC-M
103	Toledo	88.5	89.7	88.0	88.7	MAC-W
104	Utah St.	89.0	88.5	88.2	88.6	MWC-M
105	Georgia St.	88.6	88.6	88.4	88.5	SUN-E
106	Rice	88.9	86.8	88.2	88.0	CUSA-W
107	Arkansas St.	87.7	88.4	87.3	87.8	SUN-W
108	USF	88.0	86.4	85.8	86.7	AAC
109	La. Tech	86.1	87.0	86.2	86.5	CUSA-W
110	Fla. Atlantic	85.0	86.2	85.5	85.5	CUSA-E
111	Charlotte	85.3	85.5	85.2	85.4	CUSA-E
112	S. Alabama	84.9	86.1	84.9	85.3	SUN-W
113	N. Illinois	82.8	84.6	83.2	83.6	MAC-W
114	Eastern Mich.	82.4	84.5	82.8	83.2	MAC-W
115	New Mexico	83.2	83.9	81.9	83.0	MWC-M
116	U N L V	81.5	82.8	80.8	81.7	MWC-W
117	Middle Tenn.	81.1	81.3	81.1	81.2	CUSA-E
118	Southern Miss.	81.1	81.3	79.8	80.7	CUSA-W
119	Kansas	81.3	80.8	79.9	80.7	B12
120	Texas St.	80.8	81.3	79.5	80.5	SUN-W
121	U T S A	79.2	79.6	79.2	79.3	CUSA-W
122	North Texas	76.8	77.3	76.6	76.9	CUSA-W
123	Bowling Green	74.4	76.1	70.6	73.7	MAC-E
124	Akron	73.1	75.5	71.5	73.4	MAC-E
125	UL-Monroe	72.6	72.7	71.4	72.2	SUN-W
126	U T E P	70.4	72.7	70.5	71.2	CUSA-W
127	Mass.	62.1	68.7	59.9	63.6	Ind.

PiRate Ratings By Conference

American Athletic Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	AAC	Overall
Cincinnati	116.9	116.3	117.0	116.7	3-0	5-0
UCF	112.6	112.7	113.3	112.9	3-2	4-2
Memphis	106.9	105.9	105.8	106.2	2-2	3-2
Tulsa	103.6	101.9	101.9	102.4	3-0	3-1
Houston	102.7	101.2	101.4	101.8	2-1	2-2
SMU	101.0	100.5	100.2	100.6	3-1	6-1
Tulane	99.1	98.9	98.2	98.7	1-4	3-4
Navy	94.3	92.9	92.4	93.2	3-2	3-4
E. Carolina	93.0	92.8	91.8	92.5	1-2	1-4
Temple	92.8	92.8	91.6	92.4	1-3	1-3
USF	88.0	86.4	85.8	86.7	0-4	1-5
AAC Avg.	101.0	100.2	99.9	100.4
Atlantic Coast Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	ACC	Overall
Clemson	126.5	127.4	129.1	127.7	6-0	7-0
Notre Dame	122.3	121.6	121.8	121.9	5-0	6-0
N. Carolina	112.4	112.7	113.4	112.8	4-2	4-2
Virginia Tech	109.9	110.3	111.3	110.5	4-2	4-2
Miami (Fla.)	109.2	111.5	109.7	110.1	4-1	5-1
Louisville	108.3	108.2	107.6	108.0	1-5	2-5
Virginia	104.0	104.3	104.4	104.3	2-4	2-4
Wake Forest	103.5	104.2	104.0	103.9	3-2	4-2
Boston Coll.	103.4	103.6	104.1	103.7	3-3	4-3
Florida St.	101.2	100.1	101.0	100.8	1-4	2-4
Pittsburgh	100.3	101.4	100.0	100.6	2-4	3-4
Duke	100.6	100.8	100.0	100.4	1-5	2-5
NC State	99.8	100.1	100.3	100.1	4-2	4-2
Georgia Tech	93.7	93.0	92.8	93.2	2-4	2-5
Syracuse	89.7	91.2	90.1	90.4	1-5	1-6
ACC Avg.	105.7	106.0	106.0	105.9
Big 12 Conference
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	B12	Overall
Oklahoma	117.9	117.3	118.1	117.8	3-2	4-2
Oklahoma St.	115.3	114.5	115.0	114.9	3-1	4-1
Texas	114.3	113.1	114.4	113.9	3-2	4-2
Iowa St.	111.0	110.2	111.2	110.8	4-1	4-2
Kansas St.	107.8	106.9	108.0	107.6	4-1	4-2
Baylor	106.7	106.3	106.4	106.5	1-3	1-3
T C U	107.0	104.7	106.9	106.2	2-3	2-3
W. Virginia	105.2	105.1	105.2	105.2	3-2	4-2
Texas Tech	98.1	96.9	98.3	97.8	1-4	2-4
Kansas	81.3	80.8	79.9	80.7	0-5	0-6
Big 12 Avg.	106.5	105.6	106.4	106.1
Big Ten Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Ohio St.	132.8	131.8	135.7	133.4	2-0	2-0
Penn St.	120.8	119.5	121.5	120.6	0-2	0-2
Michigan	112.5	111.9	114.2	112.9	1-1	1-1
Indiana	111.1	111.7	113.5	112.1	2-0	2-0
Michigan St.	101.3	101.0	101.8	101.4	1-1	1-1
Rutgers	98.6	97.3	97.1	97.7	1-1	1-1
Maryland	91.9	91.8	91.0	91.6	1-1	1-1
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Average	BTen	Overall
Wisconsin	125.3	123.0	126.3	124.9	1-0	1-0
Iowa	110.5	110.1	112.0	110.9	0-2	0-2
Northwestern	107.4	107.5	110.0	108.3	2-0	2-0
Nebraska	107.3	106.7	108.7	107.6	0-1	0-1
Minnesota	106.6	107.1	108.0	107.2	0-2	0-2
Purdue	106.5	107.2	107.8	107.2	2-0	2-0
Illinois	102.2	101.5	103.2	102.3	0-2	0-2
Big Ten Avg.	109.6	109.2	110.8	109.9
Conference USA
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	CUSA	Overall
Marshall	102.3	102.2	101.7	102.0	3-0	5-0
Florida Int’l.	91.3	91.0	91.3	91.2	0-1	0-3
W. Kentucky	89.7	90.3	89.6	89.9	1-2	2-5
Fla. Atlantic	85.0	86.2	85.5	85.5	2-1	2-1
Charlotte	85.3	85.5	85.2	85.4	2-1	2-3
Middle Tenn.	81.1	81.3	81.1	81.2	2-3	2-5
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	CUSA	Overall
U A B	95.8	96.3	95.2	95.8	2-1	4-3
Rice	88.9	86.8	88.2	88.0	1-1	1-1
La. Tech	86.1	87.0	86.2	86.5	3-2	4-3
Southern Miss.	81.1	81.3	79.8	80.7	1-2	1-5
U T S A	79.2	79.6	79.2	79.3	2-2	4-4
North Texas	76.8	77.3	76.6	76.9	1-2	2-3
U T E P	70.4	72.7	70.5	71.2	0-2	3-3
CUSA Avg.	85.6	86.0	85.4	85.7
FBS Independents
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
BYU	111.4	111.0	111.7	111.4	x	7-0
Liberty	94.9	97.5	95.9	96.1	x	6-0
Army	93.9	95.6	94.0	94.5	x	5-1
Mass.	62.1	68.7	59.9	63.6	x	0-1
Ind. Avg.	90.6	93.2	90.4	91.4
Mid-American Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Buffalo	96.7	97.3	97.6	97.2	0-0	0-0
Ohio	94.3	95.1	96.0	95.1	0-0	0-0
Miami (O)	94.7	93.2	94.0	93.9	0-0	0-0
Kent St.	90.1	89.4	89.5	89.7	0-0	0-0
Bowling Green	74.4	76.1	70.6	73.7	0-0	0-0
Akron	73.1	75.5	71.5	73.4	0-0	0-0
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Central Mich.	93.2	92.7	93.3	93.1	0-0	0-0
Ball St.	92.6	91.9	93.0	92.5	0-0	0-0
Western Mich.	89.1	91.2	90.4	90.2	0-0	0-0
Toledo	88.5	89.7	88.0	88.7	0-0	0-0
N. Illinois	82.8	84.6	83.2	83.6	0-0	0-0
Eastern Mich.	82.4	84.5	82.8	83.2	0-0	0-0
MAC Avg.	87.6	88.4	87.5	87.9
Mountain West Conference
Mountain Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Boise St.	110.5	110.6	110.4	110.5	2-0	2-0
Air Force	99.8	100.4	99.5	99.9	0-2	1-2
Wyoming	98.9	100.3	100.0	99.7	1-1	1-1
Colorado St.	88.7	89.5	88.5	88.9	0-1	0-1
Utah St.	89.0	88.5	88.2	88.6	0-2	0-2
New Mexico	83.2	83.9	81.9	83.0	0-1	0-1
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
San Diego St.	100.8	102.1	101.8	101.6	2-0	2-0
Hawaii	94.9	94.9	94.1	94.6	1-1	1-1
San Jose St.	93.1	94.9	92.8	93.6	2-0	2-0
Fresno St.	93.5	94.0	93.2	93.6	1-1	1-1
Nevada	91.4	92.2	92.3	92.0	2-0	2-0
U N L V	81.5	82.8	80.8	81.7	0-2	0-2
MWC Avg.	93.8	94.5	93.6	94.0
Pac-12 Conference
North Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
Oregon	119.5	117.9	119.3	118.9	0-0	0-0
Washington	110.2	108.9	110.9	110.0	0-0	0-0
California	107.5	107.7	107.8	107.7	0-0	0-0
Washington St.	104.8	103.5	105.9	104.7	0-0	0-0
Stanford	105.0	102.5	104.2	103.9	0-0	0-0
Oregon St.	103.0	103.3	101.8	102.7	0-0	0-0
South Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	Conf.	Overall
U S C	116.2	113.5	115.2	115.0	0-0	0-0
Utah	109.3	108.9	110.0	109.4	0-0	0-0
Arizona St.	107.8	107.4	107.8	107.6	0-0	0-0
U C L A	102.2	100.7	100.3	101.1	0-0	0-0
Arizona	101.4	99.7	100.4	100.5	0-0	0-0
Colorado	97.8	99.1	95.7	97.5	0-0	0-0
P12 Avg.	107.1	106.1	106.6	106.6
Southeastern Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SEC	Overall
Georgia	123.9	122.9	124.8	123.9	4-1	4-1
Florida	120.6	120.1	121.4	120.7	3-1	3-1
Kentucky	111.7	111.7	112.9	112.1	2-4	2-4
S. Carolina	110.9	109.1	110.6	110.2	2-3	2-3
Tennessee	108.4	107.9	108.7	108.3	2-3	2-3
Missouri	104.4	104.3	105.6	104.8	2-3	2-3
Vanderbilt	89.9	89.0	88.4	89.1	0-4	0-4
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SEC	Overall
Alabama	130.1	131.2	132.4	131.2	6-0	6-0
Auburn	116.6	115.3	116.6	116.2	4-2	4-2
L S U	115.7	114.8	117.3	115.9	2-3	2-3
Texas A&M	114.2	114.3	114.3	114.3	4-1	4-1
Ole Miss	107.3	106.2	107.2	106.9	2-4	2-4
Miss. St.	104.2	103.6	104.9	104.2	1-4	1-4
Arkansas	101.8	102.6	101.0	101.8	2-3	2-3
SEC Avg.	111.4	110.9	111.9	111.4
Sunbelt Conference
East Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SBC	Overall
Coastal Car.	103.9	104.6	104.8	104.4	4-0	6-0
Appal. St.	102.8	102.0	103.3	102.7	2-0	4-1
Georgia Sou.	92.9	93.7	93.3	93.3	2-2	4-2
Troy	92.6	94.0	93.2	93.3	2-1	4-2
Georgia St.	88.6	88.6	88.4	88.5	1-3	2-3
West Division
Team	PiRate	Mean	Bias	Avg	SBC	Overall
Louisiana	102.8	102.1	102.1	102.3	3-1	5-1
Arkansas St.	87.7	88.4	87.3	87.8	1-3	3-4
S. Alabama	84.9	86.1	84.9	85.3	2-1	3-3
Texas St.	80.8	81.3	79.5	80.5	1-3	1-7
UL-Monroe	72.6	72.7	71.4	72.2	0-4	0-7
Sun Avg.	91.0	91.3	90.8	91.0

Conference Ratings

#	League	Avg
1	SEC	111.4
2	BTen	109.9
3	P12	106.6
4	B12	106.1
5	ACC	105.9
6	AAC	100.4
7	MWC	94.0
8	Ind.	91.4
9	Sun	91.0
10	MAC	87.9
11	CUSA	85.7

NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments–March 9 Update

Three More Tickets Punched

Horizon League Championship

Butler 59  Milwaukee 44

 The Bulldogs held Milwaukee to 30% shooting from the field, and Matt Howard connected on seven of nine shots to pace Butler with 18 points, as the defending National Final runner-up earned another spot in the Big Dance.

 Summit League Championship

Oakland 90  Oral Roberts 76 

The Golden Grizzlies displayed a great offensive show with the aid of numerous first half steals by Drew Valentine and Reggie Hamilton to build a double-digit lead by the break.  After withstanding an early second half run by the Golden Eagles, Oakland pulled away to win the automatic bid.  

Keith Benson topped Oakland with 28 points and 14 rebounds.  Hamilton added 25 with six assists, while Will Hudson recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

 

Sunbelt Conference Championship

U A L R  64  North Texas  63 

The Trojans won their first Sunbelt Championship and earned their first bid to the NCAA Tournament since 1990.

 

SBC Player of the Year Solomon Bozeman drove from the backcourt to the left side of the top of the key and drained a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining to give UALR the decisive points.  Bozeman scored a game-high 20 points. 

North Texas had led by seven points with less than two minutes to go, but the Mean Green wilted under the Trojan pressure defense.  With one last chance to try to win, UNT committed a turnover on the inbounds pass. 

11 Automatic Qualifiers To Date

Team	Conference	Record
Arkansas-Little Rock	Sunbelt	19-16
Belmont	Atlantic South	30-4
Butler	Horizon	23-9
Gonzaga	West Coast	24-9
Indiana State	Missouri Valley	20-13
Morehead State	Ohio Valley	24-9
Oakland	Summit	25-9
Old Dominion	Colonial	27-6
St. Peter’s	Metro Atlantic	20-13
UNC-Asheville	Big South	19-13
Wofford	Southern	21-12

 

Two Tickets To Be Punched Tonight

Big Sky Tournament Championship @ 9PM ET On ESPN2

#2 Montana (21-9) at #1 Northern Colorado (20-10)

 

Semifinal Round

Montana 57  Weber State 40

Northern Colorado 73  Northern Arizona 70

 

These two split their regular season series with Northern Colorado winning 63-45 in Greeley, and Montana winning 55-42 in Missoula.  Tonight’s game will be played at Butler-Hancock Hall in Greeley, so Northern Colorado will enjoy the home court advantage. 

This game is a great study in contrasts.  Northern Colorado is a quicker team, but Montana is a stronger team.  Northern Colorado has one exceptionally dominant player, while Montana has more, albeit less exceptional, weapons.

 

The Bears’ offense runs through 6-1 senior guard Devon Beitzel.  Beitzel averages a league-best 21 points per game, and he is deadly at the free throw line, where he connects on 91% of his tosses. 

The rest of the team collectively shoots under 41% from the field and commits more turnovers than assists, so if the Grizzlies can stop Beitzel, or at least limit his touches, they have a chance of defending their crown.

 

Montana has the dominant big man in the conference in 6-11/260 senior center Brian Qvale.  If the Grizzlies can keep this game a half-court affair, they stand a great chance of winning with Qvale plugging the middle on defense and controlling the boards at both ends of the court.  Qvale averages 15 points and nine boards a game, and he had a double-double with 16 points and 17 rebounds in the semifinal round.  Montana likes to limit possessions, so those numbers are even more impressive than they look. 

In the win over UNC, Montana held the Bears to 23.3% shooting, while they shot just 32.6% in the loss at Greeley.

 

It is our opinion that the visiting number two seed will pull off the mild upset over the host numbone seed, but it is not a strong feeling. 

 Northeast Conference Tournament Championship @ 7PM ET On ESPN2

#3 Robert Morris (18-13) at #1 Long Island (26-5)

Semifinal Round

Long Island 69  Central Connecticut 67

Robert Morris 64  Quinnipiac 62

Brooklyn has not been this excited over one of their own sports teams since the Dodgers won the 1955 World Series.  Long Island is one of the most exciting teams in the nation, and their 26-5 record has throngs of Brooklynites cramming into the Wellness, Recreation, and Athletic Center.  The WRAC holds just 2,500 seats, but you can bet that more than that amount will find their way into the game tonight, as they “Pack the WRAC.” 

Those fans will be converging to the corner of Ashland and Dekalb tonight, dressed in all white, to watch what could be a blowout win for their team.   

LIU is on a roll.  The Blackbirds have won 12 games in a row (longest current streak in the nation) and 20 of their previous 21 games.  They average almost 83 points per game.  The Blackbirds have exceptional depth with eight players capable of scoring 15 or more points. 

 

The Blackbirds pose difficult matchups with their roster, as they rely on quick guards and medium-sized forwards with great leaping ability to play at a fast pace.  There is no center on the roster, but the two 6-7 forwards have controlled the boards in most games this year. 

Those forwards are Julian Boyd and Jamal Olasewere, who team up for 25.4 points and 15.7 rebounds per game.

 5-10 backup guard Jason Brickman plays just 22 minutes per game, but he leads the team with 5.3 assists per game.  When he comes in the game, the pace picks up, and the Blackbirds shoot a lot of threes in transition.

 

Robert Morris is definitely not cannon fodder.  The Colonials are the two-time defending NEC Tournament champions, and they believe they can three peat even on the road in hostile conditions. 

The Colonials have won eight games in a row, relying on a stellar defense that limits possessions and pressures the guards.  They are missing their leading scorer, as 5-9 guard Karon Abraham’s season ended two weeks ago with a torn Achilles Tendon.  On the positive side, Abraham missed RMU’s win at LIU on December 2, as he was serving a multi-game suspension. 

Velton Jones and Russell Johnson will have to shine tonight for the Colonials to pull off the upset.  The duo are the only double figure scorers left, but both shoot less than 39% from the field. 

Without Abraham, RMU shoots just 33.7% from behind the arc, so the only way they can possibly win tonight is to replicate the formula that was successful more than three months ago—control the tempo and prevent LIU from getting off any uncontested three-pointers. 

We believe this game will begin slowly with RMU taking the lead in the early stages.  Somewhere in the first half, LIU will go on one of their patented runs and gain the lead.  Then, a second spurt will give them a commanding lead.  RMU might cut into that lead, but we believe in the end, the Blackbirds will be celebrating at the WRAC.  We do not believe the Brooklynites will be crying “Wait ‘Til Next Year.”  This will be like October of 1955 in the borough.

 

Yesterday’s Other Tournament Results

Atlantic 10 Conference

First Round

LaSalle 75  St. Bonaventure 73  2ot

St. Joseph’s 71  George Washington 59  ot

Rhode Island 70  St. Louis 61

Dayton 78  U Mass 50

 

Big East Conference

First Round

Connecticut 97  DePaul 71

Rutgers 76  Seton Hall 70 ot

South Florida 70  Villanova 69

Marquette 87  Providence 66 

M A C

First Round

Bowling Green 74  Northern Illinois 54

Ohio U 74  Toledo 57

Akron 67  Eastern Michigan 53

Buffalo 64  Central Michigan 50

 

M E A C

First Round

MD-Eastern Shore 87  F A M U 85  2ot

S. C. State 64  Delaware State 59 

Ivy League Playoff Set

Princeton defeated rival Penn 70-58 last night in Philadelphia, forcing a one-game playoff for the Ivy League’s automatic berth.  Princeton (24-6) will take on co-champion Harvard (23-5) Saturday afternoon at 4PM Eastern Time.  The game will be played at Yale University in New Haven, CT, and it can be seen live on ESPN3.com.

Princeton has appeared in all seven Ivy League tiebreaking playoff games in the history of the league.  This is Harvard’s first Ivy League basketball championship of any kind.  The Crimson last appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1946. 

There is a chance that the loser of this game could hold a slim chance of earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.  Harvard is ranked #35 in the RPI, while Princeton is ranked #49.  Harvard has two wins over top 50 teams as well as three losses.  Their biggest win was at Boston College.  Princeton has just one win against the top 50 and two losses.  For the Ivy to earn two bids, the Tigers have to win Saturday and hope Harvard’s high RPI is enough to earn the second bid. 

Conference Tournaments In Action Today

Big 12 Conference

Tournament Site: Kansas City

1^st Round Games

#8 Nebraska (19-11) vs. #9 Oklahoma State (18-12)  12:30 PM ET

#5 Colorado (19-12) vs. #12 Iowa State (16-15)  3 PM ET

#7 Baylor (18-12) vs. #10 Oklahoma (13-17)  7PM ET

#6 Missouri (22-9) vs. #11 Texas Tech (13-18) 9:30 PM ET 

Big East Conference

Tournament Site: New York City

2^nd Round Games

#8 Georgetown (21-9) vs. #9 Connecticut (22-9)  12 Noon ET on ESPN

#5 St. John’s (20-10) vs. #13 Rutgers (15-16)  Approx. 2:15 PM ET on ESPN

#7 Cincinnati (24-7) vs. #15 South Florida (10-22)  7 PM ET on ESPN

#6 West Virginia (20-10) vs. #11 Marquette (19-13)  Approx. 9:15 PM ET on ESPN 

Conference USA

Tournament Site: El Paso, TX

1^st Round Games

#8 East Carolina (16-14) vs. #9 Central Florida (19-10)  1 PM ET

#5 Southern Miss (21-9) vs. #12 Tulane (13-16)  3:30 PM ET

#6 Marshall (21-10) vs. #11 Houston (12-17)  7:30 PM ET

#7 S M U (17-13) vs. #10 Rice (13-17)  10 PM ET 

M E A C

Tournament Site: Winston-Salem, NC

Note: The MEAC has a unique way of scheduling their tournament.  As a result, one first round game will be played today as well as two quarterfinal round games.  The other two quarterfinal round games will be played Thursday. 

1^st Round

#6 Norfolk State () vs. #11 Howard ()  3 PM ET

Quarterfinal Round

#1 Bethune-Cookman (20-11) vs. #9 South Carolina State (10-21)  7 PM ET

#2 Hampton (21-8) vs. #10 Maryland-Eastern Shore (9-21)  9:30 PM ET 

Mountain West Conference

Tournament Site: Las Vegas

1^st Round

#8 Wyoming (10-20) vs. #9 T C U (10-21)  5 PM ET 

Pac-10 Conference

Tournament Site: Los Angeles

1^st Round

#8 Stanford (15-15) vs. #9 Oregon State (10-19)  9 PM ET on Fox Sports Net

#7 Oregon (14-16) vs. #10 Arizona State (12-18)  11:30 PM ET on Fox Sports Net 

Southland Conference

Tournament Site: Katy, TX (Houston Area)

Quarterfinal Round

#2 Northwestern State (LA) (18-13) vs. #7 Texas-San Antonio (16-13)  1 PM ET

#3 Sam Houston (17-12) vs. #6 Stephen F. Austin (18-10)  3:30 PM ET

#1 McNeese State (19-10) vs. #8 Nicholls State (14-13)  7 PM ET

#4 Texas State (15-15) vs. #5 Southeastern Louisiana (15-13)  9:30 PM ET 

S W A C

Tournament Site: Garland, TX (Dallas-Ft. Worth Area) 

Quarterfinal Round

#2 Jackson State (16-14) vs. #7 Prairie View (10-21)  12:30 PM ET

#1 Texas Southern (18-11) vs. #8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff (7-23)  9 PM ET

W A C

Tournament Site: Las Vegas

1^st Round

#5 Hawaii (18-11) vs. #8 San Jose State (15-14)  3 PM ET

#6 Nevada (12-18) vs. #7 Fresno State (14-16)  5:30 PM ET

NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments–March 8 Update

 

The Four Newest Dance Invitees

Did you see those conference championship games last night?  Was this the Monday Night Fights or basketball?  There were more cut men and cut women than in your average boxing card.

 

When it is all or nothing for these smaller conferences, you get what we saw last night—teams playing like their lives were on the line.

 

Colonial Athletic Association

Old Dominion 70

Virginia Commonwealth 65

 

Old Dominion 27-6

 

The Monarchs are capable of making a semi-surprise run in the Big Dance.  They lead the nation in rebounding margin, and they can score points in the paint. 

 

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

St. Peter’s 62

Iona 57

 

St. Peter’s 20-13

 

The Peacocks beat Alabama earlier in the season, and their defense could keep them within striking defense in an opening round game, but we cannot see SPC advancing to the second round.

 

Southern Conference

Wofford 77

College of Charleston 67

 

Wofford 21-12

 

The Terriers finally beat the Cougars (we predicted this yesterday), and they will not roll over and play dead in the first round.  This team returns to the Dance for the second consecutive season, and they will not back down.  They may not advance, but they will not be in awe of their heavily favored first round opponent.

 

West Coast Conference

Gonzaga 75

Saint Mary’s 63

 

Gonzaga 24-9

 

This edition of Zags may not be the most talented in the Coach Mark Few era, but they are playing their best ball at the right time.  It will depend on their bracket, but this team has Sweet 16 potential.

 

Three More Invitations Go Out Tonight

By 11:15 PM Eastern Time tonight, we will know the names of three more NCAA Tournament participants.  Let’s break down these games.

 

Horizon League Championship @ 9PM ET on ESPN

Butler (22-9)  at  Milwaukee (19-12)

 

Butler defeated Cleveland State in the semifinal round Saturday evening, while Milwaukee topped Valparaiso.  During the regular season, Milwaukee swept the Bulldogs, winning 76-52 at home and 86-80 in overtime on the road.  The top-seeded Panthers host this game.

 

Both teams are red hot coming into this title match.  Milwaukee has gone 10-1 in their last 11 games, and the only loss was in the Bracketbuster to Buffalo.  Their defense is what got them here, as they shoot only 43% from the field and 65% at the foul line.

 

Three Panthers average double figures in scoring, led by Anthony Hill.  Hill averages just under 16 points per game, but he broke out with a 24-point, 11-rebound performance in the semifinal game against Valpo.  Kaylon Williams is the X-factor for Panthers.  He can score when needed, rebound with the big men, and run the offense.  He recorded a triple-double earlier in the season against Butler (10 points-10 rebounds-10 assists), and he added a double-double in the second win over the Bulldogs.

 

Butler missed Gordon Hayward even more than most experts predicted.  The Bulldogs played a tough pre-conference schedule and limped into February.  With their backs against the wall, they reeled off eight consecutive victories to get to the title game tonight.

 

Most basketball fans know Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack from last year’s team that made the surprise run to the National Championship Game.  The duo has teamed for 32 points and 6.5 rebounds per game this year.  However, it has been the emergence of 6-11 sophomore center Andrew Smith that has allowed Butler to turn things around and look like a force to be reckoned with once again.  Smith averaged 11 points per game over the second half of the season.  In the eight game winning streak, he has averaged 32 minutes per game and pulled down close to eight rebounds per game.  His 63% field goal percentage has forced defenses to stop him first, giving Howard and Mack more room to get open.  Smith was a non-factor in the two games against Milwaukee, and he is the key to tonight’s game.  If he plays 32 minutes and gets double figure points and eight rebounds, Butler will be cutting down the nets yet again.

 

Summit League Championship @ 9PM ET on ESPN2

Site: Sioux Falls, SD

Oakland (24-9)  vs. Oral Roberts (19-14)

 

If you like high-scoring, fast-paced games, you will definitely clear your schedule to view this one.  Oakland is the second best offensive team in the nation, averaging 86 points per game (92 ppg in their last 10 games).  The Grizzlies connect on close to 50% of their field goal attempts, and they tend to hit spurts where they score 10 points in two minutes.  Oral Roberts averages 81 points per game and has no qualms running with Oakland.

 

Both teams are riding major winning streaks entering tonight’s title game.  Oakland has won 17 of their last 18 games, while the Golden Eagles have won 10 in a row.  In the regular season, Oakland won both high-scoring games, but both were nail-biters that went down to the wire. 

 

Oakland has a tall and short combination that has done a lot of the damage on opponents.  6-11 center Keith Benson is the best player in the league.  Benson averages 17.7 points and 10 rebounds per game.  He showed he can do it against the big schools, as he had 17 points and 12 rebounds in a close loss to Michigan State and 26 points and 10 rebounds in a big win at Tennessee. 

 

5-11 guard Reggie Hamilton is a threat to top 20 points any night.  He is quick and can get open without help from screens.

 

Oral Roberts has a star in its own right.  Dominique Morrison averages just under 20 points per game, and he doesn’t need to heave up 25 shots per game to get those points.  Morrison shoots 51.3% from the field, 40% from behind the three-point line, and 78.4% at the foul line.  He scored 56 points in the two games against Oakland.

 

This should be a great game, and we don’t believe Oakland is that much of a favorite.  ORU has been to the Big Dance four times in the last six years, while Oakland is the defending tournament champion.  We expect the winner to top 90 points in this game, and it is too close to call.  We say Oakland has about a 54% chance and Oral Roberts a 46% chance of winning.

 

Sunbelt Conference Championship @ 7PM ET on ESPN2

Site: Hot Springs, AR

 

North Texas (22-10)  vs. U A L R (18-16)

 

On paper this looks like a mismatch, even though the teams finished one game apart in the regular season.  North Texas finished fourth in the West with an 8-8 league mark, while Little Rock finished fifth at 7-9.

 

North Texas was one of the biggest underachievers this season.  The Mean Green returned four starters from their 2010 conference champion team and were expected to win again this year with the best backcourt and one of the best frontcourts in the league.  Instead, a 3-9 swoon in the middle of the season placed them out of contention for the West crown.  Since that awful slide, UNT has recovered with five consecutive victories.

 

6-5 senior guard Tristan Thompson has led the way for the Mean Green in the tournament, scoring 80 points in the first three games.  He has done a lot of the damage at the foul line, where he is 31-35 in Hot Springs, including an unbelievable 20-20 performance in the win over top-seed Florida Atlantic.  Thompson combines a quick move to the basket with a sweet shot from outside.  Beefy forward George Odufuwa averages 11 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, and UALR has a tough matchup problem against him.

 

The Trojans dropped both regular season games to North Texas, mostly because they could not compete under the basket.  Their chance to win this game will come down to limiting possessions and trying to win 55-50.  They have won three games in the tournament by getting to the foul line and hitting foul shots, while using the clock and taking 30 seconds to shoot on most possessions.  UALR’s big star in this tournament has been senior guard Solomon Bozeman.  Like Thompson, Bozeman has gotten to the free throw line and made the most of his opportunities.  He has connected on 37 of 42 attempts including an eye-popping 19 of 22 against Middle Tennessee last night.

 

We expect a low-possession, low-scoring game.  There may be fewer than 100 field goal attempts tonight.  North Texas has been there before, while UALR has never won the Sunbelt Conference Tournament.  We think that trend will continue, but it wouldn’t surprise us if this game stays relatively close for the entire 40 minutes.  We could see North Texas winning 60-54.

 

The Other Tournaments In Action Today

 

Atlantic 10 Conference

First Round At Higher Seed Home Court

 

#9 Dayton (19-12) at #8 U Mass (15-14)  9PM ET on CBSC

#12 St. Joseph’s (9-21) at #5 George Washington (17-13)  7PM ET on CBSC

#10 LaSalle (14-17) at #7 St. Bonaventure (16-13)  5 PM ET on CBSC

#11 St. Louis (12-18) at #6 Rhode Island (18-12)  7 PM ET no TV

 

Big East Conference

Madison Square Garden in New York City

 

#16 Depaul (7-23) vs. #9 Georgetown (21-9) 12 Noon ET on ESPN2

#13 Rutgers (14-16) vs. #12 Seton Hall (13-17) Approx. 2:15 PM ET on ESPN2

#15 South Florida (9-22) vs. #10 Villanova (21-10) 7PM ET on ESPNU

#14 Providence (15-16) vs. #11 Marquette (18-13) Approx 9:15 ET on ESPNU

 

Big Sky Conference

Semifinal Round At Higher Seed Home Court

#3 Weber State (18-11) at #2 Montana (20-9)

#4 Northern Arizona (19-11) at #1 Northern Colorado (19-10)

 

Mid-American Conference

1^st Round At Higher Seed Home Court  All Games At 7PM ET

 

#10 Northern Illinois (9-20) at #7 Bowling Green (13-18)

#11 Eastern Michigan (9-21) at #6 Akron (19-12)

#9 Central Michigan (10-20) at #8 Buffalo (17-12)

#12 Toledo (4-27) at #5 Ohio U (17-14)

 

Mideastern Athletic Conference

Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, NC

 

#9 South Carolina State (9-21) vs. #8 Delaware State (9-20)  9PM ET

#10 Maryland-Eastern Shore (8-21) vs. #7 Florida A&M (12-19)  6:30 PM ET

 

Note: One more 1^st round game Wednesday plus two quarterfinal games

 

 

NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments–March 7 Update

NCAA Tournament Qualifier #4

Congratulations to the Indiana State Sycamores, the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament champions.  ISU defeated Missouri State Sunday by a score of 60-56, giving them eight wins in their last nine games.  This Sycamore team is not to be confused with the 1979 National Finalists with some guy named Larry Bird doing a lot of the scoring, but ISU (20-13) has enough talent to pull off an upset in the first round.  The last time they were in the Big Dance, ISU upset Oklahoma 70-68 in the first round of the 2001 tourney; they lost 85-68 to Gonzaga in the next round.  The Sycamores lost by nine at Notre Dame and by 13 against Purdue, so they can compete against Top 10 teams.

 

Indiana State joins UNC-Asheville, Belmont, and Morehead State as automatic qualifiers in the NCAA Tournament.

 

Four More Teams To Enter The Dance Party Tonight

The field of automatic qualifiers doubles from four to eight tonight.  Let’s take a look at the four conference championships for Monday.

 

Colonial Athletic Association

Virginia Commonwealth (23-10)  vs. Old Dominion (26-6)

7:00 PM EST on ESPN

 

In the semifinal round, VCU upset top-seed George Mason 79-63, while Old Dominion ousted Hofstra 77-69.  Bubble teams will be cheering hard for ODU because if VCU wins, the CAA could send an extra team to the Dance.  George Mason and ODU are virtually assured at-large spots, but VCU will be College Insiders, CBI or NIT-bound if they lose tonight.

 

ODU has won eight games in a row and 12 of 13.  Big forward Frank Hassell has continued to improve and impress down below, and Notre Dame can tell you how well he plays in the postseason; ODU beat the Irish in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament.

 

VCU slumped at the end of the regular season, losing four of their final five games (and the one win was in the Bracketbuster) to fall from first to fourth.  The Rams won nine games in a row in the middle of the season, including a road victory over their opponent tonight. 

 

Forward Jamie Skeen will be the key man to watch.  If he can match or beat Hassell point-for-point and rebound-for-rebound, VCU should pull off the victory.  If Hassell wins the battle, then the Monarchs will live up to their preseason billing as best in the league. 

 

If the game comes down to the backcourt, then VCU has the superior tandem there with Bradford Burgess and Joey Rodriguez.  If the battle comes down to the rebounding game, ODU will win and maybe win by 10-20 points.

 

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

St. Peter’s (19-13)  vs.  Iona (22-10)

7:00 PM EST on ESPN2

 

St. Peter’s pulled off the big upset in this tournament, defeating #1-seed Fairfield 62-48 in yesterday’s semifinal round.  Iona slaughtered Rider 83-59 to earn their spot in the championship game.  The Gaels won their opener by 30 over Siena, so they are the clear-cut favorite tonight.

 

St. Peter’s is an experienced team.  The Peacocks’ top four players are seniors—Wesley Jenkins, Jeron Belin, Nick Leon, and Ryan Bacon.  The quartet averages a combined 45 points a game with all four averaging more than 10 points a game.  Their strongest asset is their defensive ability, and teams have a tough time scoring on SPU.  Unfortunately, the Peacocks barely top 40% shooting from the field and less than 64% at the foul line.  To win tonight, they need to connect on at least 45% of their shots and get some second chance opportunities.

 

Iona has the look of a champion.  The Gaels have won nine games in a row by an average margin of 18.6 points per game.  They swept SPU by 18 and 14 in the regular season.  Star forward Michael Glover has recorded 17 double-doubles, and the only thing that could prevent him from making it 18 tonight would be his early exit from the game due to the game being a blowout.

 

As you can surmise, we think Iona will put this game away with a big run about halfway into the opening half after a five to eight-minute period to calm the nerves.

 

Southern Conference

College of Charleston (24-9)  vs.  Wofford (20-12)

9:00 PM EST on ESPN2

 

Semifinal Scores

College of Charleston 63  Furman 58

Wofford 86  Western Carolina 72

 

The top two teams in the league meet for the third time and Charleston won the first two meetings.  The Cougars won the battle on the boards in both games and in turn took several more shots.  Andrew Goudelock was unstoppable in both games, and Wofford must do something to keep the ball out of his hands tonight and prevent him from scoring his average of 23 points per game to have a chance.

 

The Terriers are the defending SoCon Tournament champions, and they were the overwhelming pick to repeat as champions this year.  They will need a repeat of yesterday’s performance to pull off the upset.  Wofford connected on 54% of their field goals, 50% of their three-point attempts, and 80% at the foul line.  Their big three, Noah Dahlman, Jamar Diggs, and Cameron Rundles, teamed for 52 points and 16 rebounds.  Wofford also has excellent depth with three players capable of coming off the bench and scoring points and pulling down rebounds in massive numbers.

 

Charleston proved to be the better team in the regular season sweep, but we tend to believe this night will belong to Wofford.  The Terriers are playing up to their potential, while the Cougars are not. 

 

West Coast Conference

Saint Mary’s (24-7)  vs. Gonzaga (23-9)

9:00 PM EST on ESPN

 

Semifinal Round

Saint Mary’s 73  Santa Clara 64

Gonzaga 71  San Francisco 67

 

This is the game of the night.  We tend to believe both teams have done enough to punch a ticket to the tournament, but still, this will be a hard-fought rivalry game.

 

The teams split their regular season series, both winning close games on the other’s home court.  If you like offense, then this is the game for you.  Both teams routinely top 80 points per game, and both have enjoyed many nights where they shot in excess of 50% from the field.

 

Gonzaga has won eight games in a row, and the Bulldogs utilize great depth to wear down opponents.  They can go 10-deep with very little drop in talent, as no player averages over 14 points per game, and only one tops six rebounds per game. 

 

SMC relies on a trio of talented players in Mickey McConnell, Rob Jones, and Matthew Dellavedova.  They team up to average 43.3 points per game.  McConnell is one of the best outside shooters in the nation, and he is virtually automatic at the charity stripe.

 

This game is a tossup in the truest since, and we expect it to go down to the final minute for the third time this season.  They could not settle it in 40 minutes the last time they faced off, so this has to be considered a 50-50 game.  We will go with Gonzaga’s 50% chance tonight.

 

Continuing Tournaments

America East Conference

Semifinal Round

Boston U. 55  Hartford 49

Stony Brook 69  Vermont 47

 

Championship Game—Saturday, March 12@ 12 Noon on ESPN2

Stony Brook (15-16) at Boston U (20-13)

 

Northeast Conference

Semifinal Round

Long Island 69  Central Connecticut 67

Robert Morris 64  Quinnipiac 62

 

Championship Game—Wednesday, March 9 @ 7PM on ESPN2

Robert Morris (18-13) at Long Island (26-5)

 

Patriot League

Semifinal Round

Lafayette 73  American 71  2ot

Bucknell 66  Lehigh 64

 

Championship Game—Friday, March 11 @ 4:45 PM on ESPN2

Lafayette (13-18) at Bucknell (24-8)

 

Summit League

Quarterfinal Round

South Dakota State  85  I P F W  75

I U P U I  79  Missouri-KC  55 

 

Semifinal Round—Monday, March 7 @ Sioux Falls, SD

Oakland (23-9)  vs.  South Dakota State (19-11) @ 7:00 PM EST

Oral Roberts (18-14)  vs.  I U P U I (19-13) @ 9:30 PM EST

 

Sunbelt Conference

Quarterfinal Round

Western Kentucky 81  Louisiana-Lafayette 76

North Texas 78  Florida Atlantic 64

Middle Tennessee 73  Florida International 38

U A L R  59  Arkansas State 52

 

Semifinal Round—Monday, March 7 @ Hot Springs, AR

Western Kentucky (16-15)  vs. North Texas (21-10) @ 7:00 PM EST

Middle Tennessee (16-15)  vs.  U A L R (17-16) @ 9:30 PM EST

 

Coming Tomorrow: The Big Sky Conference and Horizon League Tournament Championships are decided, and four more conference tournaments begin.  Check back Tuesday afternoon for more coverage.

NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments–March 6 Update

Congratulations To Three Champions

Three teams have punched their tickets to the Big Dance.

 

Big South Conference

UNC-Asheville 60  Coastal Carolina 47

 

UNC-Asheville 19-13

 

Atlantic Sun Conference

Belmont 87  North Florida 46

 

Belmont 30-4

 

Ohio Valley Conference

Morehead State 80  Tennessee Tech 73

 

Morehead State 24-9

 

Scores From Other Conference Tournaments

 

America East Conference

Vermont 57  Binghamton 46

Stony Brook 67  Albany 61

Boston U 69  New Hampshire 60

Hartford 66  Maine 63

 

Sunday, March 6 Semifinal Round

Vermont 23-7  vs. Stony Brook 14-16

Boston U. 19-13  vs. Hartford 11-19

 

Big Sky Conference

Weber State 79  Eastern Washington 70

Northern Arizona 65  Montana State 62

 

Tuesday, March 8 Semifinal Round

Montana 20-9  vs. Weber State 18-11

Northern Colorado 19-10  vs. Northern Arizona 19-11

 

Colonial Athletic Association

George Mason 68  Georgia State 45

Virginia Commonwealth 62  Drexel 60

Old Dominion 59  Delaware 50

Hofstra 72  William & Mary 56

 

Sunday, March 6 Semifinal Round

George Mason 26-5  vs.  Virginia Commonwealth 22-10

Old Dominion 25-6  vs. Hofstra 21-10

 

Horizon League

Butler 76  Cleveland State 68

Milwaukee 70  Valparaiso 63

 

Tuesday, March 8 Championship Game

Butler 22-9  vs. Milwaukee 19-12

 

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Fairfield 55  Marist 31

St. Peter’s 70  Loyola (MD) 60

Rider 79  Canisius 64

Iona 94  Siena 64

 

Sunday, March 6 Semifinal Round

Fairfield 24-6  vs. St. Peter’s 18-13

Rider 23-9  vs. Iona 21-10

 

Missouri Valley Conference

Missouri State 60  Creighton 50

Indiana State 61  Wichita State 54

 

Sunday, March 6 Championship Game

Missouri State 25-7  vs. Indiana State 19-13

 

Southern Conference

Western Carolina 77 UNC-Greensboro 66

Wofford 67  Appalachian State 56

Furman 61  Chattanooga 52

College of Charleston 78  Elon 60

 

Sunday, March 6 Semifinal Round

Western Carolina 18-14  vs. Wofford 19-12

Furman 22-9  vs. College of Charleston 23-9

 

Summit League

Oakland 82  Southern Utah 66

Oral Roberts 72  North Dakota State 65

 

Sunday, March 6 Quarterfinal Round Continues

I P F W  18-11  vs. South Dakota State 18-11

I U P U I  18-13  vs. Missouri-Kansas City 16-13

 

Sunbelt Conference

Western Kentucky 66  Louisiana-Monroe 50

North Texas 83  Troy 69

Florida Int’l 53  Denver 49

U A L R  82  South Alabama 68

 

Sunday, March 6 Quarterfinal Round

Louisiana-Lafayette 14-14  vs. Western Kentucky 15-15

Florida Atlantic 21-9  vs. North Texas 20-10

Middle Tennessee 15-15  vs. Florida Int’l  11-18

Arkansas State 17-14  vs. U A L R  16-16

 

West Coast Conference

Santa Clara 76  Loyola Marymount 68

San Francisco 76  Pepperdine 59

 

Sunday, March 6 Semifinal Round

St. Mary’s 23-7  vs. Santa Clara 19-13

Gonzaga 22-9  vs. San Francisco 17-13

NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments–March 5 Update 1

Two new conference tournaments begin today (Saturday), but more importantly the first three spots in the Big Dance Card will be filled.

 

All Times EST

Summit League Tournament

Tournament Site: Sioux Falls, SD

Saturday, March 5: Quarterfinal Round

G 1: #1 Oakland vs. #8 Southern Utah  7PM

G 2: #2 Oral Roberts vs. #7 North Dakota State 9:30 PM

 

Sunday, March 6: Quarterfinal Round

G 3 #4 I P F W vs. #5 North Dakota State 7 PM

G 4 #3 I U P U I vs. #6 Missouri-Kansas City 9:30 PM

 

Monday, March 7: Semifinal Round

G 5: G 1 Winner vs. G 3 Winner 7 PM

G 6: G 2 Winner vs. G 4 Winner  9:30 PM

 

Tuesday, March 8: Championship Game at 9PM on ESPN2

G 5 Winner vs. G 6 Winner

 

Hot Team:  Oral Roberts has won eight consecutive games by an average margin of 12.6 points per game.   This includes a key win over IUPUI that clinched the second seed.

 

Oakland enters the tournament riding a five-game winning streak.  The Golden Grizzlies won 15 of their final 16 regular season games.

 

Not Hot:  Missouri-Kansas City lost its last three games, but they were to three of the top four teams in the league.

 

Team Nobody Wants To Play: South Dakota State is only one hour from Sioux Falls, and the Jackrabbits will fill the arena.  Oakland would much rather play four-seed I P F W in the semifinals.  If SDSU wins their quarterfinal game, look for them to give Oakland fits in a semifinal match.

 

Oakland as Favorite:  The Golden Grizzlies finished 17-1 in league play, so they must be considered solid favorites.  Their lone league loss came at IUPUI, and in their 18 conference games they had a +14.2 scoring margin.    

 

Our Pick:  We will stick with the favorite to win here, even though we believe they will struggle to win their semifinal and final game.

 

 

Sunbelt Conference Tournament

Tournament Site: Hot Springs, AR (using Summit Arena and Convention Center Court)

 

Saturday, March 5: Opening Round

G 1: #3E Western Kentucky vs. #6W Louisiana-Monroe  7:45 PM (Convention Center)

G 2: #4W North Texas vs. #5E Troy  7:30 PM (Summit Arena)

G 3: #3W Denver vs. #6E Florida International  9:45 PM   (Summit Arena)

G 4: #4E South Alabama vs. #5W U A L R  10PM (Convention Center)

 

Sunday, March 6: Quarterfinal Round

G 5: G 1 Winner vs. #2W Louisiana-Lafayette  7:30 PM (Summit Arena)

G 6: G 2 Winner vs. #1E Florida Atlantic  7:45 PM (Convention Center)

G 7: G 3 Winner vs. #2E Middle Tennessee  10 PM (Convention Center)

G 8: G 4 Winner vs. #1W Arkansas State  9:45 PM (Summit Arena)

 

Monday, March 7: Semifinal Round (Summit Arena)

G 9: G 5 Winner vs. G 6 Winner  7PM

G10: G 7 Winner vs. G 8 Winner  9:30 PM

 

Tuesday, March 8: Championship Game (Summit Arena)

G11: G 9 Winner vs. G 10 Winner at 7PM on ESPN2

 

Hot Team: Louisiana-Lafayette has won 11 consecutive games, but seven of those wins were by five points or less or in overtime.  The Ragin’ Cajuns defeated both division winners in that stretch

 

Not Hot: Denver dropped from first to third when they lost their last three games and six of their final eight.  The Pioneers had won eight consecutive games in midseason, but they lost their offensive touch down the stretch.

 

Team That Nobody Wants To Play: After starting conference play 0-4, Western Kentucky righted the ship and won eight of their last 12 conference games.  The Hilltoppers greatly underachieved, and with two studs in Steffphon Pettigrew and Sergio Kerusch, WKU can beat anybody in the SBC.

 

Florida Atlantic As Favorite: The Owls started 8-0 in league play before faltering a bit down the stretch.  We do not feel strongly that FAU can win three games in three days.  In fact, we believe they will not even be around for the championship game. 

 

Our Pick: When UL-Lafayette takes on Western Kentucky in the quarterfinal round, we believe the winner of that game will upset FAU in the semifinal round and go on to win the league’s lone bid to the Dance.

 

The First Three Bids Go Out Today

 

The league championship games are on tap for Saturday.  Let’s look at the scores from Friday with the schedule for the three conference championship games.

 

Big South Conference— 4:00 PM on ESPN2

#3 UNC-Asheville (18-13) at #1 Coastal Carolina (28-4)

 

UNCA beat Charleston Southern 72-63 and High Point 62-45.  Coastal Carolina beat Gardner-Webb 83-72 and VMI 89-81

 

Atlantic Sun Conference—6:00 PM on ESPN2

Site: Macon, GA

#1 Belmont (29-4) vs. #6 North Florida (15-18)

 

Belmont defeated Kennesaw State 72-57 and Mercer 80-72.  North Florida defeated Jacksonville 68-64 and East Tennessee 59-55

 

Ohio Valley Conference—8:00 PM on ESPN2

Site: Nashville

#2 Morehead State (23-9) vs. #4 Tennessee Tech (20-11)

 

Morehead State beat Austin Peay 68-49.  Tennessee Tech beat UT-Martin 83-59 and Murray State 64-59.

 

Scores From Other Conference Tournaments

 

Colonial Athletic Association

#9 Georgia State 58  #8 UNC-Wilmington 52

#5 Drexel 75  #12 Towson  69

#7 Delaware 60  #10 Northeastern 58

#11 William & Mary 72  #6 James Madison 68

 

Quarterfinal Round—Saturday

#1 George Mason vs. #9 Georgia State

#4 Virginia Commonwealth vs. #5 Drexel

#2 Old Dominion vs. #7 Delaware

#3 Hofstra vs. #11 William & Mary

 

Horizon League

#3 Cleveland State 73  #6 Wright State 59

#4 Valparaiso 88  #5 Detroit 78

 

Semifinal Round—Saturday

#1 Milwaukee vs. #4 Valparaiso

#2 Butler vs. #3 Cleveland State

 

M A A C

#9 Marist 73  #8 Niagara 61

#7 Siena 68  #10 Manhattan 66 OT

 

Quarterfinal Round—Saturday

#1 Fairfield vs. #9 Marist

#4 St. Peter’s vs. #5 Loyola (MD)

#3 Rider vs. #6 Canisius

#2 Iona vs. #7 Siena

 

Missouri Valley

#1 Missouri State 58  #8 Southern Illinois 56

#5 Creighton 60  #4 Northern Iowa 57

#2 Wichita State 70  #10 Bradley 56

#3 Indiana State 52  #6 Evansville 50

 

Semifinal Round—Saturday

#1 Missouri State vs. #5 Creighton

#2 Wichita State vs. #3 Indiana State

 

Southern Conference

#5N UNC-Greensboro 71  #4S Davidson 64

#3N Appalachian State 65  #6S Georgia Southern 57

#3S Furman 61  #6N Samford 48

#4N Elon 85  #5S Citadel 74

 

Quarterfinal Round—Saturday

#1N Western Carolina vs. #5N UNC-Greensboro

#2S Wofford vs. #3N Appalachian State

#2N Chattanooga vs. #3S Furman

#1S College of Charleston vs. #4N Elon

 

West Coast Conference

#8 Loyola Marymount 72  #5 Portland 68

#6 Pepperdine 84  #7 San Diego 81

 

Quarterfinal Round—Saturday

#4 Santa Clara vs. #8 Loyola Marymount

#3 San Francisco vs. #6 Pepperdine

 

Ivy League Results (Princeton and Harvard)

Harvard 79  Penn 64

Princeton 77  Dartmouth 55

 

Princeton is now 11-1.  Harvard is now 11-2.  The two teams square off in Cambridge tonight.  If Princeton wins, the Tigers clinch the Ivy League title.  If Harvard wins, then Princeton must win at Penn Tuesday night to force a playoff for the Ivy League title.

NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments–March 4 Update

Three more conference tournaments begin Friday, making it 11 tournaments in action.  The MAAC, Southern Conference, and West Coast Conference tournaments get underway.  

 

All Times EST

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament

Tournament Site: Bridgeport, CT

Friday, March 4: Opening Round

G 1: #8 Niagara (9-22) vs. #9 Marist (5-26)

G 2: #7 Siena (12-17) vs. #10 Manhattan (6-24)

 

Saturday, March 5: Quarterfinal Round

G 3: G 1 Winner vs. #1 Fairfield (23-6)

G 4: #4 St. Peter’s (17-13) vs. Loyola (Chi) (15-14)

G 5: G 2 Winner vs. #2 Iona (20-10)

G 6: #3 Rider (22-9) vs. #6 Canisius (15-14)

 

Sunday, March 6: Semifinal Round

G 7: G3 Winner vs. G 4 Winner

G 8: G 5 Winner vs. G 6 Winner

 

Monday, March 7: Championship Game At 7 PM on ESPN2

G 7 Winner vs. G 8 Winner

 

Hot Team: It depends on how you look at it.  Rider won their last five games, seven of their final eight, and 10 of their last 12.  Included in this was a road win at top seed Fairfield.

 

Iona won their final seven games including a victory over Fairfield as well.

 

Fairfield, prior to the season-ending loss to Iona had won five in a row and 12 of 13.

 

Not Hot: St. Peter’s was 9-3 in conference play and ended up 11-7 with an extra loss in the Bracketbuster.

 

Team Nobody Wants To Play: The obvious choice here is top-seeded Fairfield.  The Stags don’t get to play in their home gym, but they do get to play in their home town.

 

Fairfield as Favorite:  We are inclined to go against the Stags here, but not by much.  Iona and Rider should meet in the semifinals, and the winner of that game has a 50-50 chance of besting Fairfield in the final.

 

Our Pick:  Let’s go with the hottest team that has shown an ability to put away opponents quickly.  We’ll pick Iona to win in a mild upset.

 

 

Southern Conference Tournament

Tournament Site: Chattanooga, TN

 

Friday, March 4: Opening Round

G 1: #4S Davidson (17-13) vs. #5N UNC-Greensboro (6-23)

G 2: #3N Appalachian State (15-14) vs. #6S Georgia Southern (5-26)

G 3: #3S Furman (20-9) vs. #6N Samford (12-18)

G 4: #4N Elon (13-16) vs. #5S Citadel (10-21)

 

Saturday, March 5: Quarterfinal Round

G 5: G 1 Winner vs. #1N Western Carolina (17-14)

G 6: G 2 Winner vs. #2S Wofford (18-12)

G 7: G 3 Winner vs. #2N Chattanooga (16-15)

G 8: G 4 Winner vs. #1S College of Charleston (22-9)

 

Sunday, March 6: Semifinal Round

G 9: G 5 Winner vs. G 6 Winner

G10: G 7 Winner vs. G 8 Winner

 

Monday, March 7: Championship Game at 9:00 PM on ESPN2

G 9 Winner vs. G 10 Winner

 

Hot Team: Wofford won their final five regular season games by an average of 15.8 points per game.  Included in that run was an incredible 39 point win at Chattanooga, the host team for this tournament. 

 

Davidson closed with nine wins in their last ten games.  This includes an 11-point win over College of Charleston, a 14-point win over Chattanooga, and a nine-point win at Wofford.

 

Not Hot: After winning seven in a row, top-seeded College of Charleston dropped its last two games, allowing Wofford to tie them for the South Division title. 

 

Team Nobody Wants To Play: Chattanooga is the host team, and the Mocs are a much better team at home. 

 

College of Charleston as Favorite: C of C is not a heavy favorite.  In fact, we would classify the Cougars as a co-favorite at best. 

 

Our Pick: Wofford is a team on a mission.  The Terriers came close last year, and they have the horses to win three games in three days.  Forward Noah Dahlman can take over a game at both ends of the court.

 

West Coast Conference Tournament

Tournament Site: Las Vegas

 

Friday, March 4: Opening Round

G 1: #5 Portland (20-10) vs. #8 Loyola Marymount (10-20)

G 2: #6 Pepperdine (11-20) vs. #7 San Diego (6-23)

 

Saturday, March 5: Quarterfinal Round

G 3: G 1 Winner vs. #4 Santa Clara (18-13)

G 4: G 2 Winner vs. #3 San Francisco (16-13)

 

Sunday, March 6: Semifinal Round

G 5: G 3 Winner vs. #1 St. Mary’s (23-7)

G 6: G 4 Winner vs. #2 Gonzaga (22-9)

 

Monday, March 7: Championship Round at 9:00 PM on ESPN

G 5 Winner vs. G 6 Winner

 

Hot Team: Gonzaga is peaking at the right time.  The Bulldogs won their last seven games by an average of 19 points a game.  Six of their nine losses were to quality teams.

 

Not Hot: St. Mary’s lost three games in a row before topping Portland in their regular season finale.  Of course, two of those losses were to Utah State and Gonzaga.

 

Team Nobody Wants To Play: Portland was not expected to win 20 regular season games again after losing so much to graduation, but the Pilots cannot be dismissed.  They could easily upset Santa Clara in the Quarterfinal Round, and then St. Mary’s will have to worry about an upset in the Semifinal Round.

 

St. Mary’s as Favorite: We don’t consider the Gaels the favorite in this tournament.  Gonzaga is clearly the better team at this point of the season.  GU’s path to the Championship Game will be easier than SMU’s.

 

Our Pick: Coach Mark Few has the Bulldogs playing their best at the right time.  We believe Gonzaga is the prohibitive favorite in this tournament.

 

Thursday’s Tournament Game Scores

 

America East Conference

#8 Binghamton 91  #9 Maryland-Baltimore Co. 65

 

Binghamton advances to take on top-seed Vermont when the Quarterfinal round commences Saturday.

 

Atlantic Sun Conference

#5 Mercer 73  #4 Lipscomb 63

#6 North Florida 68  #3 Jacksonville 64

 

The lower seeds won both games on Thursday.  Mercer, the host team, now advances to the Semifinal round to face top-seed Belmont, while North Florida takes on East Tennessee.

 

Big South Conference

#3 UNC-Asheville 62  #7 High Point 45

#1 Coastal Carolina  89  #4 V M I  81

 

Coastal Carolina hosts UNCA for the automatic bid at 4 PM Saturday.

 

Missouri Valley Conference

#8 Southern Illinois  57  #9 Illinois State  54

#10 Bradley 63  #7 Drake  48

 

Southern Illinois moves on to face top-seed Missouri State, while the last place seed Bradley faces number two seed Wichita State.

 

#4 Northern Iowa faces #5 Creighton, and #3 Indiana State faces #6 Evansville in the other quarterfinal games.

 

Northeast Conference

#1 Long Island  90  #8 St. Francis (PA)  75

#4 Central Connecticut State  64  #5 St. Francis (NY)  62

#2 Quinnipiac  78  #7 Mount St. Mary’s  59

#3 Robert Morris  78  #6 Wagner  74

 

LIU hosts CCSU and Quinnipiac hosts Robert Morris in the Semifinal round Sunday.

 

Ohio Valley Conference

#4 Tennessee Tech  83  #8 UT-Martin 59

#3 Austin Peay  76  #7 Southeast Missouri 60

 

Tennessee Tech brings a six-game winning streak into their semifinal match with top-seed Murray State.  Austin Peay faces Morehead State in the other semifinal game Friday night.

NCAA Basketball Conference Tournaments–March 3 Update

We add three more conference tournaments to the active list today.  The America East,  Missouri Valley, and Northeast Conference tournaments commence; this brings the active tournament list to eight.

 

All Times EST

America East Conference Tournament

Tournament Site: 1^st Three Rounds at Hartford, CT

Championship Game Played On Home Court Of Higher Seeded Finalist

Thursday, March 3: Opening Round

G 1: #8 Maryland-Baltimore County (5-24) vs. #9 Binghamton (7-22)

 

Saturday, March 5: Quarterfinal Round

G 2: MD-Balt. Co./Binghamton Winner vs. #1 Vermont (22-7)

G 3: #4 Albany (16-15) vs. #5 Stony Brook (13-16)

G 4: #2 Boston U (18-13) vs. #7 New Hampshire (12-17)

G 5: #3 Maine (15-14) vs. #6 Hartford (10-19)

 

Sunday, March 6: Semifinal Round

G 6: G 2 Winner vs. G 3 Winner

G 7: G 4 Winner vs. G 5 Winner

 

Saturday, March 12: Championship Game

G 6 Winner vs. G 7 Winner at Higher Seed at 12 Noon on ESPN2

 

Hot Team: Boston U has won eight games in a row by an average of 12.1 points per game.  Included in that streak is a road win at top seed Vermont.  The Terriers swept the Catamounts this year and may have to make it three out of three to get to the Big Dance.

 

Not Hot: The bottom three seeds enter tournament play coming off multiple game losing streaks, but the big news here is that Vermont dropped its last two games after winning the previous ten in a row.

 

Team Nobody Wants To Play: Stony Brook underachieved all season.  Expected to contend for the conference title, the Seawolves finished a disappointing 8-8 in league play.  Stony Brook would have won three or four more conference games had Tommy Brenton not suffered a knee injury before the season began.

 

Vermont as Favorite:  The Catamounts have an easy quarterfinal game, but they will be in for a rough game in the semifinals.  If they win there, they may have to face Boston U for a third time after losing twice to the Terriers.  We do not consider Vermont as the clear-cut favorite in this tournament; in fact, we believe that Boston U, Maine, and Albany are almost co-favorites with the Catamounts.   

 

Our Pick:  We like Maine to upset the top two seeds and steal the automatic bid.  The Black Bears play competently on the road, and they have the best offense in the league.

 

Missouri Valley Conference

(Arch Madness)

Tournament Site: St. Louis

 

Thursday, March 3: Opening Round

G 1: #8 Southern Illinois (12-18) vs. #9 Illinois State (12-18)

G 2: #7 Drake (13-17) vs. #10 Bradley (11-19)

 

Friday, March 4: Quarterfinal Round

G 3: G 1 Winner vs. #1 Missouri State (23-7)

G 4: #4 Northern Iowa (19-12) vs. #5 Creighton (18-13)

G 5: G 2 Winner vs. #2 Wichita State (23-7)

G 6: #3 Indiana State (17-13) vs. #6 Evansville (15-14)

 

Saturday, March 5: Semifinal Round

G 7: G 3 Winner vs. G 4 Winner

G 8: G 5 Winner vs. G 6 Winner

 

Sunday, March 6: Championship

G 7 Winner vs. G 8 Winner at 2:00 PM on CBS

 

Hot Team: Missouri State won their last six conference games and lost only the bracketbuster game at Valparaiso in that time frame.

 

Not Hot: Northern Iowa was in contention for an at-large bid at 18-6 when the Panthers lost at Drake.  NIU concluded the regular season losing six of seven games.

 

Team Nobody Wants To Play: Missouri State may be the top seed, but Wichita State has performed much better on the road this year.

 

Missouri State as Favorite: The Bears are on a roll, but they cannot be considered a prohibitive favorite.  This league has several teams talented enough to advance to the NCAA Tournament.  Even #10 Seed Bradley is capable of winning this tournament.  The Braves won five of their final eight games.

 

Our Pick: Wichita State has a strong defense, plus what we think is the easier path to the Championship Game than Missouri State.  Northern Iowa knows they must win the tournament to gain re-admittance to the Big Dance.  A prospective semifinal match between UNI and MSU could be one of those memorable games that drain the winner and leave them with little left in the tank for the Championship Game.  We’ll pick the Shockers.

 

Northeast Conference

All Games Played At Home Court Of Higher Seed

 

Thursday, March 3: Quarterfinal Round

G 1: #8 St Francis (PA) (9-20) at #1 Long Island (24-5)

G 2: #5 St. Francis (NY) (15-14) at #4 Central Connecticut State (18-11)

G 3: #7 Mount St. Mary’s (11-20) at #2 Quinnipiac (21-8)

G 4: #6 Wagner (13-16) at #3 Robert Morris (16-13)

 

Sunday, March 6: Semifinal Round

(Tournament Re-seeds after Quarterfinals

Lowest Remaining Seed at Highest Remaining Seed

2^nd Lowest Remaining Seed at 2^nd Highest Remaining Seed

 

Wednesday, March 9: Championship Game

Semifinal Winners Meet At Higher Seed’s Home Court At 7:00 PM on ESPN2

 

Hot Team: How about four hot teams?  LIU won their last ten games and 18 of their final 19.  Quinnipiac won nine of their final ten, losing only at LIU.  Robert Morris won their final six games by an average of 11 points per game.  St. Francis (NY) won their final four games after losing two close games to LIU.

 

Not Hot: Central Connecticut had a shot at second place until they lost their last three games.  The Blue Devils had been hot in the middle of the schedule, winning 13 of 15 games.

 

Team That Nobody Wants To Play: Robert Morris is the two-time defending conference tournament champion,  and in Karon Abraham, they have a sharpshooter that can light it up when he is on.  Can he be on for three straight games?  We think not.

 

Long Island as Favorite: The Blackbirds can score as ably as any team in the nation, and they won 13 of 16 games away from home.  They are decided favorites in this tournament, and they know they will be confined to the NIT if they do not secure an automatic bid.

 

Our Pick: The NEC re-seeds the brackets after the first round (think NFL playoffs), so LIU will could conceivably play the #8, #7, and #6 seeds to get to the NCAA Tournament.  Regardless of whether they play the top teams or the bottom teams, they will play at home as long as they stay alive.  We do not see much opportunity for an upset, as LIU has a dominating inside presence with Julian Boyd and Jamal Olasewere.

 

Tournaments Underway

 

Atlantic Sun Conference

#1 Belmont 72  #8 Kennesaw State 57

#2 East Tennessee 54  #7 Campbell 53

 

The quarterfinal round continues Thursday as #3 Jackonsville plays #6 North Florida, and #4 Lipscomb plays the host team in #5 Mercer.

 

Ohio Valley Conference

#8 UT-Martin  68  #5 Tennessee State 64

#7 Southeast Missouri 65  #6 Eastern Kentucky 49

 

The Quarterfinal round begins Thursday night as #3 Austin Peay takes on #7 Southeast Missouri and #4 Tennessee Tech faces #8 UT-Martin.  The top two seeds, Murray State and Morehead State get a second bye into the Semifinal round.

 

Patriot League

#1 Bucknell  78  #8 Army  51

#2 American 69  #7 Colgate 53

#6 Lafayette 77  #3 Holy Cross 70

#4 Lehigh  87  #5 Navy 75

 

The Semifinal Round is Sunday with Bucknell hosting Lehigh and American hosting Lafayette.