Second Regional Rankings Released

My apologies for being a bit late with this but there was no way on God's green earth that I was going to let Wednesday's release of the Regional Rankings go by without me saying a few things.  And yeah, I've got a few things to say alright.  Brace yourself:

Region 9
1	UW-Whitewater	10-4	19-6
2	Loras	13-2	20-4
3	UW-Eau Claire	9-5	18-7
4	UW-Oshkosh	8-6	18-7
5	Wartburg	15-0	20-4
6	Gustavus Adolphus	19-2	22-2
7	UW-Stout	10-4	18-7

 

Now, I've updated the records of each team as of today's date (2-17) to have things as up to date as possible (conference records listed first followed by overall record).  So, you're probably asking yourself, "Hmmmm.....I wonder how Alex Nagel felt about all this when this came out?"  Well, I'll be totally honest.  I was not amused.  Or happy.  Now, when you drill into each of these teams and you look at their body of work up to this point, you'll see that the teams from the WIAC and the ARC have played considerably more regionally-ranked opponents than those of the MIAC and, because of that - strictly by the numbers now - they have a stronger SOS (Strength of Schedule).  And while I can buy into that argument up to a certain point, it's totally beyond me how both UW-Eau Claire and and UW-Oshkosh are ranked ahead of GAC.  I would have felt considerably better had the order (1) UW-Whitewater (2) Loras (3) Wartburg and then GAC at the fourth spot (and you could probably flip Loras and Wartburg however you want).  You'll see, of course, that the Gusties by far have a better conference record than any of these other teams and that they also have a better overall record than any of these other teams as well.  But, unlike years past, the W-L record seems to be (for whatever reason) less and less important while the SOS and the games played against regionally-ranked opponents seem to be the deciding factor.  Now, do I think this is right?  No.....I think there should be some more balance in these considerations.  Look at UW-Eau Claire for example.  All of their losses to this point have been against regionally-ranked opponents save for the loss at UW-River Falls (which would be considered a "bad" loss).  But UW-Oshkosh (b'gosh) is a bit of a different story.  Of their seven losses up to this point, five of them have been against regionally-ranked teams.  However, they also have two "bad" losses on their resume - a 60-35 beatdown at the hands of conference rival UW-Platteville and then getting drubbed by UW-La Crosse earlier this month 56-42.  GAC on the other hand has only one "bad" loss on their resume - the 70-66 setback at home to Bethel shortly after the first of the year.  One could counter that the one-point loss to Concordia back in late November should be considered a "bad" loss too but I feel that you have to cut the Gusties a bit of slack here as the Cobbers were listed in the Region 9 rankings a mere week ago.

And while we're on the subject of Concordia, if there's any team in the country that's got to feel left out in the cold right now, it has to be the Cobbers.  Now, true, the 82-56 shellacking they were on the wrong end of down in St. Peter a week and a half ago was not how you wanted to start your campaign to make a case for the NCAA Tournament.  But it's not just that loss that hurts them.  They also have three other "bad" losses - at Bethel and at Augsburg back in early December and then taking it on the chin from St. Kate's back in early January.  So, needless to say, Concordia likely has some serious fence-mending to do when it comes to their NCAA Tournament resume.  It's entirely possible that the Cobbers will have to do it the old-fashioned way - taking the AQ by winning the MIAC Championship Game and letting conference rival GAC sweat it out come Monday 2-27.  However, there is a part of me that wonders if one of these WIAC teams might play themselves out of the mix so to speak in the next week.  It's entirely possible and consider as well that Wartburg takes on Loras in their regular season finale on Saturday (2-18) in Dubuque so there's still a lot of moving pieces here.  But, at the same time, the way the committee seems to be looking more at regionally-ranked games and SOS should send a clear and unmistakable message to MIAC coaches, administrators and the MIAC conference office:  Ditch the 22-game round-robin schedule.  LOSE IT already.  You NEED to give your teams more room and more opportunities to play out-of-conference games; nee, regionally-ranked opponents to strengthen the SOS and give your teams a better chance of getting into the regional rankings and into the Dance.  You see your neighbors across the River and in Iowa doing this.  What's so bloody hard about it????

Okay, rant over (for now).  As always, feel free to fire away with thoughts......