WCC MBB Results

KenPom.com strength of schedule ranks for the WCC, as of 12/15:

132. Portland
168. Saint Mary's
170. Pepperdine
177. Gonzaga
223. Pacific
248. BYU
272. Loyola
319. San Diego
339. Santa Clara
351. San Francisco (351 out of 351)

I forgot to comment on the Mid-Major Madness WCC power rankings this week. Pilots dropped from 4th to 5th, after the 2OT narrow escape. New 4th is USF, who hasn't played anyone rated under KenPom 200, but is winning.

But hey, a Pilot guard did make the Team of the Week. Not Alec, D'Marques for his 7-15 3Pt shooting effort.

http://www.midmajormadness.com/2016/12/12/13915220/wcc-power-rankings-west-coast-conference-gonzaga-bulldogs-zags-saint-marys-gaels-byu-cougars

I decided to stick around at the Rose Garden to see this game between OSU and Loyola Marymount.

PSU came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat San Francisco at War Memorial, 82-78.

Meanwhile here at the Rose Garden, OSU leads Long Beach 29-25 at the half. The Pilots can and should beat OSU on Sunday. We whiffed at a golden opportunity for a Pac12 win against Colorado. Let's get it done against the Beavers!

In recent games:
SMC beat Western Kentucky 73-51
UOP beat a bad No. Carolina A&T 66-57

SCU lost a winnable game at WSU 69-68.  Up 66-55 with 6 minutes to go, the Broncos didn't score again until they got 2 FTs with 7 seconds left and already trailing by 3.  They took mostly 3Pt attempts, and missed them all.

up7587 wrote:SCU lost a winnable game at WSU 69-68.  Up 66-55 with 6 minutes to go, the Broncos didn't score again until they got 2 FTs with 7 seconds left and already training by 3.  They took mostly 3Pt attempts, and missed them all.

It was with 6 minutes to go when Coach Ernie Kent finally decided to play lock-down defense on Brownridge. Just prior to that Brownridge had hit three straight 3-pointers to run the lead to 11.

Brownridge scored 25 in 40 minutes of play.

In addition to the one point loss by SCU, there were other very close contests in the WCC tonight.

UOP lost at home to Fresno St, 70-68 in OT.
Mika scored 25, Emery 16, and Haws 10, but BYU lost at Illinois, 75-73
LMU fought off Incarnate Word of the Southland Conference, 91-90 in OT
In non-D1 action USD beat the Bethesda U Flames, a Pentecostal School, 105-89.

GU won at Tennessee 86-76. Williams-Goss with 20 and 9.

Updated rankings as of 12/19:
KenPom / RPI
GU 12 /11
SMC 15 / 30
BYU 61 / 138
UP 149 / 136
LMU 203 / 274
USF 205 / 240
SCU 214 / 321
UOP 218 / 239
PU 231 / 257
USD 276 / 215

Next two opponents
PSU 252 / 152
UCI 178 / 144

Interesting divergence of ranks. RPI ignores non-DI games.

I think kenpom ignores non D1 games also...

Unless they are bad losses.

up7587 wrote:Next two opponents
PSU 252 / 152
UCI 178 / 144

On Thursday we play Fullerton, not Irvine. The Titans are #300 in KenPom's rankings.

Thanks, that's what I getting go by memory. UCF is RPI #335.

Too bad that we aren't going to play that Boise State game this season. They are ranked #91 by KenPom. Here are the rankings of our other non-conference opponents:

Riverside: 304
SJSU: 202
UCLA: 9
Dayton: 40
CSUN: 233
Colorado: 57
Rio Grande: 319
South Dakota: 194
Oregon State: 217
Portland State: 252
Fullerton: 300

That means that our road win at SJSU is probably our "best" win. Boise would provide us a unique opportunity to win a game against a higher-ranked team. So far, our three losses have come against teams that are ranked a LOT higher than we are. We could have beat Colorado, but really had no chance against UCLA or Dayton. At #91, Boise would have been a chance for a legitimate "good win." So far we've only avoided "bad losses."

Here's hoping we can do the same in our two games this week. That would put us at 9-3 heading into conference play. Go Pilots!

NoPoNeighbor wrote:KenPom.com strength of schedule ranks for the WCC, as of 12/15:

132. Portland
168. Saint Mary's
170. Pepperdine
177. Gonzaga
223. Pacific
248. BYU
272. Loyola
319. San Diego
339. Santa Clara
351. San Francisco (351 out of 351)

After the weekend, our SOS has dropped from 1st in the WCC to 5th:

130. Gonzaga
168. Pepperdine
177. Saint Mary's
193. BYU
197. Portland
237. Pacific
309. LMU
319. San Diego
332. Santa Clara
351. San Francisco (still the weakest schedule in DI)

Hey, right now I'm OK with just "no bad losses". Need to keep that going, especially since we all remember the last time we played PSU at home after a win over a PAC-12 team. I know Coach Knutson remembers.

up7587 wrote:Thanks, that's what I getting go by memory.  UCF CSUF is RPI #335.

FYP.
Really hate being so pedantic, UP# (got that from Deaner, and I like it), but its CSUF.  You're going to have to learn the difference between the state schools and the university system in California...

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-state-university-general/1531670-csu-vs-uc-advantages-the-csu-system-has.html

The Titans are 3-1 against D1 competition in the Titan Gym this year, the Pilots are 0-2 there, with losses to UCLA and Dayton.

I knew that. Sheesh, Id better step away from the keyboard.

Glad someone FYP'd that. I'm currently in Orlando and had to do a double take at that. Might have been the only Pilot fan at a random UCF game.

up7587 wrote:Hey, right now I'm OK with just "no bad losses".

Oh yes, me too! We've played with fire a couple of times, but so far so good.

Heard an ugly rumor that LMU stole a road win from Colorado State.

LMU won @CSU, 69-66 on a 3Pt shot with one second left.

USF continued bolstering their 351st place SOS, beating Abilene Christian 86-51.

pilotram wrote:Heard an ugly rumor that LMU stole a road win from Colorado State.

That rumor apparently raised their RPI 69 points

Catching up:
on Tuesday, SMC beat Texas A&M-CC 67-46
PU lost at UL-Lafayette 90-64
BYU beat Idaho St 84-58
Pacific beat Kennesaw St 69-56
Wednesday, GU blasted So. Dakota 102-65
Thursday, SMC beat So. Carolina St 74-47
SCU won @Valparaiso 87-80 in 2OT
USD won @No. Texas 69-68
BYU beat CSU Bakersfield 81-71
PU lost @Montana 71-70
LMU lost to UT-Arlington 80-77
USF beat Utah in Hawaii 89-86

Some good WCC wins in there, as some other WCC are stepping up before conference kicks off.

Sheesh, no posts for several days.  I suspect many of us are deflated by the two losses last week to PSU and Fullerton.  We thought they were winnable games, and were excited by the prospect of entering conference play at 9-3. 7-5 just doesn't feel so good, and the Pilots are playing poorer just as other WCC teams are stepping up.
In the last several days:
UOP beat PAcific Union, and and USF beat Ill. St.
USF lost to San Diego St.
LMU beat Morgan St.

Latest update of WCC power rankings has the Pilots drop from 3rd to 7th.
http://www.midmajormadness.com/2016/12/27/wcc-power-rankings-team-of-week-conference-play

I note that the first three conference games are against the three teams at the bottom of the power rankings.