Bagels & Biscuits

Do you prefer bagels and cream cheese or biscuits and gravy? Football on Saturdays or Sundays? Big 10 or SEC? The Braves or the Yankees? You know what? It doesn't matter. You can have it all right here.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Top 10

Quick, name all the colleges and universities that have had both their men’s and women’s basketball teams reach the top 10 in the Associated Press’s poll over the past two seasons?

Some hints:

Only 20 different women’s teams have been in the top 10 over the past two seasons, while 35 men’s teams have made it into the top 10 during that stretch. Now among that group of schools, only 10 have seen both their men’s and women’s teams ranked for at least one week in the top 10 since the first poll of the 2005-2006 season. And, yes there is one school that had its men’s team make the top 10 for one week and is thus included in the list. One women’s also reached No. 10 in the rankings to qualify its school for the list.

More clues needed?

Among the 10, nine are from BCS-conference schools. Yes, that’s right there is one school that isn’t from one of the major conferences. Oh, and of the six major conferences, only the Pac-10 failed to have a school ranked in both top 10s.

Two schools have both their men’s and women’s teams achieve the top ranking in the nation at some point over the past two seasons.

All right, enough with the clues, here’s the list (with the top ranking achieved by both the men and women)…

Connecticut
Women: 4, Men: 1

Duke
Women: 1, Men: 1

George Washington
Women: 8, Men: 6

LSU
Women: 2, Men 5

Michigan State
Women: 9, Men: 5

North Carolina
Women: 1, Men: 1

Ohio State
Women: 2, Men: 2

Oklahoma
Women: 3, Men: 5

Tennessee
Women: 1, Men: 8

Texas A&M
Women: 10, Men: 6

Oh, and if you were wondering, the Tennessee men and the Texas A&M women were the two schools that only made it into the top 10 for one week to qualify for this list.

Surprised by any school on the list? Any college you would’ve expected to see on the list that wasn’t there? Post your comments below and tell what you think about these school and which teams could be added to the list in the near future, if any.

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, February 11, 2007

NCAA Tournament Projections: Week 4

The projections are continuing to change. As the regular season starts to wind down things are shaking out and teams on the bubble are falling fast. But, there are still plenty of teams jockeying for one of the final coveted spots in the Big Dance.

Just a reminder, automatic bids are given to the team currently leading the conference.

Let’s start with conferences that will absolutely be getting only one bid (these teams need to maintain their spots at the top to make the dance):
America East: Vermont
Atlantic Sun: East Tennessee State
Big Sky: Weber State
Big South: Winthrop
Big West: Long Beach State
Ivy: Pennsylvania
Metro Atlantic Athletic: Marist
Mid Continent: Oral Roberts
Mid-America: Akron
Mid-Eastern Athletic: Delaware State
Northeast: Central Connecticut State
Ohio Valley: Austin Peay
Patriot: Holy Cross
Southern: Davidson
Southland: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Southwest Athletic: Mississippi Valley St.
Sunbelt: South Alabama

There are four conferences that would be one-bid conferences depending on who wins the tournament. If the NCAA Tournament was to start today, three of those teams are leading their conference, while one has fallen to second place. So as of now, from these four conferences, five teams would make the NCAA Tournament. Wright State is currently holding up a spot that would certainly go to someone else. Memphis, Butler and Nevada will make it as at-large teams if they cannot win their respective conference tournaments. Gonzaga would be on the bubble.

Conference USA: Memphis
Horizon: Wright State (automatic bid), Butler (at large)
West Coast: Gonzaga
Western Athletic: Nevada

Now for the rest of the conferences (total current bids in parenthesis):

Atlantic 10 (2):
In – Massachusetts (automatic bid), Xavier
On the Cusp – None
Long Climb Ahead – None

Atlantic Coast Conference (7):
In – North Carolina (automatic bid), Boston College, Duke, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia
On the Cusp – Maryland
Long Climb Ahead – Georgia Tech

Big 12 (5):
In – Texas A&M (automatic bid), Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
On the Cusp – Texas Tech
Long Climb Ahead – None

Big East (6):
In – Pittsburgh (automatic bid), Marquette, Notre Dame, Georgetown, West Virginia, Villanova
On the Cusp – Syracuse, Providence
Long Climb Ahead – Louisville

Big Ten (5):
In – Wisconsin (automatic bid), Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan State, Illinois
On the Cusp – Michigan
Long Climb Ahead – Purdue

Colonial Athletic (1):
In – Virginia Commonwealth (automatic bid)
On the Cusp – Drexel
Long Climb Ahead – Hofstra, Old Dominion

Missouri Valley (3):
In – Southern Illinois (automatic bid), Creighton, Missouri State
On the Cusp – Bradley
Long Climb Ahead – None

Mountain West (3):
In – BYU (automatic bid), UNLV, Air Force
On the Cusp – None
Long Climb Ahead – None

Pacific-10 (6):
In – UCLA (automatic bid), Oregon, Washington State, USC, Arizona, Stanford
On the Cusp – None
Long Road Ahead – None

Southeastern (5):
In – Florida (automatic bid), Kentucky, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Tennessee
On the Cusp – Georgia
Long Road Ahead – Arkansas

Final Six In: Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, USC, Michigan State, Illinois, Xavier
First Six Out: Georgia, Bradley, Drexel, Providence, Texas Tech, Maryland

What team did I miss? What team doesn’t deserve to be on the list? We want to know what you think. Post your comments below.

Labels: , , ,