Gonzaga is Your New #1

GoMuskies · 03-01-2013, 12:33 AM

I know that will please a lot of you Gonzaga haters.

(Yeah, I know they need to beat Portland at home still.)

xubrew · 03-03-2013, 09:36 AM

I'm not convinced they are the best team, but I think they're in the top five. I also think that they earned it. It's good to see a team from outside the major conferences rise that high. There is more working against them than there is working for them, so they definitely earned the ranking. If a WCC team can be #1, then it shows that you don't have to be in a Big Six conference to get it.

BMoreX · 03-03-2013, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by xubrew

I'm not convinced they are the best team, but I think they're in the top five. I also think that they earned it. It's good to see a team from outside the major conferences rise that high. There is more working against them than there is working for them, so they definitely earned the ranking. If a WCC team can be #1, then it shows that you don't have to be in a Big Six conference to get it.

Kind of off topic, but it will be interesting to see what the media considers the Power Six conferences after this part of realignment. Do they consider the Power Six to include the New Big East or the Uconn/UC/temple league. Or do they start saying the Power Seven conferences.

**Juice** · 03-03-2013, 10:32 AM

They're SOS is pretty weak. I still would pick IU, Duke, or Miami as a #1 over them.

**LA Muskie** · 03-03-2013, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by Juice

They're SOS is pretty weak. I still would pick IU, Duke, or Miami as a #1 over them.

I hadn't concentrated on it until now. Their schedule is atrocious. Duke's SOS is #2. Gotta vote them in, especially after beating #5/7 polls, #3 RPI and #4 SOS Miami.

GoMuskies · 03-03-2013, 11:30 AM

Gonzaga is 7-1 against the power conference folks. WCC blows, but their non-conference schedule was solid. Zags will be #1 tomorrow.

**LA Muskie** · 03-03-2013, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by GoMuskies

Gonzaga is 7-1 against the power conference folks. WCC blows, but their non-conference schedule was solid. Zags will be #1 tomorrow.

Power conferences? OK. Power teams? Nope.

xubrew · 03-03-2013, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by Juice

They're SOS is pretty weak. I still would pick IU, Duke, or Miami as a #1 over them.

Please. Not Duke. Every year the status quo is way more enamored with Duke than what they should be.

Duke has not won a true road game against a tournament caliber team. In fact, since Florida State is their best true road win, they arguably haven't won a true road game against an NIT caliber team. Many of the tournament caliber teams they've played away from home haven't just beaten them, but have clobbered them. They struggled to beat Boston College and Wake Forest on the road. When you struggle on the road once or twice, it's an off night. When you struggle on the road literally every time out, which Duke does, you shouldn't even be in the conversation of being ranked #1.

I could go on. They did beat Louisville, but Louisville was shorthanded and Duke still had trouble winning.

They beat Kentucky, but barely, and although Kentucky was highly ranked at the time, it's obvious that Kentucky was highly overrated.

Duke is good, but they're not #1 good. I'd go so far to say they're arguably not even top ten good, and haven't been since 2010 as exhibited by their constant struggle to win true road games against tournament caliber teams, and their early exits from the tournament.

Gonzaga is much closer to being legitimately #1 than Duke is to being legitimately #3. Since winning the national title in 2010, Duke has done almost nothing to merit being ranked as high as they typically are.

GoMuskies · 03-03-2013, 11:49 AM

Oklahoma, K-State and OKlahoma State are three of the top 4 teams in the Big XII. Baylor is sixth. The two teams they lost to also beat Indiana.

I think they've done plenty enough. The Duke team you'd have at #1 lost to a pretty pedestrian UVA just a few days ago.

xubrew · 03-03-2013, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by GoMuskies

Oklahoma, K-State and OKlahoma State are three of the top 4 teams in the Big XII. Baylor is sixth. The two teams they lost to also beat Indiana.

I think they've done plenty enough. The Duke team you'd have at #1 lost to a pretty pedestrian UVA just a few days ago.

For the last three seasons Duke has lost to far more pedestrian teams away from home than they've beaten. I'm starting to think that it's a trend.