Throughout the early part of the season, I will be posting what I call Merit Rankings at the end of each week. There is no attempt to rank how good the teams actually are, but rather provide a CHECKPOINT of CURRENT MERIT. If you’re looking for a ranking that reflects how good the teams actually are, then this is not for you. I feel that it accomplishes two things. It is interesting to look at, and it gets me into the habit of evaluating teams objectively. I’m sure they may appear to be impractical, but I like doing it anyway. I also know that half the teams that are currently ranked in the AP and Coaches’ Poll aren’t likely to be ranked at the end of the year, so this is as good of a way of ranking the teams as any other.
I also figured that if I’m going to put together these rankings, then…why not bracket them?? So, below is the list that ranks the teams by current merit along with the notes on what each of them has accomplished, and below that is a bracket.
Any team that opened up with a home buy game received no credit for winning it. Likewise, a team from a UTR conference that lost a road buy game received no demerit for losing it. The teams at the top of the rankings are those that won non-buy games (or if it was a buy game then it had to be against a team that was somewhat decent), and those who won them away from home were awarded more. The reason so many highly ranked teams from power conferences are lower than where many feel they should be is because so many of them have only played buy games up to this point.
1. TEXAS A&M – 1-0, neutral floor win vs West Virginia
2. NIAGARA – 1-0, win @ Saint Bonaventure
3. INDIANA STATE – 1-0, win @ Indiana
4. GEORGIA SOUTHERN – 1-0, win @ Wake Forest
5. NOTRE DAME – 1-0. Won @ DePaul
6. UCLA – 1-0, neutral floor win vs Georgia Tech
7. Kentucky – 2-0, home win vs Vermont
8. Arkansas – 2-0, home win vs Bucknell
9. DELAWARE – 1-0, won @ Richmond
10. LAMAR – 1-0, win @ Tulsa
11. Missouri – 1-0, neutral floor win vs Iowa State
12. Alabama – 1-0, neutral floor win vs Memphis
13. Seton Hall – 2-0, home win vs Monmouth
14. Monmouth – 1-1, home win vs Bucknell
15. TOLEDO – home win vs Saint Joe’s
16. Louisville – 1-0, home win vs George Mason
17. Missouri State – 1-0, win @ Western Kentucky
18. UC RIVERSIDE – 1-0, won @ Cal (which is only slightly better than buy game)
19. Southern Illinois – 1-0, won @ Winthrop
20. South Carolina – 1-0, road win @ Wofford
21. Creighton – 2-0, home win vs Yale
22. WISCONSIN – 2-0, win vs Yale
23. Butler – 2-0. Home win against Princeton
24. HARVARD – 1-0, home win vs UMass
25. Michigan State – 1-0 in buy games
26. Duke – 2-0 in buy games
27. KANSAS – 1-0 in buy games
28. VILLANOVA – 1-0 in buy games
29. Arizona – 2-0 in buy games
30. Miami FL – 2-0 in buy games
31. WICHITA STATE – 1-0 in buy games
32. Florida – 1-0 in buy games
33. Usc – 1-0 in buy games
34. North Carolina – 1-0 in buy games
35. Cincinnati – 1-0 in buy games
36. GONZAGA – 1-0 in buy games
37. Saint Mary’s – 1-0 in buy games
38. Virginia – 1-0 in buy games
39. West Virginia – 0-1. Lost neutral floor game to Texas A&M
40. Xavier – 1-0 in buy games
41. Purdue – 2-0 in buy games
42. Northwestern – 1-0 in buy games
43. Virginia Tech – 1-0 in buy games
44. RHODE ISLAND – 1-0 in buy games
45. Baylor – 1-0 in buy games
46. Texas – 1-0 in buy games
47. Providence – 1-0 in buy games
48. Michigan 1-0 in buy games
49. Minnesota – 1-0 in buy games
50. FLORIDA GULF COAST – 1-0 with home win vs Illinois State
51. NAVY – 1-1, home win vs Pittsburgh, loss @ Miami FL
52. Smu – 2-0 in buy games
53. Tcu – 1-0 in buy games
54. Oklahoma – 1-0 in buy games
55. Oregon – 1-0 in buy games
56. UConn – 1-0 in buy games
57. Ohio State – 2-0 in buy games
58. NEVADA – 1-0 in buy games
59. Florida State – 0-0
60. Ucf – 1-0 in buy games
61. Kansas State – 1-0 in buy games
62. Maryland – 1-0 in buy games
63. NC State – 1-0 in buy games
64. VERMONT – 0-1. Lost at Kentucky
65. Georgia – 1-0 in buy games
66. Vanderbilt – 1-0 in buy games
67. Ole Miss – 1-0 in buy games
68. Wyoming – 1-0 in buy games
69. BELMONT – 0-1, close loss @ Washington
70. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE – 1-0
71. WEBER STATE – 1-0, home win vs Utah State
72. Marquette – 1-0 in buy games
73. Syracuse – 1-0 in buy games
74. Davidson – 1-0 in buy games
75. OAKLAND – 1-0
76. Byu – 1-0 in buy games
77. Saint Louis – 1-0 in buy games
78. Penn State – 2-0 in buy games
79. Washington – 2-0 in buy games
80. Dayton – 1-0 in buy games
81. Vcu – 1-0 in buy games
82. Utah – 1-0 in buy games
83. Saint John’s – 1-0 in buy games
84. Iowa – 2-0 in buy games
85. Mississippi State – 1-0 in buy games
86. Arizona State – 1-0 in buy games
87. Illinois – 2-0 in buy games
88. Colorado – 1-0 in buy games
89. UAB – 1-0
90. Tennessee – 1-0 in buy games
91. Auburn – 1-0 in buy games
92. Iowa State – 0-1. Lost @ Missouri
93. Saint Bonaventure – 0-1. Lost at home to Niagara
94. GRAND CANYON – 1-0, only WAC team with a div1 win
95. MERCER – 0-1, loss @ UCF
96. WAGNER – 1-0 with a road win
97. HIGH POINT – only Big South team with a div1 win
98. TEXAS SOUTHERN – no div1 wins
99. NCCU – no div1 wins
COMMENTS FROM HOOPS HD STAFF
-From Chad: This is why we don’t do Brackets in November.
-From David: But we just DID a bracket in November, Chad!! IT’S POSTED DIRECTLY ABOVE!!!! Chad is wrong again!!