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For today’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
Before you read any further, understand what it is that you are looking at. This is simply a measurement of CURRENT MERIT. Nothing more. I am making no attempt whatsoever to rank teams based on how good I actually believe them to be, and I’m certainly not trying to make any predictions of what the NCAA Tournament will look like in March. If that is what you’re looking for, then look elsewhere.
I am asking myself one question. How difficult is it to win the games that teams have won? I am not asking myself at all how good I think any teams are at the moment. Do I believe that Montana State is better than Duke? Of course not. Do I think winning at UNLV is more difficult than beating Coppin State home? Yes. That’s why when looking at current merit, Montana State is ahead.
I do it this way because that I feel that as an exercise, it gets me in the habit of objectively looking at teams and not ranking teams based on assumption. I also do it this way because…well…this is simply how I like to do it…
So, here is how it looks. It is admittedly ridiculous. It also only reflects games played prior to today. When I do this next week after the number of games that have been played have doubled, it will look a lot different.
- VIRGINIA TECH – 3-0, neutral wins vs Villanova and South Florida
- RICHMOND – 2-0, road win @ Kentucky, neutral win vs Morehead State
- GONZAGA – 2-0, neutral wins vs Kansas and Auburn
- WEST VIRGINIA – 3-0, netural wins vs South Dakota State, VCU and Western Kentucky
- HOUSTON – 3-0, buy win, home win vs Boise State, neutral win vs Texas Tech
- VILLANOVA – 2-1, neutral wins vs Boston College and Arizona State, neutral loss vs Virginia Tech
- SAN DIEGO STATE – 2-0, road win @ UCLA, buy game win
- WESTERN KENTUCKY – 2-1, neutral wins vs Northern Iowa and Memphis, neutral loss to West Virginia
- Vcu – 2-1, neutral wins vs Utah State and vs Memphis, neutral loss vs West Virginia
- Clemson – 2-0, neutral wins vs Mississippi State and Purdue
- ARIZONA STATE – 2-1, neutral win vs Rhode Island, buy game win, neutral loss vs Villanova
- Louisville – 3-0, home win vs Seton Hall
- Boston College – 1-1, wins vs Rhode Island, loss vs Villanova
- Nevada – 2-0, neutral win vs North Dakota State, road win @ Nebraska
- Saint Louis – 2-0, home win vs LSU, buy game win
- Memphis – 1-2, neutral win vs Saint Mary’s, neutral losses to Western Kentucky and VCU
- Rhode Island – 2-2, neutral wins vs South Florida and San Francisco, neutral losses vs Arizona State and Boston College
- PURDUE – neutral win vs Liberty, neutral loss to Clemson
- Tcu – 3-0, neutral wins vs Liberty and Tulsa, buy game win
- MERCER – 1-0 in D1 games, road win @ Georgia Tech
- GEORGIA STATE – 2-0, road win vs Georgia Tech
- LIBERTY – 2-2, neutral wins vs Mississippi State and vs South Carolina, neutral losses to Purdue and TCU
- Colorado – 2-0, neutral win vs South Dakota, road win @ Kansas State
- Baylor – 2-0, neutral wins vs Louisiana and Washington
- MONTANA STATE – 1-0, win @ UNLV
- Michigan State – 2-0, home win vs Notre Dame, buy game win
- ABILENE CHRISTIAN – 3-0, neutral wins vs ETSU, Austin Peay, Omaha
- Kansas – 1-1, neutral win vs Saint Joseph’s, neutral loss vs Gonzaga
- NORFOLK STATE – 2-0, road win @ James Madison, neutral win vs Radford
- DRAKE – 2-0, wins @ Kansas State, neutral win vs South Dakota
- Saint Mary’s – 2-1, neutral wins vs Northern Iowa and South Dakota State, neutral loss vs Memphis
- San Francisco – 2-2, neutral wins vs Virginia and Towson, neutral losses vs UMass Lowell and Rhode Island
- Bradley – 2-1, neutral wins vs Toledo and Oakland, loss @ Xavier
- Illinois State – 1-1, neutral win vs UMass Lowell, loss @ Ohio State
- UMASS LOWELL – 1-2, win vs San Francisco, loss vs Illinois State and @ Ohio State
- UIC – 2-0, road win @ Northern Illinois, buy game win
- SEATTLE – 3-0, road win @ Portland, neutral win vs Air Force
- Umbc – 1-1, road win @ Saint Francis U
- SAINT FRANCIS U – 1-1, won @ Pittsburgh, loss vs UMBC
- UNC WILMINGTON – 2-1, road win @ UNC Asheville, neutral win vs Troy
- Oklahoma State – 2-0, road win @ UT Arlington, buy game win
- East Carolina – 1-0, road win @ Charlotte
- JACKSONVILLE STATE – 2-1, loss @ Alabama, road win @ South Alabama, neutral win vs FAU
- ALABAMA A&M – 1-0, road win @ Samford
- Utah State – 1-2, neutral losses vs VCU and South Dakota State, neutral win vs Northern Iowa
- UNC Greensboro – 1-0, neutral win vs Little Rock
- Belmont – 3-0, neutral wins vs Howard and George Mason
- OHIO U – 2-1, neutral wins vs Chicago State and NC A&T, road loss vs Illinois
- Eastern Kentucky – 2-0, neutral wins vs North Florida and Charleston Southern
- SAINT PETER’S – 1-1, neutral floor win vs La Salle, road loss @ Saint John’s
- Boise State – 1-1, neutral win vs Sam Houston State, loss @ Houston
- Austin Peay – 2-1, neutral wins vs Omaha and East Tennessee State, neutral loss to Abilene Christian
- SOUTH CAROLINA – 1-1, neutral win vs Tulsa, neutral loss vs Liberty
- SOUTH DAKOTA STATE – 1-2, neutral win vs Utah State, neutral losses vs West Virginia and Liberty
- Lsu –1-1, neutral win vs SIUE, road loss vs Saint Louis
- Auburn – 1-1, neutral win vs Saint Joseph’s, neutral loss vs Gonzaga
- ARMY – 3-0, neutral wins vs Central Connecticut and Buffalo
- Southeast Missouri State – 1-0, neutral win vs Kansas City
- NC Central – 1-1, neutral floor win vs Southern
- Air Force – neutral win vs Cal State, Northridge, neutral loss vs Seattle
- Nicholls – 2-1, neutral wins vs UC Davis and Idaho State, road loss @ Santa Clara
- Maryland – 3-0 in buy games, win vs Mount Saint Mary’s
- Mount Saint Mary’s – 1-2, won @ Morgan State, neutral loss vs Navy, road loss @ Maryland
- Texas State – 2-0, road win @ TAMUCC
- Appalachian State – 2-0, road win @ South Carolina State
- Little Rock – 1-1, neutral win vs Prairie View A&M, neutral loss vs UNC Greensboro
- Troy – 1-1, neutral win vs Western Carolina, neutral loss vs UNC Wilmington
- Western Carolina – 2-1, neutral win vs UNC Wilmington, neutral loss vs Troy, road loss @UNC Asheville
- Virginia – 1-1, wins vs Towson, loss vs San Francisco
- Ucla – 1-1, neutral win vs Pepperdine, home loss to San Diego State
- Omaha – 1-2, neutral win vs Middle Tennessee, neutral losses to Austin Peay and Abilene Christian
- Pepperdine – 1-1, neutral win vs UC Irvine, neutral loss vs UCLA
- Prairie Vew A&M, 1-2, road loss @ Louisville, neutral loss vs Little rock, neutral win vs Evansville
- Duke – 1-0 in buy games
- Iowa – 2-0 in buy games
- North Carolina – 1-0 in buy games
- Texas Tech – 2-1, 2 buy game wins, neutral loss vs Houston
- Illinois – 3-0 in buy games
- Georgetown – 1-0, home win vs UMBC
- Wisconsin – 2-0 in buy games
- Ohio State – 2-0, home win vs UMass Lowell, buy game win
- Oregon State – 1-0, home win vs California
- Kentucky – 1-1, buy game win, home loss to Richmond
- Tennessee – has not played
- Rutgers – 3-0 in buy games
- Michigan – 2-0 in buy games
- Creighton – 1-0 in buy games
- Texas – 1-0 in buy games
- Oregon – has not played
- Florida – has not played
- Florida State – has not played
- Stanford – has not played
- Alabama – 1-0 in buy games
- Saint John’s – 2-0 in buy games, win vs St. Peter’s
- Providence – 1-0 in buy games
- Dayton – has not played
- Smu – 1-0 in buy games
- NC State – 2-0 in buy games
- Marquete – 2-0 in buy games
- Furman – 1-0 in buy games
- Miami FL – 1-0 in buy games
- Cincinnati – has not played
- Xavier – 3-0 in buy games
- Indiana – 1-0 in buy games
- Usc – 2-0 in buy games
- Minnesota – 2-0 in buy games
- Arkansas – 2-0 in buy games
- Byu – 3-0 in buy games
- Butler – 1-0 in buy games
- Santa Clara – 3-0 in buy games
- Iowa State – 1-0 in buy games
- Wake Forest – 2-0 in buy games
- Syracuse – 1-0 in buy games
- Arizona – 1-0 in buy games
- Loyola Chicago – has not played
- UC SANTA BARBARA – has not played
- WINTHROP – has not played
- Louisiana Tech – 2-0 in buy games
- Davidson – 1-0 in buy games
- Nebraska – 2-1, 2 buy game wins, home loss to Nevada
- Penn State – 1-0 in buy games
- Missouri – 1-0 in buy games
- Texas A&M – 1-0 in buy games
- Elon – 1-0 vs D1, buy game win
- Tulane – 2-0 in buy games
- Marshall – 1-0 in buy games
- Uab – 2-0 in buy games
- Wyoming – 1-0, buy game win
- Hofstra – 0-1, lost @ Rutgers
- Rice – 1-0 in buy games in D1 games
- Northern Kentucky – 1-0, buy game win
- North Carolina A&T – 1-2, neutral win vs Chicago State
- Washington State – 2-0 in buy games
- Georgia – 1-0 in buy games
- Vanderbilt – 1-0 in buy games
- Pacific – 1-0 in buy games
COMMENTS FROM THE STAFF (if they even know where to start)…