I want to make sure everyone knows what they are looking at. This IS NOT a ranking of how good I think the teams actually are. It also IS NOT me trying to guess what the actual selection committee will do on Selection Sunday. It is merely me putting together the rankings while asking one question….
How difficult was it for a team to win the games that they’ve won so far?
Teams that have only played and won home buy games did not make the list. Some made it if they played Under the Radar teams that may end up in our UTR Top Ten, but most didn’t. Duke is an excellent team. If I were ranking teams based on how good I thought they were, Duke would be ranked 2nd or 3rd. But Duke has also only played two home buy games so far against exceptionally weak teams, so they are not on this list at all.
So, why do I do this?? Many will say “It’s too early for rankings and/or bracketology!” Well…take a look at the picture below. The score and the clock are displayed on the scoreboard for the entire game, and they should be. It’s very obvious to everyone that the network is not predicting that Morehead State will win this game simply because they had a lead two minutes in. No one watching this game at this point thought that. But, nevertheless, the score and the clock are still there, as they should be, and no one is saying that it’s too early in the game to have the score and the clock on the screen.
If the season were a basketball game, this is the point of the game we’d be at. We’d be two minutes in. And the score would be on the screen even though it is not always an indication of what the final outcome would be. So, that’s what you’re looking at. The scoreboard when we are two minutes into the game that is this season.
And, if I’m being honest, I also think it’s kind of fun to see some of the Under the Radar teams high up in the rankings after they’ve won some big OOC games early on.
THE PUPPET’S MERIT RANKINGS: (bold teams are the current conference “leaders.”):
- UCLA – 2-0, neutral win vs Arizona
- FLORIDA – 2-0, neutral win vs Miami FL
- MEMPHIS – 2-0, win vs Iowa State, home win vs VCU
- CONNECTICUT – 2-0, neutral win vs Michigan
- VIRGINIA – 3-0, neutral win vs Arkansas
- SAINT LOUIS – 2-0, neutral win vs Missouri
- BYU – 2-0, neutral win vs Ohio State
- VALPARAISO – 2-0, road win @ Purdue
- NEVADA – 2-0, neutral win vs Saint Mary’s
- Notre Dame – 2-0, neutral win vs Villanova
- EAST TEXAS A&M – 2-0, road wins @ Oklahoma and @ Rice
- GONZAGA – 2-0, neutral win vs Purdue
- Nebraska – 2-0, neutral win vs Providence
- SOUTH DAKOTA STATE – 2-0, win @ Kansas State
- Davidson – 2-0, win @ Washington State
- Usc – 2-0, neutral win vs Wichita State
- DePaul – 2-0, home win vs South Florida
- North Texas – 1-0 vs D1, home win vs McNeese
- HIGH POINT – 3-0, neutral win vs Liberty
- Vanderbilt – 2-0, home win vs Wake Forest
- San Diego State – 2-0, neutral win vs Colorado
- PACIFIC – 1-0, win @ Bradley
- QUEENS – 2-1, neutral win vs Winthrop, win @ LMU
- Houston – 2-0, neutral win vs Cal
- OHIO U – 2-0, win @ South Alabama
- GREEN BAY – 1-1, win @ Saint Thomas, lost road buy game
- TENNESSEE TECH – 1-1, loss @ Mississippi State, home win vs Western Kentucky
- GRAMBLING – 1-0, neutral win vs Northern Illinois
- Jackson State– 1-1, win @ Tulane, road buy game loss at Texas Tech
- North Dakota– 1-1, win @ Winthrop, buy game loss @ Minnesota
- Northern Kentucky – 2-1, neutral win vs UTEP, win @ South Dakota
- Boston College – 2-0, neutral win vs UMass
- ELON – 2-0, win @ UNC Greensboro
- UNC Wilmington – 1-0, won @ East Carolina
- Akron – 1-0, win @ Louisiana
- Bowling Green – 1-0, win @ Georgia State
- Charlotte 2-0 – win @ Indiana State
- UMASS LOWELL – 2-0, win @ Merrimack
- Tulsa 1-0 – win vs Northern Illinois
- North Florida – 1-1 – win @ Cal Baptist
- Hawaii – 3-0, home win vs Seattle U
- McNeese – 1-1, neutral win vs UAB, road loss @ North Texas
- QUINNIPIAC – 2-1, lost road buy game, won @ Vermont
- Georgetown – 2-0, home win vs Maryland
- Boise State – 1-0, home win vs Butler
- UMass – 1-1, win @ Troy, neutral loss vs Boston College
- Youngstown State – 1-1, win @ Saint Bonaventure, lost road buy game
- Murray State – 2-0, neutral win vs Tennessee State
- NORTH ALABAMA – 1-0, won @ UC Davis
- OLD DOMINION – 2-0, win @ Bucknell
- Appalachian State – 1-0, win @ Merrimack
- UT Arlington – 1-1, won @ Portland, lost @ Hawaii
- CHICAGO STATE – 1-1, win @ Incarnate Word, lost road buy game to Texas
- Central Michigan – 1-0, win @ UL Monroe
- Rhode Island – 2-0, neutral win vs Monmouth
- KENNESAW STATE – 1-0 with a home win over Austin Peay
- YALE – 1-1, home win vs Howard, road loss at UCF
- UTAH VALLEY – 1-0, win @ Weber State
- HOWARD, – 1-1, win @ Alcorn State, loss @ Yale
- Western Carolina – 1-1, lost at North Carolina, won @ UNC Asheville
- Morgan State – 1-0, road win @ Niagara
- South Carolina State – 1-0, win @ USC Upstate
- UC San Diego – 1-0, win vs Fresno State
- Oregon State – 2-0, neutral win vs Cal Baptist
- BOSTON U – 2-0, win @ Brown
- Eastern Michigan – 1-1, road buy game loss @ Xavier, win @ Coastal Carolina
- Saint Bonaventure – 1-1, lost home buy game to Youngstown State, won @ Canisus
- Northern Illinois – 1-2, win @ Dayton, losses @ Tulsa and home vs Grambling
- Fairfield – 1-1, home loss to Vermont, win @ Bryant
- Sacred Heart – 1-1, home loss to Maine, win @ New Hampshire
- Alabama – 2-0, home win vs Arkansas State
- Kentucky – 2-0, home win vs James Madison
- Louisiana Tech – 1-0, home win vs Kent State
- Saint Mary’s – 2-1, home win vs North Dakota State
- Arkansas State – 1-1, buy game loss @ Alabama, home win vs Toledo
- Saint Thomas – 1-2, win @ Presbyterian, buy loss @ Minnesota, home loss vs Green Bay
- Houston Christian – 1-0, win @ Western Illinois
- MONTANA STATE – 1-1, only Big Sky team with a D1 win
- SEMO – 1-1, only OVC team with a D1 win
.
And you don’t really appreciate how bizarre these rankings are until you see them in a bracket…
NOTES ON THE BRACKET:
-The games in bold and italics are the AQ opening round games. The games in regular italics are the at-large opening round games.
If you’re a guru, you’ll notice that the dates of the Opening Round are wrong. And here’s what I have to say to that. Right now…I DON’T CARE!! CHAD CAN EAT ME IF HE JUMPS ON TO CRITICIZE ME ABOUT IT!!!!
There are supposed to be six opening round games in both Wichita and Dayton, (three that feature at-large teams and three that feature the lowest ranked automatic qualifiers), which means we’d have three AQ games and three at-large games each day. This bracket does not have that. And…I do not feel like playing around with it right now to make that work. It’s a crazy enough of a bracket anyway that you can kind of get the idea.
