Why is Notre Dame ranked?

[X Factor]

How in the world are these guys getting so much respect? The only reason, imo, is because they play in the Big East. They are currently ranked 7th!

Let's see, they're 9-3 with an RPI of 73, a SOS of 186, and exactly 1 win over a team with an RPI higher than 130.

They just lost today to St. John's, a team who's RPI is 133 and coming into today, their best win RPI wise came against Cornell.

Notre Dame should fall out of the Top 20 at the least and probably shouldn't be ranked come Monday, but I'll bet they only fall to 14th or 15th and that is a joke!

[Stonebreaker]

Why are any teams ranked before they have played a single game. If they (or any team) aren't worthy of a current ranking, sooner or later it catches up.
Rankings this early are meaningless, especially if a team plays in a good conference.

[MuskieMark]

How in the world are these guys getting so much respect? The only reason, imo, is because they play in the Big East. They are currently ranked 7th!

Let's see, they're 9-3 with an RPI of 73, a SOS of 186, and exactly 1 win over a team with an RPI higher than 130.

They just lost today to St. John's, a team who's RPI is 133 and coming into today, their best win RPI wise came against Cornell.

Notre Dame should fall out of the Top 20 at the least and probably shouldn't be ranked come Monday, but I'll bet they only fall to 14th or 15th and that is a joke!
They are ranked because harangody is a monster..averaging 23 and 12 and mcalarney averages almost 17 with redford like range

[jdm2000]

It's easier to stay in the polls when you start so high.

[XU2424]

I am going with Harangody and being in the Big East...I bet this St John's lose hurts tough.

[GuyFawkes38]

The AP and Coaches Top 25 is influenced too much by hype.

The good news is that the Selection Committee does a great job at evaluating teams in an unbiased manner

(It's a good time to remind Jay Bilas and ESPN lovers on this board that they enable people who advocate that the Selection Committee should be filled by people tied to the BCS conferences)

[BBC 08]

Speaking of the Selection Committee, this year I believe is the first of three for Bobo on the committee.

[sirthought]

I think ND is good. I don't know who deserves what number, honestly. But they are really good, especially their top two guys.

They have real depth and, despite what you might think by appearance, some tough match ups inside and out.

[Fred Garvin]

What's Mike Brey done since Deleware? Yeah, he shellacked Skip and X in the tourney, but then who didn't beat Skip come March and April? Oliver Purnell made a career out of beating Skip at the dump. I'd be willing to bet ND doesn't see the sweet 16.

[BENWAR]

[QUOTE=Fred Garvin;80474]What's Mike Brey done since Deleware? Yeah, he shellacked Skip and X in the tourney, but then who didn't beat Skip come March and April? Oliver Purnell made a career out of beating Skip at the dump. I'd be willing to bet ND doesn't see the sweet 16.[/QUOTE

Well said Fred.

[xufan02]

If ND does not hit the three ball they lose, it is that simple. If you can keep them from getting open looks they are done.

[Masterofreality]

What's Mike Brey done since Deleware?

In a word, nothing.

Ok, they beat Texas. Give them that, but they're 76th in RPI, lost the only other two games to teams with sub 50 RPI's and their wins have come against a rogues gallery of plus 150 RPI scrubs. In fact, 5 of their wins are against plus 200 RPI.

ND is another case of slobbering love given to Big Greased teams like Villanova and Marquette who play questionable schedules, win against scrubs and if they come up with one win against somebody big, it gets blown out of proportion. If I see another story about the greatness of Harangody, I'll puke.

The Big Greased will get 8-9 teams in the Dance again- B-ESPN will trumpet them enough, but by the end of the first weekend, all but Pitt and UConn will be gone.

[QueensbridgeMF]

G-Town will make the second weekend. And usually a team like Nova or the Cuse make a run. I would bet 4 Big East teams make the Sweet 16. Loved that win by the Johnies yesterday. would have gone if I wasn't working. FND

[X-band '01]

What's Mike Brey done since Deleware? Yeah, he shellacked Skip and X in the tourney, but then who didn't beat Skip come March and April? Oliver Purnell made a career out of beating Skip at the dump. I'd be willing to bet ND doesn't see the sweet 16.

Notre Dame had a Sweet 16 appearance in 2003 when they had Chris Thomas as their PG, but that's about it.

[Masterofreality]

G-Town will make the second weekend. And usually a team like Nova or the Cuse make a run. I would bet 4 Big East teams make the Sweet 16. Loved that win by the Johnies yesterday. would have gone if I wasn't working. FND

I'm on the fence with G-Town. I think they have the athletes, but in some respects I think that J Thompson Jr. holds them back a bit- especially in Tournament time.

I like J.T. Jr's disciplined approach, but sometimes you have to let the thorobreds run and make plays. That really comes into play at year's end when everybody is well scouted.

[muskienick]

What's Mike Brey done since Deleware? Yeah, he shellacked Skip and X in the tourney, but then who didn't beat Skip come March and April? Oliver Purnell made a career out of beating Skip at the dump. I'd be willing to bet ND doesn't see the sweet 16.

Good ol' Fred! Always sunshine and blue skies for him. Never a negative thing to say.

You Make Gary/Moose/Mr. Neutral look like the second coming of Norman Vincent Peale!

[nuts4xu]

ND had a nice win over Texas and their only losses were to UNC and a close one to Ohio State. This loss vs. SJU will definitely hurt them, likely as much as our loss to Butler hurt Xavier.

By the way, Ohio State was exposed by Minnesota this weekend. Minnesota has played a pretty weak schedule but his win over OSU was a good win.

[XU '11]

This loss vs. SJU will definitely hurt them, likely as much as our loss to Butler hurt Xavier.

How so? Butler is good. St John's is far from good.

[Ahoya XU]

Teams are starting to figure out that you can play man D on Harangody and let him get his 25-28 points if it means keeping their guards in check. McAlarney is really the key to the offense, but he isn't athletic enough to take over games when he's being closely defended. I'd be very concerned if I were an Irish fan.

[Juice]

Harangody did start the season with pneumonia or something like that.

ND should barely stay ranked.

I think the better question is why are Louisville and Gonzaga ranked?
I highly doubt either will be on Monday.

[The Artist]

The bigger question is will we ever again have an XH top 25? I've turned mine in the past two weeks, only to see that one didn't get released.

Looking at the results from this past week, I definitely don't want to put the worthless time in again, ranking the teams will be quite the task.

[Masterofreality]

I think the better question is why are Louisville and Gonzaga ranked?
I highly doubt either will be on Monday.

Gone-zaga? Gone-zo.

Sosa saved Louisville's ranking today with a 30 foot 3-ball.

[Juice]

Gone-zaga? Gone-zo.

Sosa saved Louisville's ranking today with a 30 foot 3-ball.

Louisville did lose to UNLV earlier in the week. I just don't see how beating a barely average UK team at home will keep them ranked.

[Masterofreality]

Louisville did lose to UNLV earlier in the week. I just don't see how beating a barely average UK team at home will keep them ranked.


Because its Pitino, the Big Greased and B-Espn