tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22972768.post116741272181787328..comments2023-09-01T06:51:04.030-04:00Comments on Basketball Predictions: More Holiday HoopsJeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12767101715737129123noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22972768.post-1167435764308869692006-12-29T18:42:00.000-05:002006-12-29T18:42:00.000-05:00It's true that they have to do a lot on the road, ...It's true that they have to do a lot on the road, but not entirely. Wichita State did their damage on the road, but Missouri State took down Wisconsin on a neutral floor. Same for Butler's wins over Gonzaga and Tennessee. My point was that it's sexy for everyone to jump on the bandwagon of these mid-majors when they a top team, but who was jumping on the bandwagon of Georgia or Washington State when they took out Gonzaga as well? Upsets happen, on the road or at home, some finite percentage of the time. But when a mid-tier BCS school pulls one big road upset and loses 6 other road games we dismiss the upset as just a good game on a good day. But when a top-tier mid major pulls one or two big road upsets, we forget about the other games that they lose because they just don't play enough and because it's a lot more fun to root for Butler or Wichita State than for Georgia or Washington State.<BR/><BR/>As for Wichita State, I wouldn't have gone on that rant purely for the loss to USC. First of all, the game wasn't at USC, but on a neutral floor. And even so, I wouldn't have made a big deal except that Wichita State lost the night before on the same neutral floor to New Mexico. For some reason they only dropped to 16th, even though I'm pretty sure the voters would drop much more quickly off a team like Clemson or Oklahoma State if they went and lost to two medium-quality teams on consecutive nights on a neutral floor. Let's remember that Texas (a school that certainly never has a problem with getting hype) was dropped from 18th to 25th for a week in which they lost to Michigan State on a neutral floor and beat St. John's on the road. If a Missouri Valley team lost a close game to the Spartans and beat the Johnnies at the Garden, everyone would be singing their praises, talking about how underrated they were.<BR/><BR/>I think it's all a lot of over-compensating for the 1990's, when these mid-majors were largely ignored despite the great amounts of talent they were starting to bring in.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12767101715737129123noreply@blogger.com