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MRI 2008 - Tournament Final
April 7, 2009
By Benjamin Miraski
One bad week tripped UNC from the regular
season title. Not so for the tourney one.
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
North Carolina dominated the NCAA tournament, something that the MRI thought might happen...except for that conference tournament week.
You see, the Tar Heels stumbled during the ACC tournament, allowing Memphis to squeak by them during the final week of the season. That led the MRI to pick the Tigers as the tournament champions.
But things changed quickly. As soon as North Carolina starting stomping opponents, the Tar Heels were slipping back into the lead.
By the time the Sweet Sixteen rolled around, North Carolina was sniffing the No. 1 spot, and Missouri assisted the matter by taking out Memphis in dramatic fashion.
The Tar Heels rolled through the rest of the tournament, extending the lead and trouncing the rest of the field, something that the MRI had thought might happen... well, last year. But this year, they did it right.
Included in the rankings this time around are the winners of the other three tournaments: Penn State, Old Dominion and Oregon State.
Yes, Oregon State, who ended with a losing record against Division I teams took home a tournament title. If I thought that the Penn State NIT title was unlikely, I can't even begin to explain how the Beavers pulled this one off.
Oregon State finished as the No. 192 team in the country, and that is after the tournament win.
Talk about unlikely. But then again, it was the CBI, a tournament that it seemed had trouble filling its field because of the monetary requirement it attached to a home game (Apparently Oregon State didn't have a problem paying.)
But that is a matter for another day. Until then, check out the tournament final rankings of the MRI.
MRI Top 25 Rankings
| Rank | Team | Record | MRI | LW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina | 33-4 | 253.07 | 2 |
| 2 | Memphis | 33-4 | 222.04 | 1 |
| 3 | Pittsburgh | 30-5 | 207.13 | 3 |
| 4 | Connecticut | 31-5 | 196.82 | 6 |
| 5 | Duke | 30-7 | 189.90 | 4 |
| 6 | Louisville | 31-6 | 185.41 | 8 |
| 7 | Missouri | 30-7 | 179.62 | 7 |
| 8 | Kansas | 27-8 | 177.03 | 9 |
| 9 | Michigan State | 31-7 | 175.38 | 12 |
| 10 | West Virginia | 23-12 | 170.41 | 5 |
| 11 | Villanova | 30-8 | 169.32 | 16 |
| 12 | Oklahoma | 30-6 | 169.27 | 13 |
| 13 | UCLA | 26-9 | 160.48 | 10 |
| 14 | Gonzaga | 27-6 | 159.20 | 11 |
| 15 | Washington | 25-9 | 147.38 | 19 |
| 16 | Xavier | 27-8 | 146.76 | 20 |
| 17 | Purdue | 27-10 | 143.64 | 18 |
| 18 | Clemson | 23-9 | 143.26 | 15 |
| 19 | Marquette | 25-10 | 141.27 | 17 |
| 20 | Syracuse | 27-10 | 140.31 | 22 |
| 21 | BYU | 24-8 | 139.75 | 14 |
| 22 | Arizona State | 25-10 | 131.74 | 24 |
| 23 | LSU | 27-8 | 130.49 | 21 |
| 24 | Florida | 25-11 | 128.65 | NR(30) |
| 25 | Davidson | 26-8 | 125.59 | NR(26) |
Teams Dropped From The Top 25: Wake Forest (LW #23, TW #28), Utah State (LW #25, TW #26)
Other Teams People Might Care About
| Rank | Team | Record | MRI | LW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Texas | 23-12 | 125.31 | 29 |
| 32 | Illinois | 24-10 | 114.81 | 34 |
| 33 | Butler | 25-6 | 114.06 | 33 |
| 44 | Auburn | 23-12 | 104.88 | 51 |
| 45 | Kentucky | 22-14 | 104.58 | 42 |
| 46 | Dayton | 27-8 | 103.92 | 41 |
| 48 | Old Dominion | 25-10 | 100.19 | 70 |
| 55 | Wisconsin | 19-13 | 95.79 | 54 |
| 61 | Maryland | 21-14 | 90.81 | 64 |
| 62 | Miami | 18-13 | 89.59 | 60 |
| 65 | Penn State | 27-11 | 87.57 | 90 |
| 68 | Arizona | 21-14 | 85.88 | 79 |
| 70 | Notre Dame | 20-15 | 83.91 | 74 |
| 71 | Ohio State | 22-11 | 82.74 | 67 |
| 74 | Florida State | 25-10 | 82.03 | 68 |
| 76 | Michigan | 20-14 | 79.06 | 72 |
| 77 | Boston College | 22-12 | 77.49 | 69 |
| 78 | Vanderbilt | 19-12 | 76.06 | 80 |
| 84 | Northern Iowa | 22-11 | 73.78 | 84 |
| 107 | Northwestern | 17-14 | 57.73 | 106 |
| 118 | Drexel | 15-14 | 52.73 | 120 |
| 135 | Illinois-Chicago | 15-15 | 43.24 | 134 |
| 141 | Georgia Tech | 12-19 | 39.65 | 143 |
| 142 | Iowa | 15-17 | 39.61 | 145 |
| 175 | Texas Tech | 13-19 | 25.80 | 177 |
| 178 | Wofford | 15-14 | 24.23 | 178 |
| 190 | Ohio | 15-17 | 19.68 | 190 |
| 192 | Oregon State | 16-18 | 18.88 | 208 |
| 212 | Ball State | 13-17 | 8.65 | 212 |
| 250 | Pennsylvania | 10-18 | -7.06 | 252 |
| 278 | Valparaiso | 7-22 | -21.45 | 279 |
| 288 | Indiana | 5-25 | -28.28 | 289 |
Last Place this week: NJIT (1-30) at -157.35. 4th week in a row.
Biggest Gain this week: North Carolina gained 46.02 points. (Won NCAA Championship)
Biggest Loss this week: Boise State lost 6.18 points. (Lost to Stanford in CBI, 76-96)
Conference rankings this week: ACC, Big 12, Big East, PAC-10, Big Ten, SEC, Mountain West, C-USA, MVC, Atlantic 10, WAC
Posted April 7, 2009 11:26 AM