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MRISports.com tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1 2009-05-07T00:16:53Z Movable Type 3.36 Northwestern Examiner: Northwestern could benefit from Big Ten expansion tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.730 2009-05-07T00:14:08Z 2009-05-07T00:16:53Z

There was a time when I though the game had passed Joe Paterno by. I was wrong. Say what you will about the often gruff coach – he’s old, he can’t relate to kids, the game has passed him by...

Ben
Say what you will about the often gruff coach – he’s old, he can’t relate to kids, the game has passed him by – but he is usually correct. And by the way, like me, you would be wrong on all three counts.

Never one to hold his tongue, Paterno said last week that he would like to see the Big Ten expand to 12 teams, enabling the also-ran conference to create a championship game and play later into the season. The wizened one said he thought that the extra team and game would allow the Big Ten to stay in the minds of the media (read voters) later and possibly get the conference more shots at the National Title.

It is a tough sell, not only because commissioner Jim Delaney has already turned it down, but because the last leagues to try and make waves through expansion haven’t yet shown that it works.

Yet, when Paterno talks, we should listen. After all he was the first to conceive of an East Coast football conference – it became the Big East, but ironically without Penn State.

Plus, with Penn State the relative newcomer to the Big Ten, Paterno can almost speak from an outsider’s point of view. It is not like the Nittany Lions have a strong tie to the Rose Bowl like the rest of the league seems to have.

No, Penn State and JoePa are just the right messengers to push change onto the league that seems perpetually stuck in the 1950s (Now talk about irony!).

Read the rest of this story at Examiner.com.]]> Northwestern Examiner: Wildcat free agent signings could crack NFL squads tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.729 2009-04-29T14:35:35Z 2009-04-29T14:40:06Z

“So you’re telling me there’s a chance” A chance was all Lloyd Christmas wanted, and he managed to eventually get it. But for some reason or another, a piddly little chance has eluded Northwestern players on draft weekend over the...

Ben
A chance was all Lloyd Christmas wanted, and he managed to eventually get it.
But for some reason or another, a piddly little chance has eluded Northwestern players on draft weekend over the past three seasons.

Sure Evanston has never been a hot bed of NFL talent, but usually there is one player in every class that is at least worth a sniff. The Wildcats had never gone three straight years without having at least one player draft.

But the last time any ‘Cat heard their name was 2006, which seems likes a distant memory these days. Northwestern had three players get the call that year: defensive tackle Barry Cofield, offensive lineman Zach Strief and linebacker Tim McGarigle.

The best hope this year to break the shutout was Tyrell Sutton, but concerns over injuries and size probably negated any shot of him being “reserved” by a pro team.

But what do pro scouts know? They hit as often as they miss no matter if it is the first or the seventh round. For every Peyton Manning, there is usually a Ryan Leaf.

At least Pat Fitzgerald wasn’t upset about it enough to complain in the media like Mike Leach did. You would have thought Leach had learned to keep his mouth shut after he and the administration battled over his contract in the media at the end of last season.

Still the chance to make an NFL team may not have escaped Northwestern’s graduating seniors just yet.

Three former Wildcats signed free agent contracts on Sunday night, long after Mr. Irrelevant finished his champagne celebration.

Sutton, John Gill and Eric Peterman all inked deals with NFC North squads with the hope of taking their careers to the next level.

Going undrafted probably means it is a long shot at best that a player will see the field on Sunday, but even if it is just for completeness, I asked my fellow Examiners who cover the pro squads to give me their best guess on what – if any – impact that Northwestern’s former stars will have at the next level.

Get all the insight and read the rest of this article at Examiner.com.]]> MRI 2008 - Tournament Final tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.727 2009-04-07T16:26:58Z 2009-04-07T16:51:02Z

Ben

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

]]> Projecting the Tournament: Finals Edition tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.725 2009-04-06T18:49:24Z 2009-04-06T18:57:10Z

For as poorly as the MRI did at predicting the NIT, it did amazingly well at predicting the NCAA tournament so far. With one game to go (that the computer cannot win), the MRI was at the 73rd percentile at...

Ben predicting the NIT, it did amazingly well at predicting the NCAA tournament so far.

With one game to go (that the computer cannot win), the MRI was at the 73rd percentile at ESPN, having been helped by a number of upsets along the way. The computer needed the help because it landed just one of its Final Four teams predicted prior to the tournament beginning.

Its solid standing is better than a number of the personalities who get paid the big bucks to spout on about sports on a daily basis at ESPN. The computer is ahead of everyone at PTI, a solid three-quarters of Around the Horn, and is hanging in there against the Editorial staff.

Not bad.
]]>
As for its second chance pool, the computer didn’t do as hot. The computer nailed seven of the 14 games, but flopped on the rest. Still, the computer knew someone was going to trip up Louisville. It just didn’t know it was going to be Michigan State.

As for my brain, well, I am still on track with my prediction that one of four teams will win the title. Those four teams, predicted prior to the tournament, were Memphis, UNC, Duke and Pittsburgh.

North Carolina, don’t fail me now.

The microchips are also “rooting” for the Tar Heels tonight.

North Carolina is the favorite to win the title, with a confidence factor of 70.24 percent. And that is after giving Michigan State a home-court advantage.

The game should be closer than the last time these two teams met. For starters, Michigan State is playing healthy tonight after not having Goran Suton in December. Plus having now gone through the tough Big Ten season, Michigan State is much better prepared to deal with the bumping, the size and the shooting of North Carolina.

They might still lag a step in terms of speed, but maybe the Spartan-friendly crowd can make up for that a bit.

Doubtful, but maybe.

The computer will be tuning in tonight to keep an eye on its pick and should be ready to give a full run down of its results tomorrow.

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com]]> Penn State: The Improbable NIT winner tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.721 2009-04-03T17:11:26Z 2009-04-03T17:52:46Z

Ben

Penn State, NIT, champions, college basketball, tournament, basketball, AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

Penn State finished off Baylor last night 69-65 to take the NIT title. While some may mock the winner of this secondary tournament -- calling then No. 66 even though this title brings with it more prestige than dropping a first round NCAA game in an upset -- the NIT has been a stepping stone for many teams moving into the next season.

I wrote about this at Examiner, but here is a list of the teams that have turned recent NIT success into NCAA tournament glory the next season:

Ohio State turned last year’s championship into a No. 8 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament.

West Virginia, the 2007 champion, reached the Sweet Sixteen in 2008. The runner-up, Clemson, was No. 5 seed but ran into a hot Villanova team.

Two-time defending champ South Carolina started the 2007 season 10-3 before getting rolled by a hot SEC conference that ultimately produced NCAA champ Florida.

Ok, so Ohio State's tournament run didn't end with fireworks and parades, but they made the field. That should give Penn State a lot of hope going into next year, even with the loss of Jamelle Cornley.

]]>
It might not have been as unlikely as Davidson winning it all as the computer predicted. The Wildcats would have had to win every single game of the tournament on the road or at neutral courts.

Yes, the NCAA tournament is played all at neutral sites, but winning in Greensboro, N.C., is a lot different than going into someone's bandbox of a gym and taking them out. Just ask Northwestern who had to travel to Tulsa, or Davidson for that matter who went down to St. Mary's in Moraga, Calif.

Penn State benefited from getting every NIT game at home until its quarterfinal game against Florida. Yet, the Nittany Lions were the underdog in the computer's mind for every single game.

The last time that a team made a run like that with the odds stacked against them so badly was George Mason, and even the Patriots were favored by the computer in two of their tournament games.

And those same Patriots almost ended Penn State's run before it started. It took a last second three-point shot for Penn State to tie George Mason and send the game into an overtime period that the Nittany Lions ultimately prevailed during.

That was the first round of the tournament. Penn State almost did get a chance to sniff at Madison Square Garden and the banner that will hang in their rafters.

To recap their run, here are the chances that Penn State had to win each of their games:

Vs. George Mason: 48.33%
Vs. Rhode Island: 48.31%
Vs. Florida: 8.17%
Vs. Notre Dame: 46.98%
Vs. Baylor: 39.76%

You may look at that and say, "Well, there are three games there where the chances were almost 50 percent."

Sure, but the 8.17 percent chance that Penn State had against Florida on the road, and the less than 40 percent chance that it had against Baylor more than diminish the seemingly lofty chances of the Nittany Lions in the three toss-up games.

The total chance of winning was somewhere around 0.3 percent!

And remembers, two of those coin flips were home games for Penn State. Teams are rarely the underdog at home when the skill level is close.

So congrats to Penn State, who was on no one's radar to begin the season, and almost grabbed an NCAA tournament bid despite its horrid non-conference schedule.

You beat the odds and came out a champion.

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com]]> Northwestern Wildcats Examiner: Could Curry become a Wildcat? tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.719 2009-03-25T15:15:51Z 2009-03-25T19:27:38Z

Liberty’s season ended Monday, an 88-65 loss to the James Madison Dukes in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The future of the basketball program ended Tuesday. Seth Curry, the high-scoring, little brother of Davidson’s Stephen Curry announced his decision to transfer...

Ben
The future of the basketball program ended Tuesday.

Seth Curry, the high-scoring, little brother of Davidson’s Stephen Curry announced his decision to transfer in order to face tougher competition during his college career.

Frankly, the fact that Liberty had this kid for a year is a shock in itself.

Everyone watched the elder Curry light up the league in his freshman season, averaging almost 22 points per game. Then he turned it on for his sophomore campaign, almost leading the Wildcats to the Final Four.

At that point, coaches across the country should have been scrambling to recruit Seth. Even if he were a bust, given the play of his brother, it would have been worth the risk.

It is almost like watching Archie Manning play in the NFL and Peyton tear up the SEC, and then not recruiting Eli.

The family has the genes.

So Liberty got its season of glory, even if that glory ended in the fourth best tournament in the country.
Now where does Seth go?

Read the rest of this story here.

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com ]]> Projecting the Tournament: NIT Edition tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.718 2009-03-24T13:03:26Z 2009-03-24T13:22:24Z

Everyone has been down on the SEC this season, and for good reason. A bunch of mediocre teams, who failed to win even small games during the non-conference season, doesn't make for exciting basketball. When you add in that the...

Ben
When you add in that the "normal" names failed to impress, no one was watching.

And no one is watching the SEC anymore, at least in the NCAA tournament. As the second weekend gets set to begin, all three teams from the South have already packed their gear away for the off-season.

But those fans might want to flip the channel from CBS to ESPN. The league that everyone though was way down has actually impressed in that other tournament, the NIT.

Of the eight teams remaining, three are from the SEC, and all three should be favored in their games to get to Madison Square Garden.

Imagine that. We aren't talking about three teams from the supposedly very deep Big East -- it could have happened. We aren't talking about Big XII. And we aren't talking about the little guys breaking through, although at least one of the Final Four spots will be taken by a team with a little chip on its shoulder.

Nope, this is the SEC that is running through what has actually been the more competitive tournament when you look at how fairly matched the teams have been.

As always, let's see what the computer says about who should be headed to MSG on March 31.

]]> NIT Elite Eight:
San Diego State over St. Mary's -- 66.68%
Auburn over Baylor -- 72.30%
Kentucky over Notre Dame -- 54.05%
Florida over Penn State -- 91.83%

Expected Wins: ~3, so maybe look for that deep Big East to break through with the Fighting Irish stopping Kentucky from pulling the road upset.

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com]]> Projecting the Tournament: Second chances tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.717 2009-03-23T16:09:42Z 2009-03-23T16:26:28Z

Inevitably, the question around the office this morning is “How’s your bracket?” Most people at this point are probably feeling good. That’s because once again, chalk has dominated the competition. And there is no surprise in that. The computer was...

Ben
Most people at this point are probably feeling good. That’s because once again, chalk has dominated the competition.

And there is no surprise in that. The computer was confident that there were four teams better than all the rest. All four of those are still alive and the only team that is starting to look like they could challenge them is Connecticut.

But then again, most of that is thanks to their record-setting victory over what was the worst MRI-rated team in the tournament, Chattanooga.

If you are keeping track of your bracket at ESPN, a ten-point difference at this point is worth over 400,000 spots in the standings, which makes the computer situation a little tenuous at this point.

You see, the computer has 500 points over at ESPN. After 24 correct first-round picks, the computer swept through the second round, getting all but one game correct that it could. That leaves the computer with 13 of its original Sweet Sixteen picks.

The MRI can still win seven of eight games on Thursday and Friday and three of its Final Four are still alive.

]]>
That’s better than almost ESPN personality you can think of.

Those guys on PTI? They are at least 70 points back and have to go almost perfect to beat the computer.

Around the Horn? Currently eating dust from the computer’s exhaust fan.

Only Mike and Mike have the jump on the circuit board at this point.

But given that West Virginia flamed out like all good Bob Huggins teams, it is entirely possible that the computer could start to lose some ground. Here’s hoping for someone to trip up Louisville.

Go Arizona, Kansas and Michigan State. (USC would have been better. No one would have had that.)

With most second chance tournaments starting with this weekend’s games, here is the Sweet Sixteen redux for those of you willing to trust the microchips.

Sweet Sixteen:
Louisville over Arizona: 85.72%
Kansas over Michigan State: 60.24%
Connecticut over Purdue: 72.32%
Memphis over Missouri: 72.32%
Pittsburgh over Xavier: 78.23%
Duke over Villanova: 72.32%
North Carolina over Gonzaga: 78.23%
Oklahoma over Syracuse: 66.70%

Expected Wins: ~6 – My bets would be on Syracuse and Villanova, but knowing the percentages, Michigan State is probably a better bet than Nova.

Elite Eight:
Kansas over Louisville: 51.61%
Memphis over Connecticut: 70.31%
Pittsburgh over Duke: 60.24%
North Carolina over Oklahoma: 78.23%

Expected Wins: ~3 – If Kansas gets this far, look for them to be the best option to pull the upset. Although in order to get the two teams from one conference in the Final Four, Duke could be pulling this one out.

Final Four:
Memphis over Kansas: 72.32%
North Carolina over Pittsburgh: 60.24%

Final:
Memphis over North Carolina: 51.61%

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com]]> Projecting the Tournament: 2nd Round tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.716 2009-03-21T14:10:06Z 2009-03-21T19:08:52Z

Sure your bracket is busted. I know the MRI's bracket is. The MRI had West Virginia running to the Final Four. That didn't work out so well. If it had happened, along the way, the Mountaineers would have needed to...

Ben
That didn't work out so well.

If it had happened, along the way, the Mountaineers would have needed to win two 50-50 games against Kansas and Louisville. That is tough no matter who you are.

But it couldn't even win its first game, and that is going to make it very interesting as the tournament goes forward. That's because the MRI is usually right in it until the end. The breaking point of the pre-tournament picks doesn't usually come until later in the rounds.

Then again, maybe it was to be expected. The MRI got 24 of 32 games correct in the first round. It was only expecting to correctly pick 25 of the 32 (add up the percentage and you get the expected win numbers for those statistically challenged).

Not too shabby.

That has the computer in the 77.7 percentile on ESPN's Bracket Challenge. So even with the upsets, the computer is beating two-thirds of the country.

We'll see how that goes the rest of the way missing a key piece of the puzzle. I can't imagine it will go well.

So on to the second round, for those of you who are maybe placing friendly wagers. I know that many people also have second-chance Sweet Sixteen brackets, so don't fear, we will give you a sneak peek at who you should be expecting to be in that.

]]> Cleveland State over Arizona – 51.66%
Kansas over Dayton – 82.66%
Michigan State over USC – 78.24%
UConn over Texas A&M – 82.66%
Washington over Purdue – 51.66%
Missouri over Marquette – 70.28%
Memphis over Maryland – 93.51%
Pitt over Oklahoma State – 85.69%
Xavier over Wisconsin – 72.33%
UCLA over Villanova – 51.66% (Count Villanova as home team)
Duke over Texas – 82.66%
North Carolina over LSU – 85.69%
Gonzaga over Western Kentucky – 82.66%
Syracuse over Arizona State – 51.66%
Oklahoma over Michigan – 82.66%

Expected wins: ~12 so expect about four upsets along the way today. My bets are Arizona, 'Nova and USC make a little noise. The other is a toss-up.

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com]]> Projecting The Tournament: Official Bracket Edition tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.715 2009-03-17T21:26:02Z 2009-03-17T21:56:04Z

Enough messing around with half-cocked predictions based on Joe Lunardi. Come on, the guy only got 64 of the 65 teams correct this year. How can you actually trust someone who isn't right 100 percent of the time? Of course,...

Ben Enough messing around with half-cocked predictions based on Joe Lunardi. Come on, the guy only got 64 of the 65 teams correct this year. How can you actually trust someone who isn't right 100 percent of the time?

Of course, I kid.

But the MRI does not kid. It gives it to you straight, albeit with some nice percentages attached to cover its silicon behind.

So what are the chances of your precious school making it all the way through to compete in Detroit (by the way, maybe the NCAA should look more closely at its scheduling. Is Detroit really a "destination location" for anything these days? Even the auto show might be in danger.)?

Well, the MRI can't exactly give you that... at least not yet. That is an off-season Excel programming exercise. But for right now, we can tell you what the computer picks for every game in the NCAA tournament. (NIT picks for the first round are here.)

How is that for a compromise?

Let's go to the brackets. Each team will be listed in the round it goes out (up to the Final Four) with the chance of them LOSING the game. It is simple math to get the chance of them winning.

After each round, we will post updated editions with the chances for the rest of the tournament.
]]> Opening Round Flame-out
Alabama State (54%)

One and Done:
Midwest: Morehead State (91.8%), Ohio State (60.2%), Arizona (72.4%), Cleveland State (78.24%), Dayton (82.65%), North Dakota State (82.65%), Boston College (66.7%), Robert Morris (85.6%)
West: Chattanooga (93.5%), Texas A&M (72.4%), Northern Iowa (82.6%), Mississippi State (78.2%), Utah State (60.2%), Cornell (85.65%), Maryland (60.2%), Cal State Northridge (93.85%)
South: Radford (98.76%), Butler (60.2%), Western Kentucky (66.7%), Akron (85.65%), Temple (70.3%), Stephen Austin (78.2%), Michigan (82.65%), Morgan State (82.65%)
East: East Tennessee State (91.8%), Oklahoma State (66.7%), Florida State (60.2%), Portland State (82.65%), Virginia Commonwealth (78.24%), American (93.49%), Minnesota (66.7%), Binghamton (93.49%)

Two and Out:
Midwest: Siena (72.40%), Utah (60.2%), Kansas (53.9%), USC (78.2%)
West: BYU (66.7%), Washington (50.17%), Marquette (70.3%), Cal (91.82%)
South: LSU (93.49%), Illinois (72.4%), Arizona State (51/67%), Clemson (53.93%)
East: Tennessee (82.65%), Wisconsin (72.4%), Villanova (51.67%), Texas (82.65%)

Sweet Sixteen Departures:
Midwest: Wake Forest (72.4%), Michigan State (60.23%)
West: Purdue (70.32%), Missouri (72.4%)
South: Gonzaga (78.2%), Syracuse (60.23%)
East: Xavier (78.2%), UCLA (66.7%)

Not-So-Elite Eight:
Midwest: Louisville (53.9%)
West: Connecticut (72.4%)
South: Oklahoma (78.2%)
East: Duke (66.7%)

Final Four Matchups:
West Virginia vs. Memphis -- Winner: Memphis (72.4%)
North Carolina vs. Pittsburgh -- Winner: North Carolina (53.93%)

National Champion: Memphis (53.93%)

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com]]> MRI 2008 - Regular Season Final tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.714 2009-03-16T20:58:26Z 2009-03-16T21:11:50Z

Ben

Has Memphis earned themselves the
No. 1 ranking and a NCAA championship?
(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) Woah, look out America.

Memphis has returned to the top of the MRI rankings just in time for the NCAA tournament. Talk about timing!

If you wanted to look for consistency, you wouldn't have to look much further than the Tigers. Although they were not among the best teams in the country for most of the year, they made the charge and benefited from the tumbles of others.

25 wins in a row? Yeah, that's the ticket.

North Carolina's ACC tournament loss cost them the regular season title in the MRI. One more game in the win column, one more game, one more potential big victory all went away with the loss to Florida State.

Pittsburgh tripped up its own chances in the same way, with even greater consequences as there were many more games left in the Big East battle when they bowed out.

And Duke did everything they could but had too much ground to make up.

So congrats to Memphis on winning the regular season crown. Now, can they do it in the post-season where they stumbled over the past few years despite great MRI numbers?

That remains to be seen.

Coming tomorrow, a full tournament projection from the computer. The MRI was shocked at the number of teams ranked 26-45 that did not make the NCAA field. We are talking 10 teams!

That means there is a lot of questionable quality competing come Thursday and Friday. We will let you know who is ripe for an upset tomorrow.

Until then, check out the final regular season rankings of the MRI:
]]>

MRI Top 25 Rankings

Rank	Team	Record	MRI	LW
1	Memphis	31-3	214.93	3
2	North Carolina	27-4	207.05	1
3	Pittsburgh	27-4	201.47	2
4	Duke	28-6	183.28	4
5	West Virginia	23-11	171.27	7
6	Connecticut	27-4	168.86	5
7	Missouri	27-6	168.39	8
8	Louisville	28-5	167.06	12
9	Kansas	25-7	166.07	6
10	UCLA	25-8	161.41	11
11	Gonzaga	25-5	157.07	19
12	Michigan State	26-6	156.73	10
13	Oklahoma	27-5	151.69	9
14	BYU	24-7	144.29	14
15	Clemson	23-8	143.55	13
16	Villanova	26-7	141.63	20
17	Marquette	24-9	141.36	15
18	Purdue	25-9	141.22	18
19	Washington	24-8	140.74	16
20	Xavier	25-7	137.82	22
21	LSU	26-7	131.20	17
22	Syracuse	25-9	130.59	NR(33)
23	Wake Forest	24-6	129.74	21
24	Arizona State	24-9	128.45	25
25	Utah State	29-4	127.76	24

Teams Dropped From The Top 25: Davidson (LW #23, TW #26)

Other Teams People Might Care About

Rank	Team	Record	MRI	LW
29	Texas	22-11	119.20	26
30	Florida	23-10	119.18	27
33	Butler	25-5	115.45	28
34	Illinois	24-9	115.37	31
41	Dayton	26-7	103.70	40
42	Kentucky	20-13	102.67	39
51	Auburn	21-11	97.35	57
54	Wisconsin	18-12	96.22	47
60	Miami	17-12	88.86	52
64	Maryland	20-13	86.47	58
67	Ohio State	22-10	83.25	71
68	Florida State	25-9	83.03	63
69	Boston College	22-11	81.27	62
72	Michigan	19-13	78.59	78
74	Notre Dame	17-14	77.62	69
79	Arizona	19-13	76.27	72
80	Vanderbilt	19-12	76.24	83
84	Northern Iowa	22-10	75.25	84
106	Northwestern	17-13	59.32	101
120	Drexel	15-14	52.77	108
134	Illinois-Chicago	15-15	43.75	134
143	Georgia Tech	12-19	39.65	150
145	Iowa	15-17	39.10	137
177	Texas Tech	13-19	25.11	204
178	Wofford	15-14	24.89	182
190	Ohio	15-17	20.71	159
212	Ball State	13-17	9.09	206
252	Pennsylvania	10-18	-7.58	243
279	Valparaiso	7-22	-21.13	279
289	Indiana	5-25	-29.20	277

Last Place this week: NJIT (1-30) at -157.69. 3rd week in a row.

Biggest Gain this week: Memphis gained 28.27 points.

Biggest Loss this week: Grambling lost 16.90 points.

Conference rankings this week: ACC, Big 12, Big East, PAC-10, Big Ten, SEC, Mountain West, C-USA, MVC, Atlantic 10, WAC

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com]]> Projecting the Tournament: March 2 Edition tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.713 2009-03-02T22:54:53Z 2009-03-02T23:37:30Z

Ok, so earlier today, I said that Oklahoma wouldn't make the Final Four. But a lot depends on the seeding... And it appears that Joe Lunardi decided to prove me wrong and seed Oklahoma as the best team in the...

Ben
And it appears that Joe Lunardi decided to prove me wrong and seed Oklahoma as the best team in the South. No team that the computer has better than Oklahoma is in that region, which is a shock since so many teams from the Big East are up there.

So Oklahoma proves me wrong and wins the South to get to the Final Four.

Thanks Joe.

I think the most interesting part of today's outcomes is the fate of all those bubble teams.

Choose any of them that you think is close to making the tournament.

Then look for that team in the "One and Done" category; I almost guarantee it is there.

It just goes to show you that no matter how much arguing and complaining you do, most of those teams on the bubble don't belong in the tournament in the first place.

Of course because I wrote that we will have a "George Mason"-like run this season now.

Enjoy the brackets
]]> One and Done:
Midwest: Radford, Alabama State, UNLV, Penn State, Western Kentucky, Florida State, Stephen Austin, Kentucky, Morgan State
West: Tennessee-Martin, South Carolina, Arizona, Northern Iowa, Utah State, Weber State, Virginia Tech, Jacksonville
South: Cal State Northridge, Boston College, Providence, Virginia Commonwealth, Siena, American, Ohio State, Binghamton
East: Bowling Green, Wisconsin, Miami, North Dakota State, Syracuse, Cornell, Oklahoma State, Robert Morris

Two and Out:
Midwest: Texas, Xavier, Davidson, Cal
West: BYU, Purdue, Gonzaga, West Virginia
South: Dayton, Illinois, Arizona State, Utah
East: Butler, UCLA, Creighton, Tennessee

Sweet Sixteen Departures:
Midwest: Clemson, Villanova
West: Marquette, Washington
South: LSU, Wake Forest
East: Missouri, Michigan State

Not-So-Elite Eight:
Midwest: Kansas
West: Memphis
South: Louisville
East: Connecticut

Final Four Matchups:
Duke vs. Pittsburgh -- Winner: Pittsburgh
Oklahoma vs. North Carolina -- Winner: North Carolina

National Champion: North Carolina

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com ]]> MRI 2008 - Rankings Week 13 tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.712 2009-03-02T20:09:44Z 2009-03-02T20:50:04Z

Ben

Tyler Hansbrough is concentrating
on keeping his team flying high in
the MRI (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) With just two weeks to go before the tournament, it appears thing have gotten quite interesting in the MRI.

Pittsburgh stumbled against Providence to knock it back down from challenging North Carolina, who became the first team this season to break the 200-point mark. Pittsburgh is now back within striking distance of other challengers Memphis, Duke and Connecticut, making the run to the Final Four very dependent on how the final bracket pairings turn out.

After those five and potentially Kansas, the rest of the league drops off quickly. So at this point, do we have a six-team race for the title?

I think so. While we can see teams like Oklahoma, Michigan State and dark horse West Virginia going to the Elite Eight, I think the Final Four will only come from the top six teams in the MRI.

Of course, in two weeks, things could be a lot different, but right now, I can't see it any other way.

You might say that Oklahoma with Blake Griffin back is a real challenge. But without Griffin, Oklahoma has looked pedestrian and against the better teams, easily beatable. Shut down Griffin, win the game -- it seems a simple formula.

And past them, I can't see another team that can really challenge. Maybe Marquette before the loss of Dominic James. Maybe Louisville if they didn't have the tendency to implode. Maybe someone from the Pac-10 if I didn't doubt that the strength of the league beyond the first three.

Basically, there is no one.

And even the contenders have their issues so the race is anywhere but finished. But this is a big change from just a few weeks ago when any of the top ten could have made a run for the title.

If you go straight by the MRI, the cut-off for an at-large bid (at least a more likely chance at one) would have been at No. 50.

The computer predicted 69.00 percent of the games this week putting it at 70.56 percent of the games on the season. All-time the computer is 71.51 percent correct.

Check out all the rankings in week 13 of the MRI:
]]>

MRI Top 25 Rankings

Rank	Team	Record	MRI	LW
1	North Carolina	24-3	203.57	1
2	Pittsburgh	25-3	195.51	2
3	Memphis	26-3	186.66	3
4	Duke	24-5	182.53	4
5	Connecticut	27-2	175.32	5
6	Kansas	24-5	169.29	7
7	West Virginia	20-9	158.75	6
8	Missouri	23-5	155.16	8
9	Oklahoma	26-3	153.53	9
10	Michigan State	23-5	152.89	11
11	UCLA	22-7	150.32	12
12	Louisville	23-5	145.97	14
13	Clemson	22-6	145.73	10
14	BYU	21-6	141.39	18
15	Marquette	23-6	138.68	13
16	Washington	22-7	138.57	16
17	LSU	25-4	137.73	17
18	Purdue	22-7	133.82	20
19	Gonzaga	22-5	133.23	19
20	Villanova	23-6	132.13	15
21	Wake Forest	22-5	129.15	23
22	Xavier	23-5	129.02	22
23	Davidson	23-6	125.37	NR(26)
24	Utah State	25-4	118.97	25
25	Arizona State	21-7	118.91	21

Teams Dropped From The Top 25: Florida (LW #24, TW #27)

Other Teams People Might Care About

Rank	Team	Record	MRI	LW
26	Texas	19-9	116.79	27
27	Florida	21-8	116.50	24
28	Butler	24-4	116.01	32
31	Illinois	23-7	114.44	29
33	Syracuse	20-8	111.44	47
39	Kentucky	19-10	104.18	33
40	Dayton	24-5	103.19	39
47	Wisconsin	17-10	96.80	44
52	Miami	16-10	94.55	49
57	Auburn	18-10	89.22	68
58	Maryland	18-10	86.91	58
62	Boston College	20-9	82.18	66
63	Florida State	22-7	81.93	63
69	Notre Dame	15-12	78.66	69
71	Ohio State	18-9	77.28	70
72	Arizona	18-11	76.30	62
78	Michigan	17-12	71.86	86
83	Vanderbilt	17-11	70.12	82
84	Northern Iowa	19-10	69.84	87
101	Northwestern	16-11	60.99	103
108	Drexel	15-13	56.49	105
134	Illinois-Chicago	14-14	42.87	141
137	Iowa	14-15	41.82	127
150	Georgia Tech	10-17	36.62	144
159	Ohio	14-14	33.53	179
182	Wofford	14-13	25.28	198
204	Texas Tech	11-17	16.29	194
206	Ball State	12-14	14.05	204
243	Pennsylvania	9-16	-2.68	243
277	Indiana	5-22	-17.23	268
279	Valparaiso	7-21	-18.06	277

Last Place this week: NJIT (1-28) at -149.30. 2nd week in a row.

Biggest Gain this week: Syracuse gained 16.57 points. (Beat St. John's (87-58) and Cincinnati (87-63))

Biggest Loss this week: Kennesaw State lost 17.65 points (Lost to East Tennessee State (46-81) and USC Upstate (51-80))

Conference rankings this week: ACC, Big 12, Big East, PAC-10, Big Ten, SEC, Mountain West, C-USA, MVC, Atlantic 10, WAC

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com]]> MRI 2008 - Rankings Week 12 tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.711 2009-02-23T21:27:49Z 2009-02-23T22:22:32Z

Roy Williams knows his team caught a break to stay at No. 1 this week, its third in a row at the top. (AP Photo/Rob Carr) North Carolina is getting a reprieve this week. The team may have lost a...

Ben

Roy Williams knows his team caught
a break to stay at No. 1 this week,
its third in a row at the top.
(AP Photo/Rob Carr) North Carolina is getting a reprieve this week. The team may have lost a tough one against Maryland, but they also benefitted from the fact that all of their main competitors lost except one.

Pittsburgh narrowed the gap to less than a single MRI point this week. That means any more bobbles and the Panthers will return to the top spot.

Pitt has been under the radar as everyone has talked about Connecticut and the Tar Heels, but maybe the time for that is over. The Panthers have what it takes to make the long run this year and a lot of that credit has to go to Jamie Dixon who has continued with Ben Howland started (and has kept doing at UCLA) and made it even better.

I am previously on record for saying that the new, bigger Big East is too tough to actually generate a Final Four candidate that has enough gas to win it.

I might be eating my shoe this season. I can honestly see Pittsburgh making the deep run and winning the whole thing. As we saw this weekend, North Carolina has trouble with defense. Duke has trouble with defense. And Connecticut, despite one of the most confounding foul calls contributing, still couldn't stop Pitt.

This is the team we have been waiting for out of the Western half of Pennsylvania for quite a while.

They just didn't quite make it over the hump in the MRI this week.

One more note. In my radio show on Sunday I talked about how I could not believe that the Big Ten had eight teams in the bracket in Joe Lunardi's latest tournament projection. Things are getting back to normal. They are down to seven today, which is still more than I can fathom, but as I have been reminded, the bubble is quite soft this season.

Maybe the MRI is crazy, but it can't see more than five even with the soft bubble, but I think there is a lot of fluidity near the cut-off and this could come down to the Saturday before Selection Sunday before we see all the disputes settled.

A tough week for the MRI. The computer predicted 65.64 percent of the games correctly this week. For the season, the computer has predicted 70.70 percent of the games correctly.]]>

MRI Top 25 Rankings

Rank	Team	Record	MRI	LW
1	North Carolina	23-3	197.91	1
2	Pittsburgh	24-2	197.03	2
3	Memphis	24-3	180.73	3
4	Duke	22-5	177.51	4
5	Connecticut	25-2	169.43	5
6	West Virginia	19-8	160.95	7
7	Kansas	22-5	155.51	11
8	Missouri	22-4	152.37	8
9	Oklahoma	25-2	152.05	6
10	Clemson	22-4	150.51	12
11	Michigan State	21-5	147.15	9
12	UCLA	20-7	145.89	10
13	Marquette	23-4	142.67	13
14	Louisville	21-5	139.53	18
15	Villanova	22-5	135.69	15
16	Washington	20-7	135.50	16
17	LSU	23-4	134.31	14
18	BYU	19-6	133.45	17
19	Gonzaga	20-5	127.07	23
20	Purdue	21-6	125.58	NR(26)
21	Arizona State	21-5	124.80	19
22	Xavier	22-5	123.10	22
23	Wake Forest	20-5	123.08	21
24	Florida	21-6	120.67	NR(28)
25	Utah State	24-3	117.00	NR(27)

Teams Dropped From The Top 25: Davidson (LW #20, TW #26), Texas (LW #24, TW #27), Illinois (LW #25, TW #29)

Other Teams People Might Care About

Rank	Team	Record	MRI	LW
27	Texas	18-8	116.23	24
29	Illinois	22-6	114.81	25
32	Butler	22-4	111.31	33
33	Kentucky	19-8	108.92	34
39	Dayton	23-4	101.09	38
44	Wisconsin	16-10	95.73	43
47	Syracuse	18-8	94.87	41
49	Miami	15-10	93.73	44
58	Maryland	17-9	85.98	50
62	Arizona	18-9	81.81	60
63	Florida State	21-6	81.35	72
66	Boston College	19-9	79.69	59
68	Auburn	16-10	78.12	71
69	Notre Dame	14-11	77.92	74
70	Ohio State	17-8	77.37	64
82	Vanderbilt	16-10	69.70	84
86	Michigan	16-11	68.15	85
87	Northern Iowa	17-10	66.81	86
103	Northwestern	14-11	58.11	94
105	Drexel	15-11	57.44	108
127	Iowa	14-13	46.06	135
141	Illinois-Chicago	13-14	41.47	156
144	Georgia Tech	10-16	41.10	130
179	Ohio	13-13	26.23	151
194	Texas Tech	11-15	20.77	176
198	Wofford	12-12	18.73	193
204	Ball State	11-13	13.41	212
243	Pennsylvania	8-15	0.98	238
268	Indiana	5-20	-11.84	251
277	Valparaiso	6-20	-17.17	277

Last Place this week: NJIT (1-26) at -134.92.

Biggest Gain this week: Clemson gained 13.91 points. (Beat Maryland (93-64) and Georgia Tech (81-73))

Biggest Loss this week: Southeast Missouri State lost 17.81 points (Lost to Murray State (60-79) and Northern Illinois (73-97))

Conference rankings this week: ACC, Big 12, Big East, PAC-10, Big Ten, SEC, Mountain West, C-USA, MVC, Atlantic 10, WAC

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com]]> What's that sound? Ben on the radio tag:www.mrisports.com,2009://1.710 2009-02-19T23:46:55Z 2009-02-19T23:50:04Z

I am making a foray into radio in order to up my eyeballs. The first show will be live tomorrow at noon central time. I will be talking with John Templon, who writes the Chicago College Basketball blog. John is...

Ben ]]>