2022-23 WAC MBB Week #4

MAC….. 2-0
Southern….. 2-0
WCC….. 2-0
ASun….. 1-0
Big South….. 1-0
Big Sky….. 7-1
Summit….. 3-1
SWAC….. 2-1
Big West….. 4-3
Missouri Valley….. 2-2
ACC….. 1-1
Horizon….. 1-1
PAC-12….. 2-3
Big 12….. 1-5
Big 10….. 0-1
Colonial….. 0-1
MAAC….. 0-1
MEAC….. 0-1
Southland….. 0-1
Sun Belt….. 0-1
C-USA….. 0-2
AAC….. 0-3
Mountain West….. 0-6
Non-Division 1….. 17-0

Denote the Power 5 opponents in BOLD and non-D1 opponents in italic

Nov. 28th – Monday

UT Arlington vs. Howard Payne - 99-41 Win
Sam Houston State @ Nevada (MWC) - 60-78 Loss
Seattle U @ Washington (PAC-12) - 66-77 Loss

Nov. 29th – Tuesday

Tarleton State vs. Weber State (Big Sky) - 75-65 Win
Grand Canyon vs. Alcorn State (SWAC) - 80-72 Win

Nov. 30th – Wednesday

UT Rio Grande Valley vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi (Southland) - 89-82 Win
Abilene Christian vs. North American - 93-46 Win
Southern Utah vs. Montana State (Big Sky) - 83-86 Loss
New Mexico State vs. UTEP (C-USA) - 95-70 Win
California Baptist vs. UC Riverside (Big West) - 65-60 Win
Seattle U vs. Cal State Fullerton (Big West) - 69-62 Win

Dec. 1st – Thursday

Stephen F. Austin vs. Northwestern State (Southland) - 96-102 Loss
Utah Tech @ Utah State (MWC) - 81-86 Loss

Dec. 2nd – Friday

UT Arlington @ LSU (SEC)

Dec. 3rd – Saturday

Tarleton State vs. Wiley
Sam Houston vs. Dallas Baptist
UT Rio Grande Valley @ Western Illinois (Summit)
Grand Canyon @ Wyoming (MWC)
Utah Valley vs. Long Beach State (Big West)
Southern Utah @ Idaho State (Big Sky)
Utah Tech @ Weber State (Big Sky)
California Baptist @ Cal Poly (Big West)

Tonight we’ve got Nevada, 5-1, hosting SH and Washington, 5-1, hosting Seattle. Both should be entertaining matchups.

Nevada has already beaten UT Tech, Grand Canyon, and Arlington. They are going for the WAC sweep tonight. I have a feeling that the SH team they are playing is not what they were going for when they scheduled them. Nevada was picked 9th in the Mountain West.

Washington was picked 9th in the PAC 12. Previous WAC meetings this season are an 11 point home win versus UT Tech and a 9 point home loss versus California Baptist.

Washington on 18-2 run over last 7 minutes, lead Seattle 70-55 with around 5 minutes remaining.

Seattle lost. Undefeated season down the drain. Dang refs!

Still on course for a Pac 12 invite in 5 years!

Just an opinion... Sam Houston's team chemistry got them off to a quick start however, they are currently struggling to find consistent offense. If they don't find another gear, the rest of the WAC will catch up soon enough. Seattle has a real good scorer in Cam Tyson, but he is carrying too big a load compared to his supporting cast. Grand Canyon is preforming really well in front of the Havoc but haven't been able to take that same effort on the road. And New Mexico State and Stephen F. Austin have talent but are still working through team chemistry issues. The hardest working team in the WAC is Tarleton but I'm not sure if they have as much upside as some of the other WAC teams.

(11-29-2022 09:23 PM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote:  Just an opinion... Sam Houston's team chemistry got them off to a quick start however, they are currently struggling to find consistent offense. If they don't find another gear, the rest of the WAC will catch up soon enough. Seattle has a real good scorer in Cam Tyson, but he is carrying too big a load compared to his supporting cast. Grand Canyon is preforming really well in front of the Havoc but haven't been able to take that same effort on the road. And New Mexico State and Stephen F. Austin have talent but are still working through team chemistry issues. The hardest working team in the WAC is Tarleton but I'm not sure if they have as much upside as some of the other WAC teams.

I think we will continue to improve as we figure out our best rotations and who we really are this year, but I still don't expect the Cats of the last two years. This is still pre-conference.

Seattle beat up Cal State Fullerton last night in front of an almost sell out crowd at MSG West. The premier sports venue in the pacific time zone!

(12-01-2022 09:09 AM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  Seattle beat up Cal State Fullerton last night in front of an almost sell out crowd at MSG West. The premier sports venue in the pacific time zone!

I agree the Red Hawk Center is a great brick building. :)

I know that they played this game at CPA....

ACU beat up North American, but I give them credit for being aggressive and athletic. I am not sure Saturday will go as well for Arlington Baptist.

Utah Tech really played huge at Utah State. Gooden had 29, 20 in the first half.

(12-02-2022 11:25 PM)Todor Wrote:  12.2.22 Net Rankings

78. NMSU
92 Grand Canyon
115 Utah Valley
121 Abilene Christian
123 SFA
129 Seattle
153 Sam Houston
164 Southern Utah
214 Tarleton
222 California Baptist
236 UT Arlington
273 Utah Tech
307 UT RGV

If RGV can get past Western Illinois one more time, we might get the whole WAC out of the 300's. Has that ever happened before?

I had no idea our NET ranking was so high. I kept trying to tell people in the off-season our OOC schedule is full of good teams from top to bottom despite no “big names” on there. Impressive that the WAC has improved so much and that’s even with about 5-6 more games that were close enough to have been won.

(12-03-2022 12:04 AM)Todor Wrote:  All I could (easily) find for conference ratings was the RPI, not NET, but the WAC is the 10th rated conference in the RPI. Big accomplishment considering where we were a decade or so ago. No other conference has moved up like us. Not even close.

http://www.realtimerpi.com/rpi_conf_Men.html

You can undoubtedly thank the Texas schools for that. We saved this conference.

Amazing what happens when you don’t have Chicago State and Lamar in your league

(12-02-2022 11:25 PM)Todor Wrote:  12.2.22 Net Rankings

78. NMSU
92 Grand Canyon
115 Utah Valley
121 Abilene Christian
123 SFA
129 Seattle
153 Sam Houston
164 Southern Utah
214 Tarleton
222 California Baptist
236 UT Arlington
273 Utah Tech
307 UT RGV

And just for fun, here’s a look at the conferences dearly departed members

340 Chicago State
350 Incarnate Word
354 Lamar

It may not change anything, but the "12.2.2022" numbers are actually last season's final numbers (04/04/2022 Final), based on the NCAA statistics website linked below.

Link - NCAA Statistics website

For comparison, using this season, here's what Jeff Sagarin has. (The 2022-23 NET numbers aren't out, yet.) It's probably too early in the season for ratings like Sagarin to have a very high confidence level, but may be useful for a "back of the envelope" type of comparison.

84. NMSU
91 Sam Houston
120 Grand Canyon
128 Seattle
147 California Baptist
176 Tarleton
179 SFA
197 Utah Valley
209 Southern Utah
227 Abilene Christian
249 UT Arlington
259 Utah Tech
299 UT RGV

Here are the departed / almost were

345 Chicago State
346 Incarnate Word
350 Lamar

Link - Jeff Sagarin as of 12/2/2022

Sagarin shows the WAC at #15 through 12/2/2022 games.

Link - Sagarin 2022-23 through 12/2/2022 conference ratings.

Sagarin Ratings 2021-22 Season as of 4/4/2022

76 NMSU vs 78 NET
102 Grand Canyon vs 92 NET
128 Abilene Christian vs 121 NET
132 SFA vs 123 NET
141 Utah Valley vs 115 NET
148 Seattle vs 129 NET
168 Sam Houston vs 153 NET
224 California Baptist vs 222 NET
225 Tarleton vs 214 NET
296 Utah Tech vs 273 NET
300 UTRGV vs 307 NET

New arrivals

161 Southern Utah vs 164 NET
232 UT Arlington vs 236 NET

Departed / almost was

343 Lamar vs 354 NET
350 Chicago State vs 340 NET
353 Incarnate Word vs 350 NET

As predicted, we are 5-4 after beating up on a couple of little schools. Next up is Kansas St. on Tues, eve. We got this, right???

So far ACU up over Kansas St 26-14 with 9:36 left in the 1st half. Hope we can keep it up.

Kansas St. woke up and came alive finally. They are up by one at the half, 35-34 over ACU. ACU has not been to the foul line once all first half. K State has been there several times...

At least we had a good first half 81-64 Kansas St. over ACU.