Polls & Post-Season Outlook

Well, at this point, tracking the polls seems to be a waste of time. That said, I am going to waste some time talking about it. After a lackluster home win against Minnesota and a road loss at Michigan State, the Hoosiers actually moved up 4 spots to # 35 in the AP Poll. After getting battered in the AP Poll last week, I guess I'm not too surprised to see a "correction". It's kind of like the stock market. However, the Hoosiers completely disappeared from the Coach's Poll -- didn't receive a single vote. That puts at least 47 teams in front of them in that poll. Ouch! Now, the reason that tracking the polls is a complete waste of time is because they are just voting for the Top 25. So, the fact that IU didn't receive a single vote in the Coach's Poll seems to make sense. I think if the pollsters were actually ranking 47 teams, IU would certainly be in that mix. So, unless you are just outside the Top 25, it doesn't really make sense to track the "also receiving votes" category too closely. The good news is that the RPI seems to be getting more and more credit each year for being a good indicator of a team's true status. The good news is that IU is still ranked # 24 in the Sportsline RPI. The other good news is that if IU takes care of business against NW & Penn State, then they still finish 10-6 in the Big Ten, get to 20 wins, get the # 3 seed for the Big Ten Tourney, and would be a lock for the Big Dance. When looking at IU's post-season resume, the good news is that they have 0 bad losses -- all losses have been on the road and have been to tourney or bubble teams. They have the big win against Wisconsin and the Southern Illinois win is looking really good. So, if they can avoid the "bad loss" by winning a pair this week, they should be in really good shape. Tom just sent me the latest bracketology stuff, here it is: Bracketology has IU as a #10 seed right now. I was watching ESPN over the weekend and they said that Joe Lunardi has projected the teams in the field with almost 99% accuracy. He has only missed something like 5 teams in the past 6 years. IU has to win their next games to not have all the pressure on the BT Tourney. Indiana: The Hoosiers haven't had a significant win in almost three weeks. They should sweep their closing week, however. Why seeded here? IU has lost four of six. May change because: Northwestern and Penn State may be just what the doctor ordered. Good Wins RPI 1-25: Southern Illinois, Michigan State, Wisconsin RPI 26-50: Purdue, Illinois Bad Losses RPI 101-200: None RPI 201+: None