Ole Miss Surprising the Hoops World

Mississippi has been making some noise in the college hoops world. The Ole Miss Rebels are now on a 13-game win streak and ranked No. 18 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. The Rebs knocked off Alabama A&M last night 86-50 to continue their somewhat surprising domination this year. Considering where this team was a year ago, this is a bit of a shock to the rest of the SEC and the preseason analysts who had this team written off as an NIT entrant or worse. The Rebels look like they are headed for an NCAA Tournament bid in 2008 with the way they are playing. Check out the most recent description of this team in action at SportsIllustrated.com.

Similarly, Vanderbilt is another SEC team that has started out with a perfect 13-game win streak. While the 13-0 starts for both Ole Miss and Vanderbilt has people talking, the Rebs and the Commodores have not been tested like they will in the next two months. The conference games will start soon, and these teams will have to play a tough out every time their on the court. The Final Four Blog is going to reserve its lofty expectations for these teams until they win in the SEC a few times.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 3, 2008 - Post a comment

Ranking the College Hoops Teams in 2008

This is the first Final Four Blog post of 2008, so let’s start out with a bang. Rather than talking about injuries to Pittsburgh players or the latest Bob Knight tirade, we’re going to give you the Final Four Blog’s first ever edition of a new (hopefully) regular segment tentatively titled “Top Ticket Tourney Teams.” There were other titles that were tossed around, and this blog reserves the right to change names at any time for any reason. The purpose of this blog is simple: to rank college basketball teams that otherwise would not be ranked. Why? Well, if you haven’t been watching closely, you might not have noticed that the AP, Coaches, CBS, ESPN, and other popular polls have all had the same five teams at the top since the first polls came out for this season. North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas, UCLA, and Georgetown all remain in the top ten of pretty much every poll out there. BOR-ing!

This weeks rankings will be determined mainly by the “Luck Factor” as described by Ken Pomeroy at BasketballProspectus.com. Luck is essentially the deviation from a team’s predicted winning percentage and their actual winning percentage. Basically, these are the “luckiest” teams in the NCAA, subtracting teams based on a secret recipe that only the Final Four Blog knows. Enjoy!

Top Ticket Tourney Teams: Lucky Bounce Version (January 2, 2008)

1. Auburn
2. UC Santa Barbara
3. Tennessee
4. San Jose St.
5. Valparaiso
6. Ohio
7. Army
8. Cal St. Northridge
9. Wright St.
10. Pittsburgh
11. Pacific
12. St. Mary’s
13. North Carolina St.
14. Ole Miss
15. Dayton
16. Dartmouth
17. Drexel

Even the amount of teams ranked is going to be a little off. 17 is a “prime number” for such a ranking system.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 2, 2008 - Post a comment


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