#2 Purdue goes down to Ohio State 73-69. It's wide open this year.

[TheDude73]

It’s not wide open. That’s like the go to saying when we struggle. Every year has been “wide open” since we were dominant.

Um, what season are you watching? Even if we were killing it this year, the fact that we have 5, 6, 7 and even 8 loss teams in the top 25 (7 of the top 10 have 5 and 6 losses!) tells you all you need to know about this year being the craziest ever.

The only teams that stand out are UCONN, Houston and Purdue, and Purdue just lost to woeful, coachless Ohio State. Just when people think "yeah I don't see anyone beating those teams in the tournament", someone comes along and boots them in the first or second rounds.

Also, if some fans use other teams' results as solace for their own team's woes, why does that matter? People cope in different ways. It's not always "making excuses for Cal / nut hugging".

 

[The_Answer1313]

At there end of the day, there's still going to be 6-8 teams that the title winner will come from like 95% of the years before it. You won't be able to tell which of the 6-8 it will be (upsets happen, bad draws happen whatever) but it will no doubt be one of those teams.

 

[bbncal02]

Today's NET shows Purdue unchanged at #2. UK, however, dropped from 21 to 22, trading places with Wisconsin. Very puzzling.

After decently beating AU at their place. A Top Ten team by metrics. Very weird.

 

[lakercat]

Auburn and Tennessee both could win out. UConn does look fantastic but all it takes is one given night.

What about Bama?

 

[The_Answer1313]

If we are looking at things from a efficiency margin and thus point spread margin

1. Houston 32.40
2. Uconn 30.45
3. Purdue 29.60
4. Arizona 28.51
________________________________
5. UT 26.64
6. Bama 26.44
7. Auburn 26.42

After that you are talking 24s and 23s.

There definitely IS separation. Those top four teams would be favored on a neutral court and by a fairly good margin against any other team in the field currently.

We are sitting at 19.66. I'd love to see us get around the 22. That would mean that 1) our defense has gotten much better and sustained it 2) we have won a bunch of games and most likely some key big ones and 3) our seeding will have improved vastly. I think if that happens we could make some noise still.