Should Virginia move to #1 with a win over Duke?

[TheDude1]

I won't deny, I can be a little word tricksey. However, being #1 requires more than just a team that can knock another's lights out on a given night. They are also required to be consistent. Losing 2 games would not be demonstrating consistency this early in the season. IMO.

Uh, that's just not true at all. Duke has consistently beaten opponents. Up till now Duke has only one loss in which you could make any reasonable point about consistency: a loss to the #3 team in the country. Away from home. By a single bucket.

Duke's second loss, to the #37 team on Kenpom, was without two of its four best players, including it's PG. By a few points. In overtime. I don't think you can point to that game as some demonstration of Duke being inconsistent... rather, I think you can say that it is evidence that Duke has consistently been excellent, even facing crazy adversity.

If Duke manages to beat the #1 Kenpom team in the country, a team which is undefeated, especially if it is done without its starting PG, Duke sure as hell should be #1 in the nation.

 

[JimboBBN]

I have never seen a discussion like this about polls in January. Quite frankly, who gives a flying shit who's number one right now? Is it truly worth four pages of debate?

 

[Afamu]

I have never seen a discussion like this about polls in January. Quite frankly, who gives a flying shit who's number one right now? Is it truly worth four pages of debate?

Couldn't agree with this post more. Don't understand.

 

[lurkeraspect84]

I have never seen a discussion like this about polls in January. Quite frankly, who gives a flying shit who's number one right now? Is it truly worth four pages of debate?

It's better than zero pages of debate.

 

[della]

Uh, that's just not true at all. Duke has consistently beaten opponents. Up till now Duke has only one loss in which you could make any reasonable point about consistency: a loss to the #3 team in the country. Away from home. By a single bucket.

Duke's second loss, to the #37 team on Kenpom, was without two of its four best players, including it's PG. By a few points. In overtime. I don't think you can point to that game as some demonstration of Duke being inconsistent... rather, I think you can say that it is evidence that Duke has consistently been excellent, even facing crazy adversity.

If Duke manages to beat the #1 Kenpom team in the country, a team which is undefeated, especially if it is done without its starting PG, Duke sure as hell should be #1 in the nation.

So, you think Duke should be ranked #1 when in back to back games Duke looses to an unranked team and then beats a #1 ranked team? You think that shows consistency? That is kinda unfair to UM which has remained undefeated, isn't it?

Tennessee was out our 2 guard (Turner) when we played Kansas, should we pretend we are undefeated since the game went to OT? Maybe, UT should be #1 using your logic.

Duke has no business at #1 if they loses to Virginia and picks up a second loss.

 

[oldsports_]

I mean let's just look at the big picture, how about we just leave Duke number 1 rest of the year and end all the speculation.

 

[kelley2403]

They were talking about UVA's ranking earlier on the radio here. One of the announcers talked to Bennett before the Tech game. He asked Bennett how he felt about where they were ranked. Bennett said he honestly didn't know where they were ranked. It's to early in the season to matter.

 

[della]

They were talking about UVA's ranking earlier on the radio here. One of the announcers talked to Bennett before the Tech game. He asked Bennett how he felt about where they were ranked. Bennett said he honestly didn't know where they were ranked. It's to early in the season to matter.

Maybe we should shut the message board down until March?

Banter back and forth about this sort of thing is fun.

 

[oldsports_]

They were talking about UVA's ranking earlier on the radio here. One of the announcers talked to Bennett before the Tech game. He asked Bennett how he felt about where they were ranked. Bennett said he honestly didn't know where they were ranked. It's to early in the season to matter.

I call bullshit. Does he know? Hell yes, does he care? Hell no

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

So, you think Duke should be ranked #1 when in back to back games Duke looses to an unranked team and then beats a #1 ranked team? You think that shows consistency? That is kinda unfair to UM which has remained undefeated, isn't it?

Tennessee was out our 2 guard (Turner) when we played Kansas, should we pretend we are undefeated since the game went to OT? Maybe, UT should be #1 using your logic.

Duke has no business at #1 if they loses to Virginia and picks up a second loss.

Duke has lost two games. One was head scratcher, regardless of circumstances. Lost by a combined 6 points. Other than their two losses, they have had two games where it was less than a double digit win. They have the biggest margin of victory in the country. In what world is that not consistent?

And I am not even considering them to be number one no matter tomorrow's outcome. But I am curious about what you consider consistency.

* Tre Jones did practice yesterday and is out of his sling. So I am comfortable with where Duke is going forward whether it be #1 Duke or #5 Duke.

 

[viviajm]

It just doesn't matter at this time. We are about 25% through the conference schedule. It would matter a lot more if we were still on the system of seeds heaving to be in there 25% of the country. Then the Zags would be number one in the West. The other right now up in the air.

 

[della]

Duke has lost two games. One was head scratcher, regardless of circumstances. Lost by a combined 6 points. Other than their two losses, they have had two games where it was less than a double digit win. They have the biggest margin of victory in the country. In what world is that not consistent?

And I am not even considering them to be number one no matter tomorrow's outcome. But I am curious about what you consider consistency.

* Tre Jones did practice yesterday and is out of his sling. So I am comfortable with where Duke is going forward whether it be #1 Duke or #5 Duke.

The context of what I said was in rebuttal to what "The Dude" said. Is Duke a great team? Yes. Is Duke probably the most talented team regarding players? Yes. Does a two loss Duke team deserve to be #1 even if they beat #1 Virginia considering other deserving teams out there? No. Finally, I made my case for lack of consistency in the post you responded to.

 

[TheDude1]

So, you think Duke should be ranked #1 when in back to back games Duke looses to an unranked team and then beats a #1 ranked team? You think that shows consistency? That is kinda unfair to UM which has remained undefeated, isn't it?

Tennessee was out our 2 guard (Turner) when we played Kansas, should we pretend we are undefeated since the game went to OT? Maybe, UT should be #1 using your logic.

Duke has no business at #1 if they loses to Virginia and picks up a second loss.

Ah, maybe I misread your post. You said...

Losing 2 games would not be demonstrating consistency this early in the season. IMO.

Losing two games would be 1) Gonzaga and 2) Syracuse.

If you meant to include Virginia, and meant by two games instead two games in a row (Syracuse and Virginia) then sure, ABSOLUTELY agree.

If Duke beats Virginia with Reddish back should Duke stay at #1?

(Sorry, typed Clemson for some reason)

 

[jhmossy]

Ah, maybe I misread your post. You said...

Losing 2 games would not be demonstrating consistency this early in the season. IMO.

Losing two games would be 1) Gonzaga and 2) Clemson.

If you meant to include Virginia, and meant by two games instead two games in a row (Clemson and Virginia) then sure, ABSOLUTELY agree.

If Duke beats Virginia with Reddish back should Duke stay at #1?

Hard to take you seriously when you don't even know who Duke lost to

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

Hard to take you seriously when you don't even know who Duke lost to

Orange = bad regardless.

 

[TheDude1]

The context of what I said was in rebuttal to what "The Dude" said. Is Duke a great team? Yes. Is Duke probably the most talented team regarding players? Yes. Does a two loss Duke team deserve to be #1 even if they beat #1 Virginia considering other deserving teams out there? No. Finally, I made my case for lack of consistency in the post you responded to.

Disagree.

If Duke has only lost to a team that was in the top 1% of teams in the country on Kenpom by 2 points back in November, and then lost to a team that was in the top 10% of teams in the country on Kenpom without 40% of their starters in overtime by 2% of the total points scored in said game... and THEN beats a team that is in the top 1% of the country after at least 20% of the starters comes back...

Well, that sounds like the #1 team in the country that just happened to lose as close a game as possible because nearly half of its starters were out.

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

The context of what I said was in rebuttal to what "The Dude" said. Is Duke a great team? Yes. Is Duke probably the most talented team regarding players? Yes. Does a two loss Duke team deserve to be #1 even if they beat #1 Virginia considering other deserving teams out there? No. Finally, I made my case for lack of consistency in the post you responded to.

You did not make a case. You might have tried, but it didn't work.

 

[TheDude1]

Hard to take you seriously when you don't even know who Duke lost to

Yeah yeah, I fixed it. No idea why I wrote Clemson.

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

Yeah yeah, I fixed it. No idea why I wrote Clemson.

Twice, you dickhead.

 

[della]

Ah, maybe I misread your post. You said...

Losing 2 games would not be demonstrating consistency this early in the season. IMO.

Losing two games would be 1) Gonzaga and 2) Syracuse.

If you meant to include Virginia, and meant by two games instead two games in a row (Syracuse and Virginia) then sure, ABSOLUTELY agree.

If Duke beats Virginia with Reddish back should Duke stay at #1?

(Sorry, typed Clemson for some reason)

I meant what you thought at first. Syracuse was a bad loss. I don't think Duke is crap, but you have to consider UM is undefeated and UT is only one OT loss to a top 5 team. So, when you look at all the teams that are worthy of a #1 ranking, Duke falls short with the Syracuse loss. Finally, having a player out has no bearing to this discussion. I made that point earlier with Turner.

 

[della]

Disagree.

If Duke has only lost to a team that was in the top 1% of teams in the country on Kenpom by 2 points back in November, and then lost to a team that was in the top 10% of teams in the country on Kenpom without 40% of their starters in overtime by 2% of the total points scored in said game... and THEN beats a team that is in the top 1% of the country after at least 20% of the starters comes back...

Well, that sounds like the #1 team in the country that just happened to lose as close a game as possible because nearly half of its starters were out.

KenPom is consistently wrong. UT was a 2 pt pick over UF. UT beat them by double digits. KenPom Picked Duke over Syracuse, again wrong.

KenPom picks odds, but if the results fail meet up to expectations you have to go with results.

 

[della]

You did not make a case. You might have tried, but it didn't work.

Maybe, you can't just handle the case...

 

[TheDude1]

Syracuse was a bad loss.

Agree to disagree. I don't think losing to the #37 Kenpom team by four points in over time while 40% of your starters are out, especially with such a young team and one of those players being your PG, is THAT bad of a loss.

 

[delawaredukies]

Omg Tennessee fan do you actually think you guys would not be a diff team if both Williams and Shoefeild were not in the lineup?? Come on now you can't honestly believe that this was not the reason Duke lost . Geez

 

[della]

Duke has lost two games. One was head scratcher, regardless of circumstances. Lost by a combined 6 points. Other than their two losses, they have had two games where it was less than a double digit win. They have the biggest margin of victory in the country. In what world is that not consistent?

And I am not even considering them to be number one no matter tomorrow's outcome. But I am curious about what you consider consistency.

* Tre Jones did practice yesterday and is out of his sling. So I am comfortable with where Duke is going forward whether it be #1 Duke or #5 Duke.

Tennessee has 1 loss in OT to a #1 team. They have won by double digits in every game except against a #1 team (Gonzaga), I think that was by 6 pts.

Tennessee has no bad losses and beat a team that beat Duke. A one loss UT should be higher than a 2 loss Duke.

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

Tennessee has 1 loss in OT to a #1 team. They have won by double digits in every game except against a #1 team (Gonzaga), I think that was by 6 pts.

Tennessee has no bad losses and beat a team that beat Duke. A one loss UT should be higher than a 2 loss Duke.

Good for Tennessee. What Tennessee does or doesn't do has nothing to do with you saying Duke hasn't been consistent, which is what I commented on.

 

[della]

Good for Tennessee. What Tennessee does or doesn't do has nothing to do with you saying Duke hasn't been consistent, which is what I commented on.

Consistency regarding being a # 1 ranked team... Losing to an unranked team is not being consistent. You know why? Because other teams that have played solid competition have not lost to unranked teams. Since this conversation is about being ranked #1, you have to be compared to your peers. So, Tennessee and others have everything to do with it in regard to ranking.

 

[kelley2403]

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

Consistency regarding being a # 1 ranked team... Losing to an unranked team is not being consistent. You know why? Because other teams that have played solid competition have not lost to unranked teams. Since this conversation is about being ranked #1, you have to be compared to your peers. So, Tennessee and others have everything to do with it in regard to ranking.

You have a strange view on consistency. Are you sure you're using the right word? Because losing once to an unranked team is not a measure of consistency.

 

[della]

You have a strange view on consistency. Are you sure you're using the right word? Because losing once to an unranked team is not a measure of consistency.

Consistency as to performance of excellence. Do you think a top ranked team getting beat by a team out of the Top 30 is consistent to excellence? If you do, then you have the strange measure of consistency.

 

[della]

Omg Tennessee fan do you actually think you guys would not be a diff team if both Williams and Shoefeild were not in the lineup?? Come on now you can't honestly believe that this was not the reason Duke lost . Geez

Of course they would be different and worse. However, if they lost games Tennessee should drop in the rankings. This is where we differ, you appear to think that Duke should not drop under that scenario.

 

[delawaredukies]

No I think they should drop but I do not think you can call it a bad loss considering the circumstances. I know the tourny committee will take that into account . By the way I really like your team ! Ther are athletic mature tough and good defensively and offensively. Great team!

 

[TheDude1]

Ohhh, is this really a conversation about Tennessee? Sorry, I didn’t pick that up.

 

[JimboBBN]

Ohhh, is this really a conversation about Tennessee? Sorry, I didn’t pick that up.

I know we are in strange territory on the basketball board

 

[TheDude1]

I know we are in strange territory on the basketball board

It’s really strange. I know that you guys have to hear about Tennessee since you are in the same conference (you are, right?) but the rest of the world has never really paid attention to them before.

 

[JimboBBN]

It’s really strange. I know that you guys have to hear about Tennessee since you are in the same conference (you are, right?) but the rest of the world has never really paid attention to them before.

We don't really pay them much attention either. They're like any other SEC team, get up for UK and then shit themselves throughout the rest of the season. Although I do think Tennessee has a great team this year, its not something we should get used to by any means. Think USC and their fans from two years ago.

 

[della]

No I think they should drop but I do not think you can call it a bad loss considering the circumstances. I know the tourny committee will take that into account . By the way I really like your team ! Ther are athletic mature tough and good defensively and offensively. Great team!

Of course it is not a bad loss for making the tourney, but it would be consider a bad loss as relating to regaining the #1 ranking due to the resumes of other deserving teams.

Btw, Duke is my second favorite team. It is hard to believe so much talent can exist in one place.

 

[lurkeraspect84]

* Tre Jones did practice yesterday and is out of his sling. So I am comfortable with where Duke is going forward whether it be #1 Duke or #5 Duke.

that's good news.

 

[HRTheCard]

Duke stays #1 if they beat UVA. Plain and simple.

 

[hailtoyourvictor]

Duke stays #1 if they beat UVA. Plain and simple.

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