Mid-Major Poll

[UNTflyer]

http://www.collegeinsider.com/mmpoll/

[CMJ]

The teams ahead of us are all awesome programs. Really climbing in the world.

[UNTflyer]

Now is the time to crank it up.

[filmerj]

I was looking at the rankings during the tsu game, at the time we were sitting at 15 at 5-1, and noticed it was updated at 4:58. So I was wondering how far we would climb with another win. Nice to see.

[chrisfisher]

WKU dropped out of the poll. Make no mistake about it. They will be a team to reckon with in conference play. They have had a brutal OOC schedule and will not doubt be battle hardened against top competition. WKU will be trouble this season, as they are every season, despite their current bad win-loss record.

[greenjoe]

Cleveland State ?

[MeanGreen61]

I hate the term "mid-major". We're either there are we aren't.

[TheTastyGreek]

I hate the term "mid-major". We're either there are we aren't.

Financially, we are not. Not even close.

The conference isn't even 2/3rds of the way to the bare minimum budgetary threshold that people who actually do have a standard and metric for the "mid major" term use to separate the power conferences.

[UNTflyer]

It is what it is. It may not count for anything but the midmajor poll is a recognition of the quality of this team.

[Censored by Laurie]

I don't much care for the mid major poll...no problem with the term itself and I throw it around regularly...but it is very nice being recognized with those 9 other programs. For those skeptical about Cleveland State, they're 10-0 and it took a last second three by Zach Hahn for Butler to beat them in their conference tourney final. They're legit.

[NT03]

I don't much care for the mid major poll...no problem with the term itself and I throw it around regularly...but it is very nice being recognized with those 9 other programs. For those skeptical about Cleveland State, they're 10-0 and it took a last second three by Zach Hahn for Butler to beat them in their conference tourney final. They're legit.

Didn't they beat Butler last year in the Horizon tourney to get the auto bid ?

[Censored by Laurie]

Didn't they beat Butler last year in the Horizon tourney to get the auto bid ?

We're actually both wrong...I misread that Mid-Major article we got mentioned in...they brought up Hahn but his shot was in just a regular conference game. Butler won the Horizon last year, though.

[NT03]

We're actually both wrong...I misread that Mid-Major article we got mentioned in...they brought up Hahn but his shot was in just a regular conference game. Butler won the Horizon last year, though.

*It was 2009 when Cleveland State beat Butler for the auto bid and yes , don't let the name fool you. Cleveland State is legit

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

What will it take to get us into the "real" top 25?

SDSU is #15 at 8-0 with a pretty weak schedule so far.

[untbowler]

What will it take to get us into the "real" top 25?

SDSU is #15 at 8-0 with a pretty weak schedule so far.

Probably hanging within 20pts of a ranked team and not going to the wire with 75% of our wins.

[ColoradoEagle]

What will it take to get us into the "real" top 25?

SDSU is #15 at 8-0 with a pretty weak schedule so far.

SDSU has played a pretty decent schedule so far with quality wins over Gonzaga, St. Mary's, and Wichita State. Ours is not even close to that outside of Texas Tech (kinda) and Kansas where we got blown out.

To answer the question, if we could make it to 20-2, then maybe. Problem is that even if we make that run with our only loss being to SHSU or LSU, it's still not very impressive compared with other top 25 schools. The SBC is just not a quality conference this year.

[meangreenacct]

What will it take to get us into the "real" top 25?

SDSU is #15 at 8-0 with a pretty weak schedule so far.

I wouldn't call Gonzaga, Wichita State, and St. Mary's (sweet 16 last year) weak. It also helps that they play in a much stronger basketball conference then the SBC.

[Censored by Laurie]

What will it take to get us into the "real" top 25?

SDSU is #15 at 8-0 with a pretty weak schedule so far.

Gonzaga, St. Mary's and Wichita State aren't weak.

[Censored by Laurie]

Yeah...what they said.

[TheTastyGreek]

We are not one of the top 25 teams in the country. We just are not.

But, we might start getting some votes if we win out through LSU and get to 11-1. We'd have wins over two BCS level teams and our only loss would be to a top 5 or 10 squad. There's no way we'd be ranked, but we'd start getting votes and attention.

If UALR can get one more quality OOC win against Mississippi or Akron and we win out through that game on the 30th... There's a slim chance that we could be on the cusp of a ranking to start the new year with a 13-1 record (meaning... one of the top 7 or 8 in the "other receiving votes" category).

If we can get out to 15-1 or 16-1, then we might get ranked. That's what Northern Iowa had to do last year to get in.

If we can get to the end of January without losing, then I think we'll be in even though we aren't one of the 25 best teams. At that point, we would be 21-1 (19-1 vs. D1 opponents). We would have gone a full calendar year with two losses, both of them coming to ranked teams (both in the top 10). We would be on a 17 game home win streak, a 19 game overall win streak, and we will have won 31 straight games against teams outside the top 10.

Do I think we're going to get there? No, I don't think we're going to get out to a 21-1 start.

But...

If we stay healthy, there are only 3 real significant threats on the schedule between now and then. One is tomorrow at SHSU. One is on the road at LSU. And the other is at home against UALR on New Year's Eve Eve.

THIS IS ALL JUST THINKING OUT LOUD. THE ONLY REASON I'M MENTIONING IT IS TO ANSWER THE HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION. Let downs happen, all of those games will be difficult, and you damn sure don't want to start looking two months ahead. But if we can rise to the occasion for those 3 without having any slip ups against what seem to be lesser opponents... It's time to start building the statue.

[CMJ]

If we get to 20 something and 1 - we will get ranked just thru attrition.

[Mean Green Matt]

If we get to 20 something and 1 - we will get ranked just thru attrition.

Just having that ranking by our name would do more for our attendance than the 20-1 record itself would. We have a long road to get to that, but anything is possible. This team certainly seems to know how to win.

[CMJ]

Just having that ranking by our name would do more for our attendance than the 20-1 record itself would. We have a long road to get to that, but anything is possible. This team certainly seems to know how to win.

I'm not gonna bet we get to 20-1. Hell, I'm not even sold on 8-1 yet! Every game left on the schedule is winnable, but at some point you're just due for a defeat. One at a time boys.

Edited December 8, 2010 by CMJ

[greenminer]

THIS IS ALL JUST THINKING OUT LOUD. THE ONLY REASON I'M MENTIONING IT IS TO ANSWER THE HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION.

Kinda weird that you felt that last clarification was necessary?

[NMBNTC]

I honestly believe that aside from SHSU, there isn't any reason we can't win out the rest of the schedule. Even if we lost to LSU and SHSU, I think 26-3 is realistically attainable.