Post by phil on Feb 14, 2021 17:22:57 GMT -5
I don't think many people are thinking of Texas A&M when they think about who might earn a number one seed. they are ranked sixth and fifth in the two human polls, but only 12 in the Massey rankings.
As the announces for today's game pointed out, they now have eight wins over ranked teams more than any other D1 team. What they did not mention is that none of those wins came over teams in the top 15, so eight ranked wins is impressive but they don't have a signature when over one of the top teams.
You could come away with two different impressions after watching today's game. They did win by 10 and Massey picked them by 5.5, so they outperformed their expectation. That's obviously good, but keep in mind that Massey has them as 12th, so it isn't exactly suggesting along the top four it says their performance today was consistent with a team better than 12. If you watch the game, it was tied at the end of the first quarter and the end of the half, and Tennessee led much of the third quarter although not by much. Tennessee led briefly in the fourth quarter, and Texas A&M led by one point with just over two minutes to go which doesn't send the same message as a 10 point victory largely fueled by Tennessee's inexplicable decision to dribble the ball when they needed to shoot, their inability to score late, the need to file Texas A&M who managed to hit many of their free throws. You could view this as a close call and escape by Texas A&M or you could view it as a double-digit win over a ranked performance.
But they only have a single loss, and are likely to go into the final game of the season against South Carolina (subject to what decisions might be made about tournaments) with a single loss. If they could beat South Carolina they deserve to be in the discussion for top four seeds, but that will be quite a surprise. I think they'll fall short.
As the announces for today's game pointed out, they now have eight wins over ranked teams more than any other D1 team. What they did not mention is that none of those wins came over teams in the top 15, so eight ranked wins is impressive but they don't have a signature when over one of the top teams.
You could come away with two different impressions after watching today's game. They did win by 10 and Massey picked them by 5.5, so they outperformed their expectation. That's obviously good, but keep in mind that Massey has them as 12th, so it isn't exactly suggesting along the top four it says their performance today was consistent with a team better than 12. If you watch the game, it was tied at the end of the first quarter and the end of the half, and Tennessee led much of the third quarter although not by much. Tennessee led briefly in the fourth quarter, and Texas A&M led by one point with just over two minutes to go which doesn't send the same message as a 10 point victory largely fueled by Tennessee's inexplicable decision to dribble the ball when they needed to shoot, their inability to score late, the need to file Texas A&M who managed to hit many of their free throws. You could view this as a close call and escape by Texas A&M or you could view it as a double-digit win over a ranked performance.
But they only have a single loss, and are likely to go into the final game of the season against South Carolina (subject to what decisions might be made about tournaments) with a single loss. If they could beat South Carolina they deserve to be in the discussion for top four seeds, but that will be quite a surprise. I think they'll fall short.