In the new basketball rankings, Butler is #19 in the AP poll and #18 in the coaches poll. I think they should be higher, but oh well. It’s the highest Butler has been ranked since 1949, and they’re the only Indiana school ranked at the moment.

Gonzaga, meanwhile, is #22 and #21 in the polls, respectively. The Zags would be higher, of course, if they hadn’t followed up their stunning upset of North Carolina with that damn loss to Butler. (Butler, incidentally, beat Kent State in double overtime in Indianapolis the day after their win over Gonzaga in New York City. Butler clearly wasn’t expecting to be playing in the NIT final, so they scheduled a game for the next day. Heh. The Zags, for their part, crushed Idaho yesterday in their first game since the Butler debacle.)

Continuing on the mid-major theme, Wichita State is #17 and #22, respectively, after stunning #6 LSU. That followed on the heels of fellow Missouri Valley Conference team Missouri State’s win over #7 Wisconsin. But the Bears followed that up with an overtime loss to Oklahoma State, which is probably why they remain unranked.

UCLA, previously #5, is now ranked #1 in the AP poll after losses by #1 Florida and #2 North Carolina. The Bruins leapfrogged previous #3 Pittsburgh (now #2) and previous #4 Ohio State (now #3). In the coaches poll, Ohio State moved up from #3 to #1 thanks to the losses by the Gators and Tar Heels. Previous #5 UCLA is #2, and previous #4 Pittsburgh is #3.

Thankfully, in basketball, unlike football, none of this actually matters. :)

The Big Lead wants to know who is more deserving of title-game bid: USC, Florida or Michigan.

I’ve always felt that such debates, even when they involve my team, are like the proverbial angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin argument. That such subjective debates have anything to do with deciding which two teams get a shot at the national championship is proof that the system is fundamentally flawed. It’s one thing to have subjective debates over who’s #65 and who’s #66, as in college basketball, or who’s #8 and who’s #9, as in a hypothetical eight-team playoff. But over #2 vs. #3? Give me a freakin’ break! Let them decide it on the field!

The good news — maybe — is that Florida getting shafted might finally lead to some changes, or so Stewart Mandel thinks, anyway. So, rather than debating the merits of the Trojans, Gators and Wolverines, let’s ponder (after the jump) what we’d be looking at under some alternative, hypothetical systems of determining a champion.

(more…)

I’ve been spending a lot of time dancing at the Cadillac Ranch (Exit 31 off I-84 in Southington!) and I’ve gotten to thinking. How awesome would it be to hear a country song that turns every expectation on its head? I’m not sure exactly how it would go, but it should involve: driving a hybrid, polyamorous bisexual free love, joining a radical union at a blue collar job, a bloodhound’s right to run free of human dominion, straight edge remedies for heartache, a scathing critique of US foreign policy, parents that would never dream of striking their children, advocating strict separation of church and state, and singing the praises of the Northeast. Cledus T. Judd could write, Willie Nelson and the Dixie Chicks could sing. We could call it “Getting Down on the Fair Trade Organic Farming Cooperative.”

A state fire marshal says 10 people have died in a fire at a group home in southwest Missouri, The Associated Press reports. Visit CNN for the latest.

Leading the way on Drudge this morning is this article from the Tampa Tribune website.

Basically, it seems like there was a bit of crow eating from a number of forecasters, with a copious sprinkling of “dry Saharan dust.” Seems that this dust may have taken some of the oomph out of any prospective tropical storms/hurricanes, leaving us with a very quiet season this year.

Whatever the cause, I can’t say that a quiet hurricane season is anything other than a good thing. I’m personally quite glad that Brendan hasn’t had that much foul weather about which to go all geeky.

Okay, I admit I’m annoyed that USC missed that damn extra point, thus causing me to lose my bet with my classmate Mike (the Irish Bruin) that the Trojans would beat the Irish by at least 21 points. But there’s annoyed, and then there’s annoyed. Yikes.

Don’t worry, Mike, I’m not that upset. :) And yes, I will pay up… notwithstanding that my original prediction (”USC will win by three touchdowns”) was literally correct… we did win by three touchdowns, we just missed a PAT!

On the bright side, my teams are now 2-0 against Mike’s teams this season. First the Irish over the Bruins, then the Trojans over the Irish. On Saturday, I go for the hat trick. :) BEAT THE BRUINS!!!

P.S. By the way, Becky and I are safe & sound back in South Bend, in case anyone was wondering. Tomorrow (er, later today), the home stretch of the semester begins…

P.P.S. I just noticed: this is the 22nd consecutive college football-related post, dating back to this one early Saturday morning. Eventually, dear readers, I will start blogging about something other than football again, I promise. :)

P.P.P.S. But not quite yet! First, another football observation. You may not know this if you’re not either a Pac-10 fan, a reader of Texasyank’s blog, or an obsessive-compulsive watcher of the scrolling scores at the bottom of the screen on ESPN, but Arizona State beat Arizona, 28-14 on Saturday (I love 28-14 games… they always remind me of USC’s 2003-04 national title), and although the Sun Devils’ bowl-clinching win wasn’t enough to save their coach’s job, it was enough to set the stage for a potential five-way tie for fourth place in the Pac-10. If USC beats UCLA on Saturday (a big if, and let’s all vigorously knock on wood now, shall we?) and Cal beats Stanford, this is what the final standings will look like:

1. USC (8-1)
2. Cal (7-2)
3. Oregon State (6-3)
4(t). Oregon (4-5)
4(t). Arizona State (4-5)
4(t). Arizona (4-5)
4(t). UCLA (4-5)
4(t). Washington State (4-5)
9. Washington (3-6)
10. Stanford (1-8)

Heh. I love it! And the best part is, everyone except Washington and Stanford is bowl-eligible! But out of UCLA, Arizona and Wazzu, only one will get a Pac-10 bowl spot; the others will be praying for an at-large bowl invitation.