Commonwealth Power Rankings, February 11th
This week, UVA finally made the leap into first place following dominant performances against Clemson and at Maryland, Norfolk State grabs the three spot, and the bottom of the CPR is where things got wild this week.
The 2012-13 basketball season has been one of the craziest in recent memory. The parity and unpredictability that’s dominated the national scene over the past few months has been mirrored in the Commonwealth.
This week, UVA finally made the leap into first place following dominant performances against Clemson and at Maryland–still, the Cavaliers are 0-3 against the CAA while being 17-3 against everyone else.
The bottom of the CPR is where things got wild this week. Despite entering the week a combined 39-91, last week’s bottom six teams won at least one game this week. For ODU and Longwood, that meant snapping a combined 24-game losing streak.
For all of the underwhelming teams in Virginia (hey VT), the best thing happening right now in the Commonwealth is Norfolk State and Hampton. The two are tearing up the MEAC with a combined 14-game winning streak. The Spartans will likely get an opportunity to defend their “biggest upset” title come March Madness. Watch out #2 seeds!
Predictions are fun, but at this point anything can and probably will happen. Sit back and enjoy the ride in college basketball both across the nation and in the Commonwealth.
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⬆15 PTS |
Virginia |
Two statement wins for UVA this weekend put the Hoos back on track and back into NCAA Tournament discussions.Brian Leung |
2⬇7 PTS |
VCU |
The Rams will have plenty of opportunities to retake the top spot in the CPR during their brutal final seven games.Aaron Williams |
⬆315 PTS |
Norfolk State |
Well. Here’s to a 10-game winning streak! Go Spartans!Joshua Grice |
416 PTS |
George Mason |
The Spiders and Patriots have identical 14-10 overall records, but the Patriots hold the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to an early season win. Plus, they have a better conference record. Gary Cope |
5⬇17 PTS |
Richmond |
The official 100 year celebration of Spider Basketball was overshadowed by an abysmal 23% shooting and a measly 10 baskets in a sound loss to SLU at home on Saturday. Joshua Grice |
6⬇26 PTS |
Virginia Tech |
Erick Green had to be carried off the court by his teammates following Saturday’s home loss to Georgia Tech. It’s the most help Green’s gotten from his teammates in about a month.Gary Cope |
727 PTS |
JMU |
The Dukes aren’t good, but they ain’t bad either! That’s CAA ball for ya. Joshua Grice |
⬆833 PTS |
VMI |
Even VMI’s great offense can’t compensate for their pitiful defense. Aaron Williams |
9⬇35 PTS |
William & Mary |
The Tribe have no inside game and no transition offense. So, yeah. Gary Cope |
⬆1040 PTS |
Hampton |
Winners of four straight, Hampton has a little of Norfolk State’s MEAC magic. Aaron Williams |
⬆1145 PTS |
Liberty |
The Flames beat Radford. Yep. That’s all I got.Gary Cope |
12⬇46 PTS |
Radford |
With the 339th youngest roster in the nation, HAVOC 2.0’s ceiling this season is an 8-8 finish in the Big South. Aaron Williams |
1352 PTS |
Old Dominion |
What a chaotic and awkward week for the Monarchs. They snapped a 10-game losing streak and gave interim head coach Jim Corrigan his first win. Gary Cope |
1456 PTS |
Longwood |
Longwood snapped their 14-game losing streak with a quality road victory over Winthrop. Aaron Williams |
Contributors: Gary Cope (VT; TechHoops.com), Joshua Grice (UR; Richmond Rowdies), Brian Leung (UVA; StreakingTheLawn.com), Aaron Williams (VCU; RVANews)
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Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Clemson and Maryland as statement wins? I guess when you’re UVA they are, but let’s not get carried away.
You lost me with this one. uva is not good and they will be in the NIT.
Clemson (RPI 151, 12-11 on the season) and Maryland (RPI 73, 17-7 on the season) are “statement wins”? You can’t be serious.
For UVA it was the manner with which they dominated Clemson and Maryland. They were +48 in scoring margin this week!
Clemson and Maryland are not good. uva’s OOC losses are inexcusable.
No objective observer of college basketball would rank UVA ahead of VCU. 3 losses to the CAA in a bad year for the CAA (and a disastrous year for Old Dominion) a loss to a Wake team that didn’t make a field goal in the final 10 minutes? The ACC is not the conference it has been in years past other than Miami and Duke the level of competition is very average. UVA will not make the NCAA tourney and if by some fluke they do (because of bias for the ACC) they will most likely get slammed in the first round like they did last year.
All this discussion over UVA and no thoughts on NSU at #3!?
There’s such huge separation between the first tier of UVA and VCU; the second tier of NSU, Mason, and UR; and the third tier of, well, everyone else.
Now that you mention it….. George Mason, UR, Va Tech, W&M and odu would beat NSU.
uva lost to a 3 win odu team. VCU lost at the Robins Center and to a hot LaSalle team. This ranking hurts my eyes.
This is perfect because it gets into the bigger discussion of criteria. This week the coaches poll and ap poll struggled with the same questions as us. Should Miami be #1 even though they lost to FGCU in November? Can you rank Duke ahead of Miami even though Miami is 27 points better?
This is a power ranking. When I vote, I certainly hold UVA accountable for those embarrassing losses, but they are playing the best basketball in Virginia right now. If the VCU team that made Alabama look lost shows up this week, They will be #1 again.
OK, so uva is playing the best basketball in Virginia right now. I get it.
Haaaaaa
Yeah, I officially lost all respect for this poll. uva lost to odu, the end.
I guess if you want comments and pageviews you can rank UVA above VCU, but this is silly. A “statement win” at home against an 11-loss team? Nice.
For the record, I still have VCU as my No. 1 in the CPR poll. I agree with some of the other commenters on here that Clemson and Maryland are not signature wins, at least not this season. And while VCU hasn’t exactly played lights out lately, I still think they’re a smidgeon better than UVA right now. That could very well change by the time we get to the tournament, but for now, VCU is still No. 1 in my poll.
UVA beat Clemson by 37 points in a 62 possession game. I don’t think Clemson is a great team, but that’s a statement.
When is the last time VCU beat ANY team by .59 points per possession?
RVA conspiracy!
UVA has SIX 100+ RPI losses (3 150+), including a reeeeeeaaally bad loss to No.319 ODU…the No.14 team on this poll. And that’s not all old news. The Hoos lost to No.120 Georgia Tech just one week ago. VCU has zero 100+ RPI losses, their worst loss coming three games ago to No.79 Richmond, at UofR, in overtime. Their other four losses are to top 50 RPI teams (two on neutral courts), by an average of 5.75 points.
Rams are 3-0 over the last three with a top-100 road win (VCU has 1 more top-100 win than UVA as well), UVA is 2-1 with a loss to Georgia Tech, but UVA rises…
And from Ross Catrow, a dedicated VA Tech fan of all people…
I see your game you rogue.
Clemson shot 1-17 from 3 for that game. I think you’re overvaluing scoring margin.
Aaron, Coastal Carolina beat Clemson by 23 points…and the Chanticleers are 6-5 in the mighty Big South conference.
UVA has the 9th best 3-point defense in the nation. I think you’re undervaluing defense.
I voted UVA first. Brian Leung called them statement wins.
Mat, see my previous post about power rankings.
show me screencaps of all 16 missed 3s with hands in faces and I’ll accept your argument. (as a VCU fan I can’t really undervalue defense ;))
@Mat, Don’t look at me, I just put the post together! I’m busy over here rooting for the Fighting Erick Greens.
Aaron Williams on February 11, 2013 at 4:36 pm said:
UVA beat Clemson by 37 points in a 62 possession game. I don’t think Clemson is a great team, but that’s a statement.
When is the last time VCU beat ANY team by .59 points per possession?
_________
So this is why they are the most powerful team in Va. That is sick. Clemson is awful!
By the way, VCU is ranked #22 in this weeks ESPN power rankings and has over 60 votes for the AP Top 25. I do not see uva anywhere. RVA huh? Give me a break.
Aaron….Also on that list of top 3-point defensive teams…Lehigh (No.4, a team that VCU beat earlier this season, A 10-13 Texas team (No.1), New Hampshire (No.2), Weber St. (No.5), Southern (No.7) and Providence (No.8). There are a number of other bad (and REAAAALLY) teams just behind UVA as well (Alcorn State, Jacksonville St. etc).
And speaking of defense, you know that VCU team you cover? No.1 in the nation in steals percentage and turnover percentage. And as Luke Winn pointed out in his SI article, they are also the highest steal and second-highest turnover percentages of any team in the 11 years that kenpom.com has tracked those statistics.
I looooove defense.
(PS. Just giving you guys a hard time)
I wasn’t saying UVA is great because of their 3-point defense. I was simply saying it is unfair to just say Clemson had an off night from 3-point range when UVA beat them.
PS. I love talking hoops. I am always down to talk hoops.
Oh no, that wasn’t me who said Clemson had an off night from 3-point range when UVA beat them, I was the one who said they sucked. ;)
You guys like Yo Gabba Gabba on this site. Go to the show this weekend and get the sillies out.
uva plays in a weak conference.