2/09/10 Status Report Notes

Movers

1. Texas A & M -  The Aggies had a very successful week winning on the road against Missouri and holding serve against #20 ranked Baylor.  At this point, they are clearly in the tournament as a #7 seed according to ESPN's Joey Brackets.  
2. Maryland - Testudo is dancing in his shell right now as the Terps find themselves all alone in 2nd place in the ACC.  Maryland edged Florida State on the road and then destroyed the Tar reels at home.  While UNC may not even qualify for the NIT, it's still a landmark win for Maryland to dominate Roy Williams' squad so thoroughly.  Senior Greivis Vasquez is playing some of his best basketball of the season and finished with 26 points and 11 assists in the win over UNC. 
3. Cornell - The Big Red aren't sneaking up on anyone this year and Lunardi already has Cornell slated as an 8th seed.  Their train just keeps rolling with double digit victories over Yale and Brown.  As long as they don't slip up, Cornell is in great shape to return to the Big Dance and make some noise.
4. Memphis - A big win at home over conference leader UAB helps get Memphis on the bubble.  But a close loss to Gonzaga assures that the Tigers will have to sweat it out on Selection Sunday if they lose in the Conference USA tourney.  
5. Belmont and Campbell - We're headed for an Atlantic Sun showdown as these two stand 1/2 in the conference with Ren's E Tenn St a factor as well.

Shakers

1. Clemson - The Tigers have lost 4 of their last 5 games and are squarely on the bubble now after the slide.  While they appear to be safe for now, Clemson needs to right this ship quickly.  A three game homestand beginning with Florida State on Wednesday is critical.  
2. UAB -  Just a slight drop for UAB but the Blazers still have room for error. and appear to be on the right side of the bubble  The loss to a desperate Memphis team on the road is not considered a bad loss.  A rematch at home with Marshall will be a dangerous game but one that UAB should win.  
3. Cal - The weakness of the Pac 10 means that even though the Bears won at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday, Cal is not guaranteed a spot in the tourney yet.  Similar to the teams above, as long as they keep winning, Cal will have nothing to worry about though.  The problem is that any slip up in the Pac 10 will be looked at unfavorably since the Pac 10 is so weak.  
4. Harvard - As mentioned in an earlier post, the Crimson are NIT bound unless they can somehow catch Cornell.  They'll need help for that to happen after losing to Princeton on Friday. 
5. UNC - An irrelevant team that is getting worse by the day.  Even a win over Duke might not resuscitate this corpse.
6. William and Mary, Alabama, Texas Southern - The first two are no longer on the bubble and Texas Southern fell to Prairie View Saturday and is now in 3rd place in the SWAC race.  

Scorecard: 

1-2 Seeds: Ren 5 Stimpy 3

1-4 Seeds: Ren 7 Stimpy 9

1-8 Seeds:  Ren 12 Stimpy 20

Bubble Teams: Ren 14 Stimpy 17

Favorites for the Conf title: Ren 13 Stimpy 12

Longshots aka wasted picks: Ren 26 Stimpy 17

Worst record candidates:

Penn St 8-15

UC Riverside 9-14

UC Irvine 10-14

Hofstra 12-13

Long Beach St 11-12

Michigan 11-12

UCLA 11-12