INTEGRITY: The Difference Between Alford and McDermott

When McDermott decided to leave UNI, he called up his recruits and told that he was going to leave UNI for ISU. In the same conversations, he told his recruits that they committed to UNI, and that they should honor their commitments.

Fast forward to this year... Alford stands at his presser in New Mexico and says that he has not contacted his recruits in regards to coming with him. Now we find out that Alford has, in fact, talked to his recruit(s) about coming down to New Mexico after LOIs were signed.

Integrity, some people have it, others do not. Unbelievable.

Did Alford/Neal break NCAA rules? We shall see...

Kruger Turns Down Iowa Job; U of I Knew Alford was Leaving

Through a few deductions of a recent article in the LV Review-Journal, I believe that Lon Kruger has already turned down the Iowa job and that Iowa knew that Alford was gone early last week.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Mar-21-Wed-2007/news/13304441.html

KRUGER PURSUED

UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger already has turned down a big-school offer, said Dave Cokin, who made the comment Tuesday on KBAD-AM, 920 (ESPN), during his sports-talk show with John Hanson.

Cokin said he could not identify the school because Kruger swore him to secrecy. The school has not yet announced that it is letting its coach go, Cokin said. Kruger has two years remaining on his UNLV deal.

Of course, I could be way off base, but it's not that hard of a conclusion to reach. On March 20th, Iowa still had Alford as their coach. Perhaps Barta already knew that Alford was gone, and he offered the job to Kruger, who turned it down. It's very feasible. Sure, there could be other schools ready to dismiss their coach, but this all happened right around the Alford time-period. Coincidence? I think not.

FREE BRUCE PEARL

Gary Barta needs to go out and get Bruce Pearl. It's as simple as that. Open up the checkbook, promise and deliver on whatever he needs.... just get him back to Iowa City.

Alford to New Mexico might really happen

The past few weeks, banter across the Internet tied Steve Alford to the vacant men's basketball coach position at New Mexico. I had brushed it off, just as I brushed off the Indiana and Missouri "stories" last year. Well, now it looks like this little rumor has legs. Several media outlets are now stating Alford has agreed to coach the Lobos and it's just a matter of getting the contract finalized. If that is the case - who does Iowa replace Alford with? Here's my list.

On my list (disclaimer - not sure if some of these are even possible)
Bruce Pearl - #1 on my list
Billy Gillispie
John Beilein
Jay Wright (loves Nova, won't leave)
Tom Crean (has a HUGE contract w/ Marquette though)
Dana Altman
Tim Floyd
Andy Kennedy (untested though)

Neutral
Chris Lowery
Craig Neal
Tony Bennett

Not on my list
Lon Kruger - doesn't stay at one place long enough, wining % is actually lower than Alford's
Rick Majerus - too big of a health liability
Quinn Snyder - don't like his style
Steve Lavin - don't think he can coach

Final Look at My Bubble Teams - NCAA Tourney Field Predictions for 2007

Updated Look at Bubble Teams for 2007 and Projecting the NCAA Tourney Field

EDIT: I picked 63/65, with one of my locks (Syracuse) snubbed.

Last two years' predictions -
2006: 63/65 teams
2005: 65/65 teams

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE LOCKS/AUTOBIDS (parenthesis contain total number of bids for the conference; the first number is the locks and the second number is the total bids the conference will get as of right now)

Am East(1/1) - ALBANY
ACC(6/7) - UNC, VaTech, Virginia, BC, Duke, Maryland
A. Sun(1/1) - BELMONT
A-10(2/2) - GEORGE WASHINGTON, Xavier
Big East(6/7) - GEORGETOWN, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette, Syracuse
Big Sky(1/1) - WEBER STATE
Big South(1/1) - WINTHROP
Big Ten(4/6) - OHIO STATE, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan State
Big 12(3/4) - KANSAS, Texas, Texas A&M
Big West(1/1) - LONG BEACH STATE
CAA(1/1) - VCU
CUSA(1/1) - MEMPHIS
Horizon(2/2) - WRIGHT STATE, Butler
Ivy(1/1) - PENN
MAAC(1/1) - NIAGARA
MAC(1/1) - MIAMI (OH)
MCC(1/1) - ORU
MEAC(1/1) - FAMU
MVC(2/3) - CREIGHTON, S. Illinois
MWC(1/2) - UNLV
NEC(1/1) - CCST
OVC(1/1) - E. KENTUCKY
Patriot(1/1) - HOLY CROSS
Pac-10(5/5) - UCLA, Washington St., Arizona, USC, OREGON
SEC(4/5) - FLORIDA, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee
Southern(1/1) - DAVIDSON
Southland(1/1) - TEXAS A&M - CC
SWAC(1/1) - JACKSON STATE
Sun Belt(1/1) - NORTH TEXAS
WCC(1/1) - GONZAGA
WAC(2/2) - NEW MEXICO STATE, Nevada

BOLD TEAMS WON THEIR CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE ON THE BUBBLE
So here's who I have on the Bubble... 8 spots are up for grabs

Those teams IN are noted with an asterisk (*).
Georgia Tech *
Florida State
Clemson
UMass
Rhode Island
Villanova *
W. Virginia
DePaul
Illinois *
Purdue *
Michigan
Kansas State
Texas Tech *
Oklahoma State
Old Dominion
Drexel
Bradley
Missouri State *
BYU *
Air Force
San Diego St
Stanford
Georgia
Alabama
Arkansas *
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Davidson

NUMBER ONE SEEDS: OHIO STATE, NORTH CAROLINA, FLORIDA, KANSAS

Revisiting my Big Ten Pre-Season Predictions

Back in November, I predicted the Big Ten standings. Let's revisit my predictions and compare them to the actual standings. Parenthesis after teams indicate +/- their actual finish in the Big Ten.

STORMINSPANK'S 2006-07 BIG TEN PREDICTIONS

1. Wisconsin (-1)
2. Ohio State (+1)
3. Indiana (-)
4. Illinois (-2)
5. Iowa (+1)
6. Michigan (-2)
7. Michigan State (-)
8. Purdue (+3)
9. Penn State (-2)
10. Minnesota (+1)
11. NW (+1)

Overall, I really didn't miss badly on the entire conference. Purdue was my biggest miss, though (then again I did admit that I would be underestimating them in my prediction when I said, "I am clearly underestimating Purdue").

My Tiers, however, were dead on (not that it took a whiz to figure those out).

TOP TIER:
Wisconsin
Ohio State

MIDDLE TIER:
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Purdue

BOTTOM TIER:
Penn State
Minnesota
Northwestern

Updated Look at 2007 Bubble Teams

Updated Look at Bubble Teams for 2007

Last two years' predictions -
2006: 63/65 teams
2005: 65/65 teams

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE LOCKS/AUTOBIDS (parenthesis contain total number of bids for the conference; the first number is the locks and the second number is the total bids the conference will get as of right now)

Am East(1/1) - Vermont
ACC(6/7) - UNC, VaTech, Virginia, BC, Duke, Maryland
A. Sun(1/1) - BELMONT
A-10(1/1) - Xavier
Big East(6/7) - Georgetown, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette, Syracuse
Big Sky(1/1) - Weber State
Big South(1/1) - WINTHROP
Big Ten(4/6) - tOSU, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan State
Big 12(3/4) - Texas, Kansas, Texas A&M
Big West(1/1) - Long Beach State
CAA(1/2) - Virginia Commonwealth
CUSA(1/1) - Memphis
Horizon(1/1) - Butler
Ivy(1/1) - PENN
MAAC(1/1) - Marist
MAC(1/1) - Toledo
MCC(1/1) - ORU
MEAC(1/1) - Delaware State
MVC(1/3) - S. Illinois
MWC(1/3) - BYU
NEC(1/1) - Monmouth
OVC(1/1) - Central Conn
Patriot(1/1) - Holy Cross
Pac-10(5/6) - UCLA, Washington St., Arizona, USC, Oregon
SEC(4/5) - Florida, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee
Southern(1/1) - Appalachian State
Southland(1/1) - Sam Houston State
SWAC(1/1) - Jackson State
Sun Belt(1/1) - Western Kentucky
WCC(1/1) - Gonzaga
WAC(1/1) - Nevada

BOLD TEAMS WON THEIR CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE ON THE BUBBLE

So here's who I have on the Bubble... 12 spots are up for grabs
Those teams IN are noted with an asterisk (*).

Georgia Tech *
Florida State
Clemson
UMass
Rhode Island
Villanova *
W. Virginia
DePaul
Illinois *
Purdue *
Michigan
Kansas State
Texas Tech *
Oklahoma State
Old Dominion
Drexel *
Bradley
Creighton *
Missouri State *
UNLV *
Air Force *
San Diego St
Stanford *
Georgia
Alabama *
Arkansas
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Davidson

NOTES:
- If Memphis loses in the CUSA Tourney, that league will get two bids.
- If Nevada loses in the WAC TOurney, that league will get two bids.
- If Butler loses in the Horizon Tourney, that league will get two bids.
- If Xavier loses in the A-10 Tourney, the league will probably get two bids.
- It looks as if the Colonial might get 2 bids, it would help Iowa if they only got one.
- If the locks in mid-majors take care of business in their conference tournaments, there might be room for Iowa looking at the current bubble teams.

This will be updated periodically, esp. when the conference tournaments are played.

Storminspank's Look at the Bubble Teams for '07

My Look at the Bubble Teams for '07

Last two years' predictions -
2006: 63/65 teams
2005: 65/65 teams

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE LOCKS/AUTOBIDS (parenthesis contain total number of bids for the conference; the first number is the locks and the second number is the total bids the conference will get as of right now)

Am East(1/1) - Vermont
ACC(6/6) - UNC, VaTech, Virginia, BC, Duke, Maryland
A. Sun(1/1) - Belmont
A-10(1/1) - Xavier
Big East(5/7) - Georgetown, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette
Big Sky(1/1) - Weber State
Big South(1/1) - Winthrop
Big Ten(4/5) - tOSU, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan State
Big 12(3/5) - Texas, Kansas, Texas A&M
Big West(1/1) - Long Beach State
CAA(1/2) - Virginia Commonwealth
CUSA(1/1) - Memphis
Horizon(1/1) - Butler
Ivy(1/1) - Penn
MAAC(1/1) - Marist
MAC(1/1) - Toledo
MCC(1/1) - ORU
MEAC(1/1) - Delaware State
MVC(1/3) - S. Illinois
MWC(1/3) - BYU
NEC(1/1) - Monmouth
OVC(1/1) - Central Conn
Patriot(1/1) - Holy Cross
Pac-10(5/6) - UCLA, Washington St., Arizona, USC, Oregon
SEC(4/5) - Florida, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee
Southern(1/1) - Appalachian State
Southland(1/1) - Sam Houston State
SWAC(1/1) - Jackson State
Sun Belt(1/1) - Western Kentucky
WCC(1/1) - Gonzaga
WAC(1/1) - Nevada

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE ON THE BUBBLE

So here's who I have on the Bubble... 13 spots are up for grabs
Those teams IN are noted with an asterisk (*).

Georgia Tech
Florida State
Clemson
UMass
Rhode Island
Villanova *
Syracuse *
W. Virginia
DePaul
Illinois *
Purdue *
Michigan
Kansas State *
Texas Tech *
Oklahoma State
Old Dominion
Drexel *
Bradley
Creighton *
Missouri State *
UNLV *
Air Force *
San Diego St
Stanford *
Georgia
Alabama *
Arkansas
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Davidson

NOTES:
- If Memphis loses in the CUSA Tourney, that league will get two bids.
- If Nevada loses in the WAC TOurney, that league will get two bids.
- If Butler loses in the Horizon Tourney, that league will get two bids.
- If Xavier loses in the A-10 Tourney, the league will probably get two bids.
- It looks as if the Colonial might get 2 bids, it would help Iowa if they only got one.
- If the locks in mid-majors take care of business in their conference tournaments, there might be room for Iowa looking at the current bubble teams.

This will be updated periodically, esp. when the conference tournaments are played.

EDIT 1 - Syracuse beats Georgetown. That's enough to get them in. They take the bid from fellow Big East squad, West Virginia. (02/26/07)

Ice Storm of 2007

This is the ice I took off of my Jeep. We had a nice little February storm kick up this weekend. Rain, sleet, ice, snow = power outages and a lot of fun. We couldn't go anywhere, so my wife and I got blitzed last night. It was fun. Sometimes staying in is better. Oscars are tonight, big deal in my house. I have Babel winning best picture over The Departed. Fun stuff. 

Iowa's Ranking (RPI/Sagarin/etc) - Season Long Recap Through 2/7/07

SEASON LONG LOOK AT THE FLUCTUATIONS OF THE HAWKEYES' RANKINGS, POST SEASON POSSIBILITIES....

(11/15/06 9:06:29 am)

VERY EARLY RANKINGS

SAGARIN RANKINGS - 61st

RPI - 133rd


(11/16/06 1:46:24 pm)

Bad news, Hawk fans. Due to the actions/results of the past few days by the Iowa program**, the Hawkeye have dropped in RPI and in the Sagarin.

Sagarin: 64
RPI: 167

Woe be us.

And with their win over Rider, NJ Inst of Technology fell to 27th.

** - Note: Iowa didn't play any games.


(11/20/06 11:07:31 am)

RPI: 146
Sagarin: 52

Texas Arlington bolts to the Top 10 RPI with a win over the always tough North Texas team and a loss to TCU.

Robert Morris holding strong in the Top 10 RPI with wins over Marshall and Florida International.


(11/30/06 7:09:50 pm)

RPI: 209
SAGARIN: 106
POMEROY: 132

Iowa has the lowest RPI of any Big Ten team.
Texas-Arlington still clinging to the 11 spot.

Look at the BT RPIs:

Overall Conf Overall Non-Conf
W-L W-L RPI SOS RPI SOS
Indiana 3-2 0-0 17 5 17 5
Ohio St. 6-1 0-0 28 64 28 64
Purdue 5-1 0-0 32 54 32 54
Michigan 7-1 0-0 65 172 65 176
Illinois 7-1 0-0 68 145 68 147
Michigan St. 6-2 0-0 77 117 77 119
Penn St. 4-2 0-0 123 105 123 107
Wisconsin 6-1 0-0 124 238 124 238
Minnesota 2-5 0-0 201 68 202 68
Northwestern 4-2 0-0 205 253 206 253
Iowa 2-4 0-0 209 157 209 160

Wisky at 124?
The Big Ten is 52-22 against D-1 opponents, 5th Conf. RPI. Not too impressive. Looks like the BT is down like most thought it would be, but it's still very early.


(12/10/06 11:12:08 am)

RPI: 169
Kenpom: 87
Sagarin: 123

Moved up in the Pomeroy and RPI, but slipped in the Sagarin.


(12/19/06 1:27:57 pm)

New Big Ten Pomeroy Standings:
- Big Ten #2 Conference in the Nation
- Iowa is 9th

Overall Conf
W-L W-L Pomeroy/Rnk SOS/Rnk NCSOS/Rnk
Ohio St. 9-1 0-0 .9846/3 .5611/139 .5611/146
Illinois 10-2 0-0 .9808/8 .5950/124 .5950/131
Michigan St. 10-2 0-0 .9726/14 .5494/148 .5494/158
Indiana 6-3 0-0 .9701/15 .7000/54 .7000/66
Purdue 8-2 0-0 .9650/17 .7263/43 .7263/55
Wisconsin 11-1 0-0 .9552/26 .4771/188 .4771/197
Michigan 11-1 0-0 .9242/44 .2689/306 .2689/305
Northwestern 6-2 0-0 .7164/107 .3705/253 .3705/255
Iowa 5-6 0-0 .6982/110 .5996/121 .5996/128
Penn St. 7-4 0-0 .5942/132 .3111/286 .3111/290
Minnesota 5-7 0-0 .5414/138 .4258/222 .4258/222

kenpom.com/conf.php?y=2007&c=B10&t=p


Big Ten RPI Standings
- Big Ten is 5th
- Iowa is 10th

Through games of Monday, December 18
Overall Conf Overall Non-Conf
W-L W-L RPI SOS RPI SOS
Wisconsin 11-1 0-0 11 55 11 66
Purdue 8-2 0-0 12 11 12 16
Ohio St. 9-1 0-0 21 102 23 114
Indiana 6-3 0-0 41 27 38 34
Illinois 10-2 0-0 43 82 40 95
Michigan St. 10-2 0-0 47 134 46 149
Michigan 11-1 0-0 81 290 83 291
Northwestern 5-2 0-0 147 204 154 213
Penn St. 7-4 0-0 159 166 166 182
Iowa 5-6 0-0 179 118 185 133
Minnesota 5-7 0-0 201 77 206 89

Sagarin Big Ten Standings

CONFERENCE CENTRAL MEAN SIMPLE AVERAGE TEAMS

1 ATLANTIC COAST = 84.63 84.48 ( 1) 12
2 SOUTHEASTERN = 83.42 82.82 ( 2) 12
3 BIG TEN = 81.93 81.21 ( 4) 11
4 PACIFIC-10 = 81.60 81.55 ( 3) 10
5 BIG EAST = 80.81 80.77 ( 6) 16
6 MISSOURI VALLEY = 80.36 81.19 ( 5) 10
7 BIG 12 = 80.28 79.77 ( 7) 12
8 MOUNTAIN WEST = 77.91 78.27 ( 8) 9
9 CONFERENCE USA = 75.61 75.67 ( 9) 12
10 WESTERN ATHLETIC = 74.97 74.16 ( 11) 9

RPI: 179
Kenpom: 110
Sagarin: 131

Fell in all three rankings.


(1/1/07 7:03:09 pm)

RPI: 156 (up ~ 25 spots)
Pomeroy: 85 (up ~30 spots)
Sagarin: 123 (up ~ 10 spots)

Big Ten dropped from 3rd to 5th in Sagarin Conf. rankings
Big Ten stayed at 2nd in Pomeroy Conf. rankings
Big Ten stayed at 5th in RPI Conf. rankings

Iowa moved up one spot in the Big Ten RPI, stayed 9th in the Pomeroy in the BT.


(1/7/07 12:46:26 am)

RPI: 113 (up 40 spots)
Pomeroy: 73 (up 12 spots)
Sagarin: 106 (up 17 spots)


(1/8/07 9:46:21 am)

Since the weekend games:

RPI: 108 (moved up an additional 5 spots)
Pomeroy: 70 (moved up 3 more spots)
Sagarin: 100 (up another 6 spots)
Greenfield: 104
Massey: 98
Composite link from 26 ratings: 114 (one week behind)


(1/14/07 9:41:51 pm)

RPI: 109 (moved down 1 spot)
Pomeroy: 68 (moved up 2 more spots)
Sagarin: 94 (up 6 spots)
Greenfield: 102 (up 2 spots)
Massey: 99 (down 1 spot)
Composite link from 26 ratings: 92 (up 22 spots)

Iowa's Highest Ranking - 57 (Lynch)
Iowa's Lowest Ranking - 124 (SAP)


(1/26/07 10:42 am)

RPI: 111 (moved down 2 spots)
Pomeroy: 66 (moved up 2 spots)
Sagarin: 85 (moved up 9 spots)
Greenfield: 91 (moved up 11 spots)
Massey: 95 (moved up 4 spots)
Massey Composite link from 26 ratings: 93 (down 1 spot)

Iowa's Highest Ranking - 66 (Moore)
Iowa's Lowest Ranking - 136 (SAP)


(2/05/07 6:17 pm)

RPI: 86 (moved up 25 spots)
Pomeroy: 62 (moved up 4 spots)
Sagarin: 78 (moved up 7 spots)
Greenfield: 72 (moved up 19 spots)
Massey: 76 (moved up 19 spots)
Massey Composite link from 26 ratings: 80 (moved up 13 spots)

Iowa's Highest Ranking - 49 (Pigskin)
Iowa's Lowest Ranking - 118 (Rennie)


BIG TEN OUTLOOK:

Overall  Conf             W-L     W-L    Pomeroy/Rnk      SOS/Rnk   NCSOS/Rnk
Ohio St.                 20-3     8-1      .9829/5      .7512/19    .5578/139
Wisconsin                22-2     8-1      .9797/6      .6894/47    .5263/159
Indiana                  16-6     6-3      .9661/12     .7864/7     .6281/89
Iowa                     13-10    5-4      .8755/62     .7095/37    .4609/220
Illinois                 17-8     5-5      .9263/37     .7152/33    .5027/178
Michigan                 16-7     4-4      .8925/55     .6297/95    .4102/260
Michigan St.             17-7     4-5      .9549/17     .6937/45    .4804/199
Purdue                   15-8     4-5      .9082/44     .7482/20    .5859/117
Minnesota                 9-14    3-6      .5705/141    .6829/55    .4773/202
Penn St.                 10-11    1-7      .6703/114    .5567/141   .2975/319
Northwestern             11-11    1-8      .6874/106    .7065/40    .3827/277

TOP TEN RPI CONFERENCES:

Rnk Conference                        W-L   Pct    Overall RPI       SOS(Rank)      Non-Conf   RPI Hi  Lo  Avg Median
1 Atlantic Coast Conference          128-33 .795       .5912        .5204 ( 6)      .5766 ( 2)      2  163   53   33
2 Southeastern Conference            126-38 .768       .5899        .5290 ( 3)      .5783 ( 1)      6   91   49   48
3 Pac 10 Conference                   90-24 .789       .5849        .5176 ( 8)      .5734 ( 3)      1  233   67   40
4 Big Ten Conference                 115-38 .752       .5749        .5186 ( 7)      .5621 ( 5)      4  197   73   47
5 Missouri Valley Conference          74-27 .733       .5699        .5108 (10)      .5711 ( 4)      9  138   72   58
6 Big XII Conference                 119-40 .748       .5674        .5080 (13)      .5556 ( 6)     13  210   76   67
7 Big East Conference                156-52 .750       .5671        .5077 (14)      .5496 ( 7)      3  188   77   59
8 Mountain West Conference            81-33 .711       .5603        .5011 (18)      .5462 ( 8)     11  199   86   98
9 Western Athletic Conference         61-49 .555       .5212        .5083 (12)      .5188 ( 9)     28  278  135  109
10 Atlantic 10 Conference              97-81 .545       .5153        .5074 (15)      .5107 (12)