(01-25-2021, 02:11 PM)Papa John Wrote: Stanford at #59.
Current NET rankings for past/future opponents:
Alabama #9 (Q1 W)
Colorado #16 (Q1 L)
USC #24
UA #32 (Q2 W)
UCLA #34 (Q2 W)
Oregon #46 (Q1 L)
Indiana #47 (Q1 L)
UNC #51 (Q2 L)
Utah #107 (Q2 L)
ASU #115
CSU Bakersfield #123 (Q3 W)
WSU #127 (Q3 W)
OSU #147 (Q3 W)
Cal #173
UW #196 (Q4 W)
CSU Northridge #294 (Q4 W)
North Carolina A&T #317 (Q4 W)
Barring a major upset in the Pac-12 tourney, it looks like five teams from the Pac have a viable path to the NCAA tournament. Stanford's next three games are at UA, at ASU and at USC. Also, Stanford has seven games remaining versus NET > 100 teams (ASU, Cal x 2, Utah, UW, WSU, OSU). Splitting the remaining games against NET < 100 teams (UA, USC, Colorado, Oregon) plus sweeping the NET > 100 games would yield a regular season record of 18-7 and a 14-5 conference record. That would be achievable, IMO, if all hands were on deck. More realistically, I don't think we'll have everyone available for all remaining games and would predict something more along the lines of 15-10/11-8, which would mean that Stanford would have to make a run in the conference tournament in order to get an at-large bid.
There are other ranking systems, and they generally rate Stanford better than 59th.
Ken Pomeroy: 48th
Bart Torvik: 48th
RPI: 33rd
Joe Lunardi had us as the last at large team in the bracket the day before the UCLA game, and the "meta bracket" has us as the last team in as well.
So I'm a bit more optimistic about our Tourney chances, though we will have to continue to win with a depleted roster if we're going to make it. But at least we've already booked a few quality wins, and there are several chances for more on the schedule.
Getting/staying healthy will be key, though. It is not a good sign that Davis wasn't even at the game yesterday, and they are saying it's a knee injury now--I think it was an ankle previously.
