Syracuse - Vermont @ 7:10, Friday

Tough choice for Vermont fans.

Oh, yeah, it's in Worcester, MA.

Syracuse by 25, at least.

[Q]jmh30 Wrote:

Syracuse by 25, at least.[/q]

I like SU so I hope you're right, but here's some comps:

SU beat Bingo by 30, UVM beat Bingo by 30 (and also beat them by 27 & 11).
SU beat Albany by 17, UVM beat Albany by 17 (and also by 9).
SU beat Siena by 22, UVM beat Siena by 25.

UVM also lost to Kansas by 7.

The 'Cats can play and SU better not overlook them.

Hopefully all the UVMers will go to the hoops game...

[Q]Trotsky Wrote:

Hopefully all the UVMers will go to the hoops game... [/q]

That's what I'm hoping as well -- though I think it's far more difficult to get hoop tix than it is to get ECAC tix... for the life of me, I can't imagine why

The UVM coach is also a morning radio DJ. He was complaining about ticket allotment this morning. They only have 300 tickets available for Vermont fans. Otherwise the place is sold out so the fans will have to look to the scalpers. With that scenario, I doubt that the hoops game will pull many people away from Albany.

You can't use margins of victory of 20+ points to compare two basketball teams. If SU had just held the ball at the end of the game and only won by 16, does that make UVM the better team??

[Q]Robb Wrote:

You can't use margins of victory of 20+ points to compare two basketball teams. If SU had just held the ball at the end of the game and only won by 16, does that make UVM the better team?? [/q]

You can use what ever gives you a comparison. Outside of head-to-head, what else is there? It's the only thing they have in common. Is it meaningful or not? We'll see. Is it a reliable indicator of the outcome? It's probably about as reliable as previous head-to-head matchups: Ask UConn how well having beaten SU twice in the regualr season predicted the outcome of their meeting in the BET. However, I'd be willing to bet that Boeheim is pointing out those UVM results to his team to make sure they focus on UVM and not MSU. Of course, I suspect UVM's coach will mention these results to his kids at some point during the first 5 minutes they meet today.

When Cornell gets its NCAA draw I'll look for common opponets out of curiousity. I'll also look at their record vs tournament teams. In the end it's just something to look at and argue about. If anyone doubts that, go watch Miracle.

Before anyone asks, I'm not going to do Bradley-Terry for basketball.

But I can pass along a perl module that might help if someone wants to do it themselves.

[Q]cquinn Wrote:

The UVM coach is also a morning radio DJ. He was complaining about ticket allotment this morning. They only have 300 tickets available for Vermont fans. Otherwise the place is sold out so the fans will have to look to the scalpers. With that scenario, I doubt that the hoops game will pull many people away from Albany.[/q]

According to SU's site, each school is alloted 350 tix. Sadly, it doesn't sound like it'll draw too many 'Cats to Mass.

[Q]jtwcornell91 Wrote:

Before anyone asks, I'm not going to do Bradley-Terry for basketball.

But I can pass along a perl module that might help if someone wants to do it themselves.[/q]I'm surprised that nobody else has done it already. Hell, I'm surprised that you haven't done it already.

EDIT: Someone has.

[q]The Z-Ratings are an application of the Bradley-Terry system for paired comparisons. The Bradley-Terry system was first applied to American collegiate ice hockey many years ago by Ken Butler, an English statistician studying in Canada. This application, popularly known as KRACH, has been refined and enhanced by John Whelan, a physics professor at Loyola University in New Orleans and one of the most venerated members of the Lynah Faithful, the rabid fanbase of Cornell University men's hockey. The demonstrated superiority of KRACH over other rating systems (most notably the RPI, as discussed below) has led me to develop Bradley-Terry based ratings for other NCAA sports and professional leagues. [/q]

Last year, they let us watch the basketball games during intermissions on a TV down by the bathrooms. Well, they did until the consolation game on Saturday when some guy came down, turned the TV off, and said we couldn't watch anymore. Maybe their concession sales weren't meeting expectations because people found something better to do than wait in line for 10 minutes to pay 6 dollars for a hotdog.

Vermont's Taylor Coppenrath (potentially the first NBA player ever from the state of Vermont--the only question mark is on defense) is the real deal and will keep this game close. Syracuse will win, but this will not be a blowout. Syracuse by 11 and it could be a real fight if they overlook Vermont.

[Q]jtwcornell91 Wrote:

... I'm not going to do Bradley-Terry ... I can pass along a perl module that might help[/q]

Perl? Bleh.

You got a version for SAS?

[Q]Robb Wrote:

You can't use margins of victory of 20+ points to compare two basketball teams. If SU had just held the ball at the end of the game and only won by 16, does that make UVM the better team?? [/q]

No, but Vermont beating SU makes them a better team.

No it doesn't. Was the US '80 Olympic Team better than Russia?

But it does make them a better team on the right day (unless you could say the team was outplayed but got lucky - but that doesn't really seem to be the case for the '80 Olympic team, nor from what I saw of the UVM/SU game, which consisted of really just the last half of the OT).

UVM outplayed Syracuse on defense. Also, they held the ball on almost every possesion and ran down the clock, guaranteeing a low-scoring game that gives them a better channce. Very smart strategy.

And Sorrentine was hitting 3's from nearly 30 feet on a couple of occasions...

[Q]mjh89 Wrote:

No it doesn't. Was the US '80 Olympic Team better than Russia?[/q]

On that night, absolutely, and...forever it shall be so.