Page 1 of 3

LU--best team in the state? (asks Richmond fishwrap)

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 9:03 am
by Cider Jim
LU even getting some love from the Richmond paper...
State’s best? Liberty adds to its claim

That raises the question: Is Liberty the state's best team?

"I just hope we can win the next game," said Liberty coach Ritchie McKay.

Coaches. Their tunnel vision would be impressive if it weren't so confounding.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports ... 10/181317/

Re: LU--best team in the state? (asks Richmond fishwrap)

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 11:42 am
by Ed Dantes
Cider Jim wrote:LU even getting some love from the Richmond paper...
State’s best? Liberty adds to its claim

That raises the question: Is Liberty the state's best team?

"I just hope we can win the next game," said Liberty coach Ritchie McKay.

Coaches. Their tunnel vision would be impressive if it weren't so confounding.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports ... 10/181317/
I dunno, I'm not convinced we'd be able to beat Virginia again, and I think Tech and VCU would give us a run for our money...

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 12:01 pm
by olldflame
If we were scheduled to play UVA again this year, it would have been at the Vines, and my money would be on us. VCU would be a great game, there or here. The Hokies are probably the best team in the state for now.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 12:41 pm
by zdbecker
wow, hold on here. you might, might be able to make an arguement for top 3, but there is no arguement for number 1. tech and vcu are much better basketball teams.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 1:00 pm
by thepostman
Tech is much better then us...but I don't think VCU is THAT much better then us...are they better?? I think so...but we would give them a run for there money, that is for sure

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 1:02 pm
by Hold My Own
Top 3...I think VT would eat our lunch :lol:

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 3:56 pm
by LUconn
Virginia Tech? Are you guys kidding? I'm not saying it's cut and dry we're better but why do we have no chance? Do they have any marquee wins? No. Heck they've played 2 teams we've played. I guess that's the only way to compare them


VT vs Charleston S. W 75-66 (neutral site in Charleston)
LU vs Charleston S. W 79-60


VT vs Virginia W 78-75
LU at Virginia W 86-82


I know that's not exactly scientific but it's the closest measurement we have and I'd say it's a push.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 4:33 pm
by flamesbball84
i'd go with vcu, george mason, ODU, va tech, vmi/liberty. yes i know LU beat mason and just beat VMI, but i'm going with the totality of their resumes here.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 4:36 pm
by SuperJon
Could Liberty beat every team in the state? Absolutely.

Would they? Doubt it.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 4:36 pm
by jinxy
you guys must not watch much basketball if you think tech is clearly the best team in the state, WE gave thema run last year in their own gym with virtually no players. I dont know that we are better than them but you guys act like they are Wake Forest or Unc or something

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 4:40 pm
by kel varson
I think we have the potential to be the best team in the state. Right now I think the top 5 or 6 teams are pretty even...you could even throw Radford in the mix. No one team really stands out. Mason might be playing as well as anyone.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 4:51 pm
by ATrain
We're in the top 3 with Tech and VCU. If we played them in the Vines, I'd pick us to win. On the road, I'd pick them to win.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 4:56 pm
by TylerBakersGonnaBGreat
Hold My Own wrote:Top 3...I think VT would eat our lunch :lol:
Agreed.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 5:07 pm
by flamesbball84
LUconn wrote:Virginia Tech? Are you guys kidding? I'm not saying it's cut and dry we're better but why do we have no chance? Do they have any marquee wins? No. Heck they've played 2 teams we've played. I guess that's the only way to compare them


VT vs Charleston S. W 75-66 (neutral site in Charleston)
LU vs Charleston S. W 79-60


VT vs Virginia W 78-75
LU at Virginia W 86-82


I know that's not exactly scientific but it's the closest measurement we have and I'd say it's a push.
Tech did beat boston college, who beat UNC. of course BC has struggled since then, but it obviously shows BC can play at a pretty high level. VA tech also only lost by one in OT to xavier on a neutral court, which isn't bad at all, and only lost by 2 at home to wisconsin. although they did lose to georgia, who is one of the sorriest SEC i have ever seen in a long, long time.

right now, gmu and va tech are 48 and 50 in the rpi and vcu 62, uva 86 but dropping, vmi 118 and with two dropping arrows on realtimerpi, and liberty 123 with two increasing arrows.

realtimerpi power ratings: gmu 49, va tech 53, vcu 65, uva 91, vmi 105, jmu 132, liberty 143

ken pomeroy: vcu 56, gmu 76, va tech 85, uva 89, richmond 119, jmu 134, odu 139, liberty 141

jeff sagarin (predictor rank in parentheses): gmu 73 (80), vcu 75 (61), va tech 78 (85), uva 105 (90), vmi 135 (171), jmu 136 (140), liberty 139 (143). so although LU ranks below vmi, LU has a better predictor, which is summed up by Sagarin as "PURE POINTS is also known as PREDICTOR, BALLANTINE, RHEINGOLD, WHITE OWL and is the best single PREDICTOR of future games."

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 5:12 pm
by Stevev
I would say that we are on par with VCU and GMU right now. Virginia Tech could be the best team in the state but not by much. If we played Tech and played at our best I think that we could pull the upset. We could beat VCU and did beat GMU on our home floor but would probably lose on the road.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 5:55 pm
by jcmanson
If we don't play Davidson in the bracketbuster I imagine we'll play another in state team. Either JMU or ODU.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 6:02 pm
by LUconn
flamesbball84 wrote:
LUconn wrote:Virginia Tech? Are you guys kidding? I'm not saying it's cut and dry we're better but why do we have no chance? Do they have any marquee wins? No. Heck they've played 2 teams we've played. I guess that's the only way to compare them


VT vs Charleston S. W 75-66 (neutral site in Charleston)
LU vs Charleston S. W 79-60


VT vs Virginia W 78-75
LU at Virginia W 86-82


I know that's not exactly scientific but it's the closest measurement we have and I'd say it's a push.
Tech did beat boston college, who beat UNC. of course BC has struggled since then, but it obviously shows BC can play at a pretty high level. VA tech also only lost by one in OT to xavier on a neutral court, which isn't bad at all, and only lost by 2 at home to wisconsin. although they did lose to georgia, who is one of the sorriest SEC i have ever seen in a long, long time.
You're over complicating things on purpose by throwing in a bunch of straw men comparisons. Beating X who beat Y, when we're not X or Y doesn't make a difference. Losing by 1 in OT to Z when we're not team Z doesn't matter. It's not a question of if we could put together similar results with their schedule (which is where all of your numbers are coming from). It's a question of if we would beat them head to head.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 6:18 pm
by flamesbball84
LUconn wrote:
flamesbball84 wrote:
LUconn wrote:Virginia Tech? Are you guys kidding? I'm not saying it's cut and dry we're better but why do we have no chance? Do they have any marquee wins? No. Heck they've played 2 teams we've played. I guess that's the only way to compare them


VT vs Charleston S. W 75-66 (neutral site in Charleston)
LU vs Charleston S. W 79-60


VT vs Virginia W 78-75
LU at Virginia W 86-82


I know that's not exactly scientific but it's the closest measurement we have and I'd say it's a push.
Tech did beat boston college, who beat UNC. of course BC has struggled since then, but it obviously shows BC can play at a pretty high level. VA tech also only lost by one in OT to xavier on a neutral court, which isn't bad at all, and only lost by 2 at home to wisconsin. although they did lose to georgia, who is one of the sorriest SEC i have ever seen in a long, long time.
You're over complicating things on purpose by throwing in a bunch of straw men comparisons. Beating X who beat Y, when we're not X or Y doesn't make a difference. Losing by 1 in OT to Z when we're not team Z doesn't matter. It's not a question of if we could put together similar results with their schedule (which is where all of your numbers are coming from). It's a question of if we would beat them head to head.
to be the best in the state, you have to be the best for an entire season, not just one game. if so, oregon state would be ranked ahead of USC in football, because you know since oregon st. beat USC that makes oregon st. the better team :roll: vcu and va tech (and you coculd easily argue others) simply have a better overall resume than that of liberty. uva could beat every team in the state, does that mean UVA is the best in the state?

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 6:31 pm
by LUconn
If they DID beat every team in the state, then yes. Not could. Any team could beat any other team. I don't care about VT's resume. This isn't getting into the NCAA tournament. this is about who would win 1 game against the other. The only thing that matters is head to head match ups and common opponent comparisons, if even that. I was looking at common opponents since we obviously haven't played VT this year.


I mean, if you don't think head to head match ups determine who the better team is, you've basically invalidated any champion in any sport ever, unless they live up to your subjective opinion.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 6:47 pm
by flamesbball84
LUconn wrote:If they DID beat every team in the state, then yes. Not could. Any team could beat any other team. I don't care about VT's resume. This isn't getting into the NCAA tournament. this is about who would win 1 game against the other. The only thing that matters is head to head match ups and common opponent comparisons, if even that. I was looking at common opponents since we obviously haven't played VT this year.


I mean, if you don't think head to head match ups determine who the better team is, you've basically invalidated any champion in any sport ever, unless they live up to your subjective opinion.
head to head comparison isn't the end all determination unless there is a playoff (BCs anybody?). is oregon st. a better football team than USC? is boston college a better basketball team than UNC? is Maryland a better basketball team than michigan st? is northwestern a better basketball team than minnesota? there's a thing called upsets. just because a team gets upset doesn't mean that they are an inferior opponent. those teams that earned the upset were better teams on that DAY, but I imagine you will find an extremely small number of people who would agree that the teams that earned those upsets are the overall better team. in my opinion, to be the best, you have to be the best overall, not just on one given day...

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 8:05 pm
by LUconn
Well, if you're not willing to accept results on the court than anything else can be argued to infinity. I guess I should get myself a Bengal's NFL championship hat.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 8:13 pm
by flamesbball84
LUconn wrote:Well, if you're not willing to accept results on the court than anything else can be argued to infinity. I guess I should get myself a Bengal's NFL championship hat.
Nice way to avoid the topic. Why don't you go get a Mississippi national championship hat. They beat Florida. Florida won the championship game. I guess that means Mississippi is the true National Champion since Mississippi beat them. Now how logical does that sound?
LUconn wrote:Come on RMK, don't sound sad and beaten. We let them off the hook!
Let them off the hook? Presby won, doesn't that mean, based off what you have said in this thread, that Presby was straight up the better team in the first place? You saying "we let them off the hook!" indicates otherwise...

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 8:33 pm
by LUconn
So in your sports world, what is the minimum number of times a team needs to beat another team to prove that they are better?

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 8:35 pm
by LUconn
flamesbball84 wrote:
LUconn wrote:Come on RMK, don't sound sad and beaten. We let them off the hook!
Let them off the hook? Presby won, doesn't that mean, based off what you have said in this thread, that Presby was straight up the better team in the first place? You saying "we let them off the hook!" indicates otherwise...

Dude, have you ever heard of Denny Green? That was a reference to me wanting Ritchie to get fired up like that press conference.

Posted: January 18th, 2009, 8:41 pm
by flamesbball84
LUconn wrote:So in your sports world, what is the minimum number of times a team needs to beat another team to prove that they are better?
i'll answer that when you stop avoiding the questions i've asked. i'll even quote myself with all the questions since you either decided to avoid them or didn't even see them to begin with
flamesbball84 wrote:is oregon st. a better football team than USC? is boston college a better basketball team than UNC? is Maryland a better basketball team than michigan st? is northwestern a better basketball team than minnesota?
here's another to add to the list: was Oklahoma St. a better basketball team than Kansas last year? Kansas won the national championship but didn't beat Oklahoma St.