Sorry this is late but after losing last night by 1 point on a last second shot, I spent most of the day in the fetal position, rocking in the corner, sobbing loudly, and telling myself that my RPI was going to be ok. After finishing off a half-gallon of cookie dough ice cream, I think I've recovered.
Lost a few undefeated teams last night, down to 11 perfect records. Look at those jerks, they have no idea how good they have it. Why can't I have a perfect record? Don't I deserve one? Oh, and 13 winless teams. I'm with you winless teams, I know what it's like to lose. Sucks, don't it?
Last Night
#12 Penn St. Altoona 67 #5 Millsaps 66
Speaking of losing by 1 point on a last second shot, brian was probably slowly nodding his head while reading my sad rant above. As a single tear rolled down his cheek. Or not. Millsaps held the lead for most of the first half and went into the break feeling good with a 9 point lead. That lead was extended in the second half and PSA was down by 19 with seven and a half to play. PSA then opened up a keg of smothering defense and went on an amazing 18-0 run to make the score 60-61 with just over two minutes left. Millsaps found a way to recover from that shock and traded baskets to hold that 1 point lead with thirty seconds left. But then Millsaps missed the front end of a 1 and 1, PSA made a couple free throws, and Millsaps did the same to pull back ahead by 1 with just sixteen seconds on the clock. Then PSA's Richard Brewer sent the shell-shocked home fans to the exits with a go-ahead finger roll with two seconds remaining and a halfcourt prayer went unanswered for Millsaps. PSA and frankgrimes get the huge road victory and deal Millsaps and brianxavier their first loss of the season. Quite the game.
Also considered: #2 Susquehanna came from behind late to take out #23 Christopher Newport 65-59, #7 Ozarks handled Concordia 81-64, #8 Webster got the home win over Emmanuel 78-70 (Gorloks), #11 Palm Beach Atlantic got past Calvin 62-51, and #13 Oglethorpe downed Texas Lutheran 86-78.
Sim blowout watch: Both of our sims covered fairly easily last night: St. Norbert fell to #19 W. New England 59-89 and Castleton St. lost to #18 S. Vermont 50-81.
GotN
#3 Johnson and Wales (8-1)(spasticity) at #2 Susquehanna (9-0)(zeuspole)
Wow, five games between ranked teams on the last night of the non-conference season. Two are picks, two have a spread of 1 points, and the last spread is only 6. After careful deliberation with the GotN advisory board, I'm going with this classic battle between two of the top three ranked teams. J-Dub's only loss was to #1 Piedmont and Susquehanna is looking to complete the ten game sweep through the non-conference slate. And the series record between these two is just one game with zeuspole holding a 9-8 advantage over spasticity. The odd-makers have the visitors as a 1 point favorite but the spider monkeys are going to have a battle on their hands to get what would be a massive road win.
Also considered: #6 Emory at #1 Piedmont, #10 Wittenberg at #17 Lynchburg, #20 Rivier at #12 Penn St. Altoona, and #23 Christopher Newport at #18 S. Vermont.
Sim blowout watch: Winless Anderson is getting a hefty 71 points as they host #15 New York U.