I updated the Starr Scores a day early because I do not know if I will have a chance tomorrow, will be a busy day. I tweaked the formulas for PG and SG because last season I had made it more difficult for them to achieve a higher score. There was a reason for that last season but I knew it was too low even then and planned to correct at the start of the next season. So if you have a good guard, expect their scores to have received a slight boost. You should find the SS to be a much more accurate representation of your player's value than the tradition scoring system.

http://StarrEngine.yolasite.com/rankings.php

Sorry riddler, I thought for sure that reverse jinx was going to work.  Very good effort though.

Last Night
Greensboro 54   #4 Calvin 69
Calvin held the visitors to just 30% shooting in the first half and went into the break with a 36-28 lead.  They continued the solid defense in the second half and slowly pulled away and finished off the solid double-digit home victory.  Calvin and prc jumped up into the top five with their fourth victory of the year while Greensboro and tilldog have now split their first four.

Also considered: #11 Johnson and Wales overcame the reverse jinx attempt to get the road win at Vassar 82-61, #1 Millsaps used a big first half to get by Penn St. Altoona 76-51, #3 Dallas stayed perfect with a 66-56 home victory over Transylvania, #5 Ursinus got past Merchant Marines 67-57, #12 W. New England won at Maryville 67-56, and Emmanuel upset Whittier 74-68.

Sim blowout watch: Baptist Bible is still winless but at least they covered against #10 Piedmont 58-106.

GotN
#4 Calvin (4-0)(prc56) at #1 Millsaps (4-0)(brianxavier)
These two teams just keep making me pick them for game of the night.  This time they're the only game between ranked teams today and it's one between undefeated top four teams.  brian has a slim 2-1 lead in the series and his team is favored by 2 at home this time.

Also considered: #9 Lynchburg at Whitworth, Penn St. Altoona at #14 Hamline, #15 Palm Beach Atlantic at Worcester St, #16 Hardin-Simmons at Wentworth Tech, #17 Ohio Wesleyan at Dubuque, and #18 Sewanee at North Carolina Wesleyan

Sim blowout watch: No real big spreads tonight, we'll go with Manhattanville getting 31 points hosting #7 Allegheny.

ooh, I'll do my best to cover the spread!

Halfway through the non-conference slate and thirty-seven teams are undefeated while thirty-six are winless.  So close to absolute parity.

Last Night
#15 Calvin 65   #1 Millsaps 83
This one was close through halftime when Millsaps went in to the break with a slim 2 point lead.  Things were looking great for Calvin up until about six minutes into the second half when the home team went on a 15-2 run over six minutes to bust the game wide open.  The visitors couldn't recover and Millsaps cruised the rest of the way for their fifth straight win to open the season.  Calvin slipped down eleven spots in the rankings after their first loss.

Also considered: #7 Lynchburg opened a double-digit lead in the first half and held on for the 77-64 win at Whitworth, #12 Hamline held off Penn St. Altoona 71-59, #10 Palm Beach Atlantic handled Worcester St 73-52, Wentworth Tech upset previously ranked Hardin-Simmons 73-64, Dubuque dealt Ohio Wesleyan their first loss 94-72, and #16 Sewanee slipped past North Carolina Wesleyan 80-73.

Sim blowout watch: #9 Allegheny tried to run up the score but Manhattan kept it respectable and easily covered 81-92.

GotN
#6 Ursinus (5-0)(barjaz) at #4 SUNY Cortland (5-0)(cuck)
Two really nice games between top ten teams tonight so we'll go with the game between higher ranks.  Both teams are perfect through five games and have looked impressive so far.  cuck won the only other meeting between these two but the visitors are favored by a single point tonight.

Also considered: #9 Allegheny at #10 Palm Beach Atlantic, Earlham at #15 Calvin, #16 Sewanee at Wittenberg, #22 Mount St. Mary at Ohio Wesleyan, and Capital at #25 Chapman

Sim blowout watch: Concordia Moorhead is getting 49 points at home against #14 Wisconsin La Crosse.

SotD: Everybody who is averaging at least 2.7 SPG plays on a team that presses except for Edward Bondy. I am surprised he is averaging so many SPG because he has bad IQ, terrible defense, and 72 SPD which is not great either.

[Insert clever comment here]

Last Night
#4 Ursinus 84   #12 SUNY Cortland 80  (OT)
Our first overtime featured game was quite the thriller and very closely contested throughout.  The home team held a slim 1 point lead at halftime but Ursinus was able to hold a small lead for long stretches of the second half.  Cortland came back to regain the lead with six minutes left in regulation, only to see the visitors go on a 7-0 run in the last couple minutes.  Cortland kept it close but were forced to start fouling with under a minute left in regulation.  Ursinus made three of four free throws to leave the door open and Cortland took advantage by sinking a jumper with one second left to send it to overtime tied at 75.  Both teams got off to a slow start in extra time and Ursinus was able to slowly build a lead.  It looked like a repeat ending with a missed Ursinus free throw leaving Cortland behind by two and with another chance to tie, but the runner from the left with three seconds left rimmed out and Ursinus secured the rebound and the road win.

Also considered: #7 Allegheny built a double-digit halftime lead and held on for the 74-64 win over #18 Palm Beach Atlantic, #13 Calvin took care of Earlham at home 70-58, #14 Sewanee got past Wittenberg 66-59, #20 Mount St. Mary made their free throws to edge Ohio Wesleyan 60-57, and Capital got the road upset of Chapman 62-53.

Sim blowout watch: Concordia Moorhead put up a pathetic offensive display but it was still enough to cover against #15 Wisconsin La Crosse, 35-57.

GotN
#4 Ursinus (6-0)(barjaz) at #2 Nichols (6-0)(cactusrose)
We have another repeat performer in the featured game as Ursinus stays on the road to visit their second straight undefeated top four team.  This is the first meeting of these two coaches and the visitors are favored by a single point.

Also considered: #18 Palm Beach Atlantic at #3 Dallas, Penn St. Altoona at #10 Piedmont, #16 California Tech at Chapman, #17 S. Vermont at Capital, and Worcester St. at #19 Texas Lutheran

Sim blowout watch: Alvernia is a 54 point home dog as they welcome #24 Emerson to town.

SotD: Every team on the TO Margin stats page plays a press and has a winning record. Although it is not that surprising, I expected there to be at least one m2m.

Posted by scaturo on 4/23/2014 11:34:00 AM (view original):
Not a very bold prediction......  The Baldwin-Wallace Music Majors will make the NT this year.    I don't know how we are going to put the biscuit  in the basket but we are going to play some smothering defense in our 3-2 Amoeba Swarm Defense.

Richard Hunnicutt "Cheerios"
"El Presidente" Roosevelt Barrientos
and
William "Pass the Bong" Spalding

Will lead the charge!

Name	Yr.	Pos.	A	SPD	REB	DE	BLK	LP	PE	BH	P	WE	ST	DU	FT	TOT
Richard Hunnicutt	So.	PG	71	56	15	84	11	4	32	24	34	52	75	54	B	512
Roosevelt Barrientes	So.	C	74	30	53	80	33	20	14	13	13	35	59	52	D+	476
William Spalding	So.	PG	67	49	11	70	11	22	31	32	31	1	65	46	B-	436

Newer, less bolder prediction:

I am an idiot.

hahahaha, El Presidente, very nice.

Down to 23 undefeated teams and 19 winless teams.  The most popular record to have right now is 3-4, although I'm guessing that most of the teams in that group don't feel very popular.

Last Night
#11 Ursinus 85   #2 Nichols 94  (OT)
Ursinus played their second straight overtime road game but unfortunately for them it didn't work out as well as the first one.  They followed the same strategy of being ahead in the last few minutes of regulation and missing a free throw to leave the door open.  Nichols followed the script by drawing a foul with three seconds left and down by two, and then sunk both freebies to force overtime.  It was all Nichols in overtime though, as the home team raced out to an early lead and made free throw at the end to seal the deal.

Also considered: #16 Palm Beach Atlantic used a big first half to get the win at #9 Dallas 68-57, #6 Piedmont held off Penn St. Altoona to win 73-63, Chapman knocked California Tech out of the rankings with a 60-45 upset, #15 S. Vermont got past Capital 70-58, and Worcester St. scored the road victory at Texas Lutheran 86-78.

Sim blowout watch: Alvernia kept it close-ish and covered against #23 Emerson 56-72.

GotN
Louisiana (6-1)(discodave) at #4 Lynchburg (7-0)(googs04)
Next up is a nice matchup between University and Old Dominion teams as Louisiana travels to face their first ranked opponent this season while Lynchburg looks to defend the home court and stay undefeated.  googs won the only previous game between these two and his team is favored by 7 at home.

Also considered: #14 Calvin at #11 Ursinus, #6 Piedmont at Earlham, #12 W. New England at Dubuque, Greensboro at #23 Emerson, and #24 Austin at Wittenberg

Sim blowout watch: SUNY Potsdam is getting 69 as they pay a visit to #2 Nichols.

SotD: In Milsaps game against Olivet, Milsaps made almost twice as many FG, twice as many 3PT, got twice as many OR, almost twice as many REB, twice the amount of AST, half the amount of TO, twice as many STL, quadruple the amount of BLK, almost half as many fouls, twice the PIP, three times the amount of SCP, twice as many POT, and quadruple the amount of bench points. Maybe Olivet should be in D6, or we should move Milsaps up to D1.5 since they are basically twice as good.

I think we can all agree... a lackluster performance by the Millsaps squad.

Seriously though, Millsaps is still the team to beat this season. Does anybody have a team you think might be a good matchup against Millsaps this season? I have been testing a game simulator.

Not sure if you meant from other worlds or not, but how would this team do against Millsaps? 

http://www.wisjournal.com/hd/TeamProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=2882

brianxavier really needs to get on here and start reverse-jinxing his Millsaps team to counter-act this discussion.

Last Night
Louisiana 46   #2 Lynchburg 57
This was a low-scoring affair with both teams playing slowdown on the offensive end most of the game.  Lynchburg went on an 8-0 run to end the first half with a 25-19 lead and then maintained that lead throughout the second half.  Visiting Louisiana closed the gap several times and threatened the lead, but Lynchburg answered every push and made their free throws down the stretch to secure the home win.

Also considered: #8 Ursinus exploded for 56 in the second half to take out #21 Calvin 82-53, #6 Piedmont got past Earlham 76-65, #9 W. New England stayed undefeated by winning on the road at Dubuque 75-65, #19 Emerson cruised past Greensboro 97-62, and #20 Austin got by Wittenberg 67-57.

Sim blowout watch: SUNY Potsdam didn't keep it close but at least they kept it to double-digits and covered against #3 Nichols 59-99.

GotN
#18 S. Vermont (7-1)(funngun10) at #3 Nichols (8-0)(cactusrose)
After taking a break with a blowout watch appearance, Nichols is back hosting another ranked team in this Great Northeast/Commonwealth Coast matchup.  S. Vermont will be looking to rebound from their first loss on the season, they'll face a tough test from their first ranked opponent.  This is the first meeting between these two, the home team is favored by 4.

Also considered: #6 Piedmont at #24 Wentworth Tech, #14 Palm Beach Atlantic at Ohio Wesleyan, Penn St. Altoona at #16 Hardin-Simmons, and #22 Whittier at North Carolina Wesleyan

Sim blowout watch: It's a triple feature tonight with three spreads in the 50's: Shenandoah getting 54 at #13 Wisconsin La Crosse, Elmira with 53 hosting #9 W. New England, and Rutgers Newark getting 52 visiting #1 Millsaps.