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Message: [QUOTE="jncuse, post: 2095650, member: 1969"] I will just play Devil's advocate here in support of Wake Forest. Let's say I was a committee member and they were discussing these two teams Here is where unbalanced schedules come into play. Syracuse has had 7 games against top 50 teams at home. Wake Forest has had 3 games against top 50 teams at home (3) or neutral courts (0). The 3 games for Wake were against UNC, Miami, and Duke. They beat Miami, and lost to Duke by 2. It's quite unfair to compare the top 50 records without making some significant adjustments for where they are played. I wonder what Syracuse's top 50 record would be it played the same schedule as Wake, and if the Wake/Syracuse was played in Wake. I think we would see things quite the opposite. If we try to match up common home games (Miami and Duke), then Syracuse is 2-0 and Wake is 1-1. So Syracuse does have the advantage because it beat Duke at the buzzer and Wake lost to Duke in the last minute. Is that enough to argue for Syracuse? Let's remember the other primary factors per our stated guidelnes even if they are less important than quality victories. 1. Non Conference SOS - Wake Forest played Villanova, Xavier and Northwestern away from home. It is also doing what we have asked P5 teams to do -- play on the road at teams like Charleston and Richmond and Greensboro. It has done what we have explicitly said we will reward. 2. It has won 5 road games vs Syracuse's 2. That's a big difference and is a primary factor (As a Syracuse fan let's hope another committee member sees the connection between 1 and 2, and diminishes this point) 3. Syracuse has an RPI in the 80's. Sure we said we would diminish it's importance with other ranking systems. KP has Wake at 33 and Syracuse at 51. Sagarin has it at 38 vs 39, BPI has it 32 vs 33. Wake is ahead in 3 of the 4 rankings. Since the schedules are so different maybe we rely on those rankings which in general say Wake is a bit better. What is more important 1. That Syracuse beat Duke at buzzer with an off the backboard shot and Wake lost at the buzzer to Duke OR 2. The 3 factors I have mentioned above -- non conference scheduling, road wins, rankings. I think gentleman the choice is obvious. Let's go with Wake Forest. ------------------------------------------- Now we need someone to make a good counter argument. I often think these committees are inconsistent because some members are more convincing than others and will get more buy in. [/QUOTE]

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