Hapless Tiggers get spanked by a bad team

Ok, they're irrelevant, but when ESPN hit me with this "alert" last night, I had to chuckle.

The opening line says it all: "Charleston Southern came to Missouri with a losing record and one of the nation's worst offenses. The Buccaneers left with a stunning 68-60 upset over the Tigers on Tuesday."

I had to google Charleston Southern (a "directional" school as HCRW used to say due to the compass reference in their name...not to be confused with all of the other universities in the sprawling Charleston metroplex).

Only 3700 kids enrolled to field a D-1 basketball team. As of this morning they're #331 in Sagarin out of 353 total D-1 teams.

Remind me why we're putting the Tiggers back on our schedule? Let's see...Dayton beat Charleston Southern by 29, and Charleston Southern beat Mizery by 8...so I guess that means we'd be a 37 point favorite against the meth dealing slavers? Ugh...I hope we play in KC. I would be a shame to have to fumigate AFH afterward if they played in Lawrence.

NotOstertag wrote: Ugh...I hope we play in KC. I would be a shame to have to fumigate AFH afterward if they played in Lawrence.

Just spit coffee all over my keyboard!!! Too funny!!!!!!!!

RCFL

Sorry about that. Glad I edited it down. I had originally started typing an analogy about how dog farts seem to linger for impossibly long times and comparing that to a Tigger visit, but thought that might be too gross.

I hear Staples has some new keyboards on sale as part of a pre-holiday promotion. Let me know and I'll send you a link.

I actually have this in my DPPI as the 2nd largest upset under performance of the season and the 4th biggest margin under performance. I had Mizzou favored by 26.4 but they lost by 8 for a 34.4 point under performance. Only Montana St., a 10 point favorite, in a loss to Green Bay by 26 points was a worse performance. But no team lost with a projected margin larger than the 26.4 points Mizzou had on Charleston Southern. So in terms of true upset, it is the worst of the season. As for some notable under performances here is a list;

Mizzou 34.4 points against Charleston Southern (favored by 26.4, lost by
UConn 28.9 points against St. Joseph's (favored by 19.9, lost by 9)
Utah 27.4 points against Coastal Carolina (favored by 3.1, lost by 22)
Marquette 21 points against Robert Morris (favored by 25, won by 4)
Kentucky 19.9 points against Evansville (favored by 16.9, lost by 3)
Arizona 19.8 points against South Dakota St. (favored by 26.8, won by 7)

The Duke loss to Stephen F. Austin was way overblown. Duke was favored by only 9.1 and lost by 2. That is a pretty big loss but only an 11.1 point under performance. in 1271 games played thus far (Div 1) the Duke loss ranks 242nd and is barely outside a standard deviation (9.5 points). The Mizzou loss, OTOH, was a huge huge loss.

FWIW, KU's worst game thus far was East Tennessee St. which was only a 5 point under performance, well within a standard deviation. Other than the Monmouth blowout, KU has averaged playing within 2.7 points of expectation (according to my DPPI). That is extremely consistent.

Wow, I would have thought the Evanston win was ranked higher. Interesting stuff.

The Duke thing is a big deal (and UK for that matter) because of the loser's "Blue Blood' status as well as each team's top 5 preseason ranking. Mizzou/Charleston Southern has none of the glamour of those. It's a bottom-feeder team from a power conference losing to a team that is literally unknown to 99% of the country. Despite the numbers, it just isn't front page material when two hillbillies get drunk and get into a fight, and is only of note in that the big drunk hillbilly got knocked out by the skinny little hillbilly. Embarrassing for the big guy and a triumph for the little guy, but largely unnoticed by the traffic passing on the interstate.

Totally agreed and sort of one of my points. The Duke thing was a nice upset but in purely under performance terms it was moderate. But being Duke, it is automatically front page material as was the Kentucky/Evanston game (although that was a much bigger upset). I like your analogy of two hillbillies. Mizzou vs. Charleston Southern has about as much national interest as the Leavenworth County Fair. Duke against anyone is always front and center.

Speaking of upsets, my DPPI has North Carolina as an 11.7 (74 to 62) point dog to Ohio St. tonight. I have UNC ranked only 47th overall. Granted, rankings at this point in the season are naturally suspect but they have done little to warrant their AP ranking thus far. Ohio St, OTOH is ranked No. 1. If Ohio St. wins tonight, it will not be an upset in any way shape or form.