Ohio will have to earn their ranking because it is natural for "experts" to completely overrate big conference teams, especially in the pre-season.
A good test case is Murray State. A lot of people will argue "well they didn't have a sweet 16 run the year before". Sure but that doesn't really account for there just not being a ton of fluid spots in the rankings (early in the season).
MSU entered the top 25 at (10-0) or one third of the way in to their regular season. The ranking came after beating #20 Memphis in week 10, when there were only 9 or 10 undefeated teams left.
Until the big boys go in to conference play, there just isn't a large enough sample size to rank someone like Ohio over someone like, lets say Michigan (save an undefeated team). At that point in the season, Michigan's record is likely better (or at least equal) to Ohio's and they've probably played in something like the Maui Shootout, pre-season NIT, etc. and logged some nice RPI games. A good example is Illinois being (10-0) at that point last the season, a team that completely imploded and missed the NCAA's.
The hardest threshold for a mid-major to get past is simply 25. Once you're in the rankings, the likelihood you stay there increases dramatically. Awareness / name recognition (ala the Gonzaga, St. Mary's of the world) is the biggest uphill battle for teams like Ohio.
Ohio will certainly get a bounce from this past March and I don't doubt they will be talked about as the season approaches but they're not a traditional basketball power. They have to earn their ranking year to year because teams like Ohio don't have the "reload" option. There are going to be some larger school teams that are perceived to be better bets (based on incoming freshman, etc.), even with Ohio returning everyone. It is just the nature of the rankings.
Last Edited: 4/9/2012 5:33:17 PM by CATman