OK, so here's how I view the college basketball teams in Kentucky and Tennessee. There are the big schools -- UK, U of L, Memphis, Vandy, and UT. Then there's everyone else. In an ideal world, most if not all of those would be in the same conference -- and, indeed, a lot of them are in the Ohio Valley Conference. But others are scattered here and yon, so it's hard to get a sense of how they compare. Plus, I'm watching a very exciting game between Belmont and Western Kentucky. So I decided to look at Ken Pomeroy's web page and see where they are all ranked as of right now. The list looks like this:
89. Belmont (they're the Duke of this group)
112. Chattanooga
122. Middle Tennessee
144. Murray St.
186. Morehead St.
211. W. Kentucky
244. E. Kentucky
252. E. Tennessee St.
268. Tennessee St.
274. No. Kentucky
282. UT-Martin
287. Austin Peay
289. Tennessee Tech
290. Lipscomb
But then I got to thinking: Who has been the champion of this group in recent years? Ken Pom's data go back to 2002, so here's the best team from the above group at the end of each season from 2001-02 until 2014-15 (team's final ranking in parentheses):
2002: Tennessee Tech (69) (lost in OVC Tournament to Murray St.)
2003: W. Kentucky (54) (lost in NCAA First Round to Illinois)
2004: E. Tennessee St. (68) (lost in NCAA First Round to Cincinnati)
2005: W. Kentucky (90) (lost in Sun Belt Tournament to Denver)
2006: W. Kentucky (99) (lost in Sun Belt Tournament to S. Alabama)
2007: Belmont (120) (lost in NCAA First Round to Georgetown)
2008: W. Kentucky (37) (lost in NCAA Sweet 16 to UCLA)
2009: W. Kentucky (86) (lost in NCAA Second Round to Gonzaga)
2010: Murray St. (45) (lost in NCAA Second Round to Butler)
2011: Belmont (27) (lost in NCAA First Round to Wisconsin)
2012: Murray St. (29) (lost in NCAA Second Round to Marquette)
2013: Mid. Tennessee St. (50) (lost in NCAA First Round to St. Mary's)
2014: Mid. Tennessee St. (80) (lost in C-USA Tournament to Tulsa)
2015: Murray St. (51) (lost in OVC Tournament to Belmont)
List of champions:
W. Kentucky (5): 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009
Murray St. (3): 2010, 2012, 2015
Mid. Tennessee St (2): 2013, 2014
Belmont (2): 2007, 2011
E. Tennessee St. (1): 2004
Tennessee Tech (1): 2002
And then I thought about the old Metro Seven, so here's the best team from that group in each season from 2001-02 until 2014-15 (team's final ranking in parentheses) (I'm using the membership from 1980):
2002: Cincinnati (3)
2003: Louisville (16)
2004: Cincinnati (20)
2005: Louisville (6)
2006: Memphis (5)
2007: Memphis (9)
2008: Memphis (2)
2009: Memphis (2)
2010: Florida St. (33)
2011: Louisville (12)
2012: Memphis (9)
2013: Louisville (1)
2014: Louisville (1)
2015: Louisville (16)
List of champions:
Louisville (6): 2003, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015
Memphis (5): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012
Cincinnati (2): 2002, 2004
Florida St. (1): 2010
By the way, the current Metro Seven standings are below. So far, it doesn't look like a banner year for the conference:
10. Cincinnati: 3-0
22. Louisville: 2-0
35. Florida St: 2-0
65. Memphis: 1-1
152. Saint Louis: 1-0
164. Virginia Tech: 1-1
267. Tulane: 1-1
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