Monday, February 21, 2011

Duke Jumps to #1 as Top Four Teams Lose

Welcome to Monday, where I will discuss the AP and USA Today top 25 polls in addition to how I would have voted if I had the priveledge of having a say in the polls.  If you haven't seen it yet, here are the polls:


AP:                             USA Today                  Rank                              My Vote

Duke                              Duke                            1                                  Ohio State
Ohio State                       Kansas                        2                                    Texas
Kansas                          Ohio St                         3                                     Kansas
Pittsburgh                     San Diego St                  4                                     Duke
Texas                             Texas                           5                                     Pittsburgh
San Diego St                 Pittsburgh                      6                                     BYU
BYU                                BYU                          7                                     SDST
Purdue                           Purdue                          8                                    Purdue
Notre Dame                  Notre Dame                  9                                     Arizona
Arizona                           Arizona                       10                                  Notre Dame
Georgetown                   Georgetown                 11                                   Wisconsin
Wisconsin                      Wisconsin                    12                                    Georgetown
Florida                             Florida                       13                                      Florida
Uconn                             Villanova                    14                                     Villanova
Villanova                        Uconn                         15                                      Uconn
Louisville                         Louisville                    16                                      Louisville
Syracuse                      Texas A&M                  17                                      Syracuse
Vanderbilt                       Vanderbilt                   18                                     Vanderbilt
UNC                                UNC                        19                                       Missouri
Missouri                           Syracuse                   20                                        UNC
Texas A&M                     Missouri                    21                                       St John's
Kentucky                        Kentucky                    22                                      Texas A&M
St John's                          Utah State                  23                                        Kentucky
Temple                              Temple                     24                                        Xavier
Xavier                               St John's                   25                                    George Mason


Obviously the top of this poll is a complete and utter mess.  On the one hand, you've got three very good teams who all just lost to clearly inferior teams that are incredibly hard to beat at home.  You've got a fourth team that lost on the road to an archrival, and a fifth team that, while it hasnt lost recently, has arguably the worst single loss of any of the five teams.  Behind them are two Mountain West teams that have not played schedules quite as difficult, but are still incredibly good; these two facts create a problem which makes it difficult to ascertain where BYU and SDST truly lie relative to the other five major conference teams.

It's all pretty subjective after that.  Generally if there are two teams that have played, I give a nod to the head to head winner unless the loser's at large profile is so much greater that I cannot ignore the difference (hence decisions like ranking Xavier over Temple).  Other than that, my top 25 is basically the same teams in a different order, with the addition of George Mason at the end of the poll.  I felt that GMU's comeback win at Northern Iowa, in addition to their tearing through the second half of their conference schedule, warranted a top 25 ranking.

Check the blog tomorrow for updates on college football, the NFL draft, and baseball news!

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