Blogpoll Ballot IV
Posted by kj on Sunday, March 1st, 2009
 |
||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connecticut |  1 |
| 2 | North Carolina | 2 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | |
| 4 | Pittsburgh |  3 |
| 5 | Duke | |
| 6 | Memphis | |
| 7 | Michigan St. | |
| 8 | Louisville | 1 |
| 9 | Kansas | 5 |
| 10 | Wake Forest | 2 |
| 11 | Missouri | |
| 12 | Gonzaga | 6 |
| 13 | Purdue | 3 |
| 14 | Clemson | 4 |
| 15 | UCLA | 4 |
| 16 | Illinois | 1 |
| 17 | Villanova | 4 |
| 18 | Marquette | 6 |
| 19 | Washington | 1 |
| 20 | Xavier | 1 |
| 21 | Louisiana St. | 2 |
| 22 | Butler | |
| 23 | Arizona St. | 8 |
| 24 | Brigham Young | |
| 25 | Oklahoma St. | |
| Last week’s ballot | ||
Dropped Out: West Virginia (#24), Texas (#25).
Notes:
- Hopefully voting for MSU at #7 is less Koulterish/Kosish this week.
- The win over Kansas just keeps looking better and better.
- Gonzaga is a toughie. They moved up six spots basically just because a bunch of BCS conference teams lost a game or two this week.
- Despite the Michigan loss, Purdue moves up due to some other teams having even worse weeks (and the bounce-back win vs. Ohio State helped, too).
- LSU’s resume looks a lot like Butler’s and Xavier’s in terms of quality wins.
- Oklahoma State gets thefinal spot for winning its last 5 games.
Filed in blogpoll14 responses so far
14 Responses to “Blogpoll Ballot IV”
Seeron 01 Mar 2009 at 11:05 pm 1I can’t help but feel that Oklahoma is too high at number three. They’re unlikely to win the Big XII, and while we know too well that the best team in a conference can possibly not win its conference, that should not apply to number three ranked teams. If you’re top 5 you should either be your conference leader or ranked behind the conference leader (so Pitt and UConn can both be there I guess).
I’m still not sold on Memphis either. Not too solid of a resume.
SpartanDanon 01 Mar 2009 at 11:11 pm 2Looking over the other ballots submitted so far, I think you’re in no danger of winning the CK and probably came close last week mostly because one guy left MSU off entirely (a typo, as his ballot had Michigan #8). That error has been corrected this week, and virtually everyone else has us moving up at least one spot.
Seer: Oklahoma’s losses both came minus Blake Griffin. That they had two of the top three teams (besides themselves) in those two games hurt badly. But I could see moving them down to #4, at least.
kjon 02 Mar 2009 at 7:30 am 3Yeah, I gave Oklahoma a break due to Griffin being out.
Was tempted to move MSU ahead of Memphis, but didn’t want to risk the blog being overrun with more disgruntled Memphis fans this week.
GBBoundon 02 Mar 2009 at 8:43 am 4Here is the interesting thing about Louisville….they may very well win the Big East without having to travel to the top 5 teams (other than themselves) in the current standings. Louisville played UConn, Pitt, Marquette, and Providence at home, but will not return the favor on the road. That’d be like MSU not going to Purdue, Illinois, or Ohio State, or North Carolina not having to go to Duke, Wake Forest, or Clemson.
Gotta love that unbalanced Big East schedule.
TMadison25on 02 Mar 2009 at 8:47 am 5Record against RPI Top 50 (CBS RPI)
Pittsburgh (7-2)
UConn (9-2)
Oklahoma (7-2)
UNC (6-2)
Memphis (4-3)
Louisville (7-2)
Duke (7-5)
Marquette (5-5)
MSU (11-2)
Tied for the least amount of top 50 losses, Most top 50 wins… Just saying. Not sure if that is cherry-picking data.
Big Ten Champs!
witless chumon 02 Mar 2009 at 9:26 am 6If it is, TMadison, I like cherries. They’re tasty and it’s fun to see how far you can spit the pits off the back porch.
I’d personally want UNC back number one, more for it just being their turn rather than anything solid. The top 4 are pretty interchangeable, though my sense is that UNC and Pitt are a bit better than Oklahoma and UConn.
Chrison 02 Mar 2009 at 10:50 am 7Agree with witless chum that UNC should be #1. They have been the most consistent with all losses being very close. It was nice to see they joy from Izzo after the game. You could tell that not winning the B10 was eating him up inside. I hope he doesn’t shave his head like it’s being reported he would if they won the B10. I really don’t want to see that, or hear the repetitive story all March.
spartanproduceron 02 Mar 2009 at 11:06 am 8kj,
in my opinion you have Gonzaga too high. Due to my working second shift, I see a lot of their late night games on ESPN. They are great offensively and don’t play a lick of defense. Thus they usually let the lesser teams in their league hang around for 30 minutes but make more shots down the stretch. I have a hard time believing that will work against other top teams (as their non con record will show).
In the Big Ten, they might finish fourth or fifth, which is good but certainly not 12th best in the country.
but way to give Okie State some love, another team we’ve beaten!!
GBBoundon 02 Mar 2009 at 3:21 pm 9The one team that you might want to consider is Utah over Okla State
9th in RPI (compared to 30th for OSU)
11th in SOS (compared to 12th for OSU)
4 top 50 RPI wins (compared to 3 for OSU)
11 top 100 RPI wins (compared to 7 for OSU)
Utah has beaten Gonzaga, but OSU lost to Gonzaga
Utah has also beaten LSU
Seeron 02 Mar 2009 at 4:01 pm 10You’re in no danger of C/K this week, more people had MSU at 7 than anything else. In fact, one ballot, from a badger blog no less, had MSU as 5.
http://mgoblog.com/blogpoll/te.....amp;db=cbb
Hope that link works.
Spartalyticalon 02 Mar 2009 at 6:49 pm 11I agree that this is the best this Spartan team has looked in any conference game this season. Lucas pushed himself out of his recent slump, Walton shut down McCamey once again, Roe was tough again inside, Ibok was the answer to the Tisdale problem, and there were several key moments for other folks, such as Suton and Green. The long-range issue remains disconcerting, but the overall effort and confidence was back today, firing on nearly all cylinders. Yesterday’s team goes to the Final Four, whereas the team that beat Iowa could very well get stung in the second round. All the parts are there. It’s just a matter of confidently going out and putting them together. Izzo’s coaching was brilliant yesterday. Everything Illinois does well, Izzo either exploited it or didn’t allow them to do it in the first place. The Mikes were the biggest issue, but the Ibok decision was great and muted the Illini momentum that had been building. Like kj, I, too, felt a strange sense of calm as the lead narrowed and eventually disappeared. A great win, at least a share of the Big Ten Title, a great shot at an outright claim this week, and 4-0 on CBS this year. The only things I didn’t care for was Izzo’s orangish tie (game photos make it look more a rust/gold, so maybe it was the generally awful lighting in Assembly Hall more than anything), and Morgan’s grinning at the free-throw line in the waning moments. Unless of course he was smiling at that blasted Krush kid with the aviator sunglasses who always gets his stupid mug plastered on TV for Illini home games. Then I’m fine with it.
kjon 02 Mar 2009 at 6:58 pm 12I have to say I like that Ryan and Weber (Matta too?) always wear a tie with their team’s primary color in it. Maybe we should buy some dark green ties and send them to Izzo.
Benon 02 Mar 2009 at 8:31 pm 13. . . and, Tubby Smith almost always wears a maroon and gold tie.
kjon 02 Mar 2009 at 8:36 pm 14I don’t know how I missed that one, as I’ve always admired Tubby’s natty wardrobe, going back to his Kentucky days. (He and I share a fondness for the spread collar.)