Blogpoll – Week 12
Posted by rtmsf on January 31st, 2008As usual, running late…
Justifying Our Ballot. We actually had to do this for the first time all season. We ranked Florida above Mississippi St. (#25 in our ballot), and one blogger took offense with this notion. His quote was, “Ranking Florida above MSU absolutely makes no sense, however. None.” So here is our carefully-worded justification:
I just think that Florida is a better team right now than MSU. In other words, on a neutral court, I think Florida wins. I think, by and large, they have better players, better coaching, and a more impressive team. Based on the both the #s [UF is ten spots higher in Sagarin] and what I’ve seen on the court this year, I believe this to be a reasonable stance. The only way it’s an unreasonable stance (your assertion) is if you can demonstrate compelling evidence that there is absolutely no way that Florida can beat MSU on a neutral court. I don’t think you can do that based on anything we’ve seen so far this year.
What think, fair readers? Did we miss something?
Those Left Out. What we couldn’t understand was the continued inclusion of Vanderbilt, who, at ballot time, had lost three of four and were trending downward (they have since lost again last night to Ole Miss 74-58). We also had St. Mary’s at #18 (prior to their Monday night loss), Baylor at #22, and Oklahoma at #24. Obviously, as of this writing, we’d like to have K-State in the poll in favor of Baylor. All votes tallied here.
Variance. Wisconsin and Kansas St. are causing the most blogvoter consternation. We’re not sure how anyone can justify leaving the 16-3 Badgers completely out of the poll, but one blogger did.
Conference Call. The conferences who have messed up middles, as we discussed the other day, are taking hits in the poll.
- Pac-10 – 5
- Big East, SEC – 4 each
- Big 10, Big 12 – 3 each
- ACC – 2
- A10, CUSA, Horizon, MVC – 1 each
UF is absolutely the better team, overall and at this point in the season. MSU is a strong team and as a Tennessee fan I am worried about tomorrow’s game in Starkville. But the Bulldogs have lost 6 games in a schedule not dramatically stronger than Florida’s. I am concerned with how quickly UF’s young talent has progressed. Tennessee may have more competition in the East than we originally thought.