A good discussion on twitter today about how to rank the top four (all one-loss) teams. Here’s our version, with analysis after the jump:
QnD Analysis.
- Kansas’ win at K-State on Saturday moved the Jayhawks to a unanimous #1 in this week’s poll. From there, things get muddled with the two Big East powerhouses tying at second, and Kentucky sliding down to a close fourth. Looking at the KU schedule, if Bill Self’s team can get past struggling Texas next week in Austin, they have a really good shot at running the table the rest of the regular season (next toughest game: the season-ender at rival Mizzou).
- In n’ Out. Five new teams this week, all of whom show up in the bottom five spots — Baylor, Northern Iowa, Butler, Missouri & Georgia Tech — each of these teams has been in and out of the poll seemingly all season long. The teams dropping out were Wake Forest, UAB, Florida State, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Give it another week and you’ll likely see half of them back in next time around.
- Variance. The three teams that the pollsters had the most trouble ranking this week were Gonzaga (#12 to #23), Pittsburgh (#15 to #23) and Baylor (#13 to #24). This no doubt represents that some pollsters think these teams are still ok after losing last week, while others think they’re trending downward. The top twelve or so teams in this week’s poll are relatively consistently ranked across the pollsters, though.
- Conference Call. Big East (5), Big 12 (5), Big 10 (4), SEC (3), ACC (2), MWC (2), A10 (1), WCC (1), Horizon (1), MVC (1).
View Comments (6)
Probably the best poll of the year for you guys all together. Just one complaint: How does nvr not have Wisconsin ranked?
Re: Wisconsin. I had them on the edge of the poll. I am marking them down more than most for the loss of Leuer. I was also the guy who dropped OSU when it looked like Evan Turner would be out for 2 months (and maybe longer). As you can see I corrected that when he returned and looked Villain-like. If I didn't harp on that so much I would have them around #20. I'm not as impressed with their resume as some other people are because most people like to point out these things to support the Badgers (all when Leuer played):
- The Duke win (It's pretty clear that the Blue Devils are awful on the road)
- The Ohio State win (No Evan Turner)
- The Purdue win (The start of Purdue's tailspin. I'll admit it is a chicken/egg argument)
Also all of these wins are in Madison. Honestly, they don't have much left on their regular season schedule (outside of tonight's game against the Spartans) so for me to rank them in the top 25 they have to go at least 6-2.
I see where you're coming from but I don't like to punish teams for injuries when the injured played is probably going to come back. Will you rank them if they beat Michigan State on Tuesday?
Wisconsin still beat those teams you mentioned. They're all good.
A Leuer-less Wisconsin just took apart #5 Michigan State tonight piece by piece.
I noticed (the Lucas injury helped them pull away at the end, but it was a solid win). They will be ranked the next time I cast a vote assuming they don't fall apart before then.
Ok good. lol.
Wisconsin would have won whether Lucas was injured or not. They should win @ Michigan but you never know on the road in conference, especially the Big Ten.