Poll conducted for games through March 7. Analysis after the jump…
QnD Analysis.
- It seems as though there’s a new #1 team every week in our poll, yet that honor only rotates among a few candidates. With Syracuse falling to Louisville on Saturday, it’s mainstay Kansas vaulting back into the top spot. The Jayhawks are followed by Kentucky and Syracuse. Ohio State has hit their plateau at the right time, slowly moving further up in the rankings weekly and settling into the #5 spot. The team flying up the polls is Maryland and the teams plummeting this week are Vanderbilt, Kansas State and Georgetown.
- In n’ Out. No new teams in the poll this week. It’s slim pickings in terms of top-25 candidates with only Northern Iowa and Richmond receiving votes from our four pollsters. I think this is a case of these top 27 or so teams separating themselves from the weakened bubble field. The middle class, if you will, of college basketball isn’t very strong this season.
- Variance. Even before their loss last night to Saint Mary’s (voting prior to that game), Gonzaga caused some consternation amongst the pollsters, with one voter putting the Zags at #13 and another completely out of the top-25. There’s also some disagreement about where to place two Big 10 teams — Purdue and Wisconsin. How much the respective voter penalized the Boilermakers for Robbie Hummel’s injury likely came into play once again.
- Conference Call. Big East (5), Big 12 (4), Big 10 (4), SEC (3), ACC (2), MWC (2), A10 (2), CUSA (1), WCC (1), Horizon (1).