Here’s your post-Christmas Top 25… as always, the QnD analysis is after the jump and we encourage any comments to tell us where you disagree.
QnD Analysis.
- Top Ten Remains the Same. For the second straight week, the same ten teams topped our poll in nearly the same order. The top three have remained Duke, Ohio State and Kansas for weeks now. Syracuse and Connecticut, two Big East squads with unblemished records, round out the first five. Georgetown’s convincing victory at Memphis and Missouri’s triumph over Illinois this past week kept those two squads in the top ten. #4 Connecticut travels to #6 Pittsburgh Monday in a must-see duel of Big East powers.
- Teams That Impressed. Texas took the biggest leap in our poll, jumping eight points following their win at Michigan State on Wednesday on the heels over their victory over North Carolina last weekend. The Longhorns look like a completely different team from a season ago. Wisconsin also leaped six points in the rankings. They welcome #13 Minnesota to the Kohl Center on Tuesday.
- Teams That Regressed. Baylor‘s fall of 13 points marked the biggest drop from this week to last. The Bears completed a disappointing performance in the Diamond Head Classic, losing to both Washington State and Florida State. Their best non-conference win is Arizona State. Kansas State also took it on the chin, falling six points following their loss to UNLV and the Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly suspensions. Tennessee dropped out of the poll after placing in the top five just weeks ago.
- Variance. Texas is a team of great debate among the pollsters. One voter has the Longhorns as high as #10 while two others left them out of the poll. Georgetown was ranked anywhere from #4 to #13 by the voters. The Hoyas fell to Temple but have road wins at Old Dominion and at Memphis along with a victory over Missouri in Kansas City and a home win over Utah State.
- Conference Call. Big East (6), Big Ten (6), Big 12 (6), SEC (2), Mountain West (2), ACC (1), CUSA (1), A-10 (1).
View Comments (7)
My take:
1. Duke
2. Ohio State
3. Kansas
4. Georgetown
5. Pittsburgh
6. Syracuse
7. San Diego State
8. Villanova
9. Connecticut
10. Missouri
11. Purdue
12. Texas
13. Kentucky
14. Wisconsin
15. Washington
16. BYU
17. Michigan State
18. Minnesota
19. Vanderbilt
20. Texas A&M
21. Temple
22. Kansas State
23. Baylor
24. Tennessee
25. Illinois
Don't see why Baylor/K St/Mich St get to stay in the Top 25 while the hate continues for Washington. Baylor has lost to nearly any quality opponent they've faced and K St. hasn't been much better. I'm done making the argument for U-Dub but at least hold the others to the same standards.
Arizona continues to get no love, now not even getting a vote. The entire Pac-10 is getting no respect and I think they're far better than how it looks on paper.
Tonight's Pitt/UConn matchup should answer a TON of questions and hopefully prove to these pollsters that the Huskies don't belong. Vegas certainly sides with me as the Panthers are 7.5 point favorites.
Here's my Top 25 - I tried to make some significant changes to the weight given to each teams current performance as I felt I may have been penalizing teams that were overperforming expectations so far.
Big gainers: Lville, Texas, Texas A&M, UNLV, Mizzou, West Virginia
Big losers: Baylor, K St., Mich St., Florida
Kansas
Duke
OSU
Cuse
Pitt
Gtown
SDSU
BYU
Kentucky
Texas
U-Dub
Wisky
Purdue
UNLV
Nova
Mizzou
Lville
UConn
West Vag
Vandy
T A&M
Zona
Wazzou
ND
Illini
I feel as though Texas should be a bit higher. I am shocked two ballots did not rank them after wins over UNC/MSU/Illinois with only losses coming to Pitt and USC. I would be interested to see the rationale behind that.
@TheMikanDrill
Um. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't rank Texas mostly because of a holiday-induced oversight. I looked at my top 25 again this afternoon and realized my mistake. I would probably have put them at 19, behind BYU and ahead of Louisville...
And, given that I had all sorts of trouble coming up with a suitable team to rank #25 (I decided on Wazzu), that would have solved the problem at the back end of my rankings as well.
Guess who will almost certainly be pulling a disappearing act from my Top 25 next week... Kemba Walker and his Huskies! Anything except a blowout against USF will seal the deal.
Just a question - should a NR really be rated at a #26? Not saying it's wrong or right just wondering why you decided to use this number towards the average?
I'd just think that missing the Top 25 should be more of a penalty than just #26... would put a team that was ranked by 4 voters (Temple) ahead of a team (Baylor) that missed 4 polls and is WAY misplaced in one at #14.
UConn never did anything to earn the #4 ranking it got in many polls but they're still a good team. I'll drop them a bit but not much. They're going to be really good if they learn to defend better. Pitt's offense ran circles around them tonight and UConn couldn't get anything against an airtight Pitt D. I'd love to know why Oriakhi didn't play a lot tonight.