There was very little movement inside the Top 10 as the first five teams remained unchanged, and Ohio State was the only team to drop in the poll after their loss to rival Michigan. Outside of the Top 10, however, there was quite a bit of movement. Baylor continues to plummet as they are now in the latter half of the Top 25 while UNLV and St. Mary’s are both struggling out west. New Mexico made a big time power move into the poll as they check in at #16 after having not been ranked the previous week. The Quick ‘n Dirty after the jump…
QnD Analysis:
- High Risers and Big Droppers —New Mexico, after knocking of San Diego State and UNLV last week, now looks like the team to beat in the Mountain West. The Lobos pushed their record to 22-4 after soundly defeating the preceding teams by double-digit margins. Conversely UNLV, St. Mary’s, Virginia, and Indiana are playing maybe their worst ball of the season with conference tournaments right around the corner. UNLV has a modest 6-4 record in the Mountain West, St. Mary’s has lost three of its last four, Virginia is 7-5 in the ACC, and Indiana is 8-7 over their last 15 games. All four of these squads are virtual locks for the NCAA Tournament, but they will need to find their mojo if they wish to have any success come March.
- Where to rank Florida? —Pollsters are struggling to get a collective read on the Gators. Five believe that Florida is a borderline Top 10 team, while three others have Florida slotted anywhere from 15 to 22. The Gators conclude their regular season at Vanderbilt and home against Kentucky—strong showings against two of the better teams in the SEC will bode well for the conference tournament and beyond.
- Still, No Pac-12 —Although there is still not a Pac-12 team in the poll—no team even garnered votes—Temple has made a splash into the Top 25 on behalf of the Atlantic 10. After beginning the A-10 schedule at 1-2, the Owls have run off nine straight wins and are the team to beat in the conference. Saint Louis will have something to say about that, though.
- Three new faces —New Mexico, Temple, and Creighton are all in this week’s poll. None of these three are technically new faces though as they have been in the poll at some point during the season.
Top 25 Games of the Week:
A relatively weak slate of Top 25 games this week as the regular season winds down. Missouri traveling to Kansas clearly highlights the games while Duke seeks for redemption down in Tallahassee against the Seminoles.
Big 12:
- #3 Missouri at #4 Kansas
ACC:
- #7 Duke at #14 Florida State
Big Ten:
- #8 Ohio State at #20 Wisconsin
Also Receiving Votes—Seven teams received votes this week with Drexel being the only team in the “ARV” category who has not been in the poll once this year.
Conference Call— Big East (6), Big Ten (4), ACC (3), Big 12 (3), SEC (2), Mountain West (2), West Coast (2), Missouri Valley (2), Ohio Valley (1), Atlantic 10 (1)
View Comments (4)
The slate of games may be weak, but what it lacks in number it will certainly compensate with intensity. If you're a college basketball fan, you won't want to miss the KU/MU game because it will be intense, to say the least. On Saturday night Allen Fieldhouse will be the one of loudest venues ever experienced in college basketball. Many have no idea about the depth of hatred between these two schools and this is the last regular season game between them. There will be absolutely no love lost. They call this matchup the "Border War" for a reason.
Big Ten has four teams in the poll (you made a mistake and only counted 3). Should be 5. To leave Indiana out based on the recent loss to Iowa is to avoid looking at their body of work.
If you're dropping teams based on recent form, how about dropping St. Mary's (lost 3 of 4) or Creighton (lost 3 of 4) instead of Indiana (won 3 of 4).
Matt, you realize that you're talking to eight different voters, right? I'm pretty sure that every pollster dropped all of the teams you mention, the only question is by how much.
Thanks for catching that error with the number of Big Ten teams in the poll...it has since been changed.
You'll notice when looking at the poll that St. Mary's and Creighton both have fallen significantly in recent weeks. SMC wasn't ranked by 4 of the 8 voters, while Creighton wasn't ranked by 5 voters.
You can obviously make the argument that Indiana should be ranked over a few of these teams, but I am sure several of our voters aren't too impressed with having an 8-7 record in the Big Ten. Although, I will admit, their hot start to the season should not be discounted.
Me personally, I don't think they have played like a Top 25 team since mid-January.