Hoops Blog Poll - new, improved and back on CBSSports.com

by GopherNation on Feb 9, 2009 11:14 AM CST in Gopher Basketball Comment 7 comments

Brian over at MGO blog has finally given in and has implemented a basketball version of his supurb football blog poll. We, of course, are excited to be a part of his blog poll and this is the first official week. The official poll, the peripherals and the summary will be available on CBSSports.com, results should be posted anytime this afternoon.

Below is my initial ballot. I'll be honest that this first ballot was thrown together rather quickly to get it submitted in time. Typically I will use a combination of Ken Pom stats, recent play and my own interpretation of a sort of power poll. Meaning as the season goes along early season wins decrease in value. I should also note that I am not a huge believer in head-to-head results meaning anything more than team A beat team B on that particular day. Minnesota vs. Louisville is a perfect example of this. I'd be a fool to put Minnesota ahead of L'ville in any ballot just because the Gophers beat them on a neutral court. However that can be a determining factor on teams that are relatively even in record, SOS, KenPom, etc. But basketball is a fluid sport where Wake can beat North Carolina but then lose Virginia Tech a couple games later.

So that is a tiny look into how I'll be voting. As with the football poll please help me to fix any glitches. I'm sure my ballot has a few whack rankings and I will either defend them or I'll take any constructive criticsm to heart and make the necessary changes in my next ballot. With all of that said here is my first go at the hoops Blog Poll...

Rank	Team

1	Connecticut
2	Oklahoma
3	North Carolina
4	Pittsburgh
5	Louisville
6	Duke
7	Wake Forest
8	Marquette
9	Memphis
10	Clemson
11	Villanova
12	Xavier
13	Michigan St.
14	UCLA
15	Texas
16	Purdue
17	Butler
18	Kansas
19	Utah St.
20	Missouri
21	Arizona St.
22	Gonzaga
23	Illinois
24	Washington
25	Ohio St.

the end.

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Comments

Perhaps this is my bias showing

But I think you’re underrating MSU. Yes, I know, two moderately bad home losses – but they’re one of three teams in the nation with four Sagarin top 25 wins (UConn and Illinois are the others) and one of three with eight or more top 50 wins (Oklahoma has nine, UConn eight). None of the four teams directly ahead of MSU have more than half that many. In particular, I can’t see any justification for Villanova (same overall record, one top 25 win and three top 50 wins) ahead of MSU; the others are debatable.

Also: wake me when Utah State gets its second top 100 win. Unless they win their first NCAA tournament game, it won’t happen (they’re just 1-1 against Pomeroy or Sagarin’s top 100, with no more top 100 games remaining). All we really know about them is they can beat bad teams night after night; while there is some value in not having any letdown games against bad teams, I think you have to beat someone good to prove you deserve a spot in the top 25, and USU hasn’t done that.

by SpartanDan on Feb 9, 2009 11:33 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

excellent points on Michigan State

I did not spend nearly the amount of time I would like to and usually will spend on this ballot. But I would have zero problem moving them up two spots to #11. In my defense I was giving Villanova some credit for six straight wins and just a 6 points loss AT UCONN. They handled Syracuse on Saturday and beat Pitt by 10 during this recent streak. Over MSU’s most recent six games they have lost at home to NU and PSU.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Feb 9, 2009 12:46 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Understandable

People put different emphasis on different factors; if you’re considering recent games heavily that would make a difference. For me, beating good teams is the biggest factor – all else being equal, I’d take a team with a win over #15 and loss to #80 than one with a loss to #15 and a win over #80.

by SpartanDan on Feb 9, 2009 12:59 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I know you said you rifled through this quickly, so not trying to me Mr. Critical here. However, I’m not sure Texas should be ranked anymore, or at least not above Kansas. Three straight losses, an RPI of #46 I believe, and falling into the mid-tier of the mediocre B12. They still have some nice wins from early in the season, but in my opinion not enough to crack the 25.

by InflectionPoint on Feb 9, 2009 1:16 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

another good point

I absolutely ranked Texas this week based on reputation. I know I dropped them a little because of the Nebraska loss but didn’t look much deeper than they were recently ranked fairly high.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Feb 9, 2009 3:15 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Congrats, TDG. You've officially made it big.

After all, spammers never bother with places that no one reads.

by SpartanDan on Feb 9, 2009 1:52 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I realize polling is obsessed on...

…by sports fans and it drives us to message boards (yes, I’m guilty), but would it be a bad thing if polls were gone? I’m probably thinking more of football polls, where football coaches can vote and decide which teams go to which bowls or title games (which is the height of conflict of interest). Further, in football the 2009 debate is already framed as Florida versus the world, before spring practice has even started. It’s set up so a team that did bad or ended bad in 2008 has a mountain to climb to rise in the polls.

In basketball, is it necessary to run polls since the NCAA committee uses such an empirical, record-based approach to set up the NCAA tourney?

Just a hypothetical – for example, I don’t think whether the Gophers are in the current iteration of the Top 25 affects how I feel about the team. I just know they’re not playing well now and I hope they turn it around.

by JG2112 on Feb 9, 2009 8:26 PM CST reply actions 0 recs