New AP Poll
- Thread starter rhoho
- Start date
This was right about where I thought we would enter the poll. HTF does Nevada only fall 4 spots after losing to a bad New Mexico State team by 27!
That's a lot of respect for us both ways. Good jump for us and minimal drop for KU.
Half the conference ranked. Going to be another dogfight this year in conference play. Defending the home court will be critical.
I know the human voters work differently than the computers (*cough* they're biased and carry over preconceptions from the preseason polls and season-to-season without much bearing on them *cough*), but we really deserve more the 12 to 15 range.
Definitely a dogfight, and having that many ranked teams early in the conference season usually means that the conference keeps several ranked teams as the conference battles play out, with some rising up, and some dropping out. Those five do look like the top teams in the conference right now.
Not with that Iowa loss. We've got to do more to get rid of that stink.
I know we like making fun of Iowa.
Barttovik has them #34 and KenPom had them #43.
They are not that bad of a team. They are better than they were last year.
Losing on the road to a team like that is not that shameful.
If it was not the rivalry game, and instead something like us losing to Kansas State in Manhattan or UT in Austin, we would not care so much.
This ranking has more to do with us not having any huge Wins on our resume until this point. We haven't lost a "bad game" but other than this whooping, we hadn't given the national voters any eye opening/statement wins. It's all fair, just keep winning in conference, and the praise will continue.
The problem is that they play like a Top Ten team in the Superbowl but just don't care (or something) on the road in the Big X and play like a mid-major team.
Not ISU related, but some guy named Graham Couch had Duke ranked #1/2 through Week 5 (Dec 3) and has left them out of his top-25 since.
https://collegepolltracker.com/basketball/team/duke-blue-devils/2018
EDIT: apparently he doesn't rank teams that have not played a true road game in his top 25
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com...ham-couchs-ballot-and-explanation/2500067002/
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com...-duke-kansas-tennessee-didnt-make/2264942002/
https://collegepolltracker.com/basketball/team/duke-blue-devils/2018
EDIT: apparently he doesn't rank teams that have not played a true road game in his top 25
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com...ham-couchs-ballot-and-explanation/2500067002/
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com...-duke-kansas-tennessee-didnt-make/2264942002/
They would have to fall precipitously (and I am talking losing virtually all of their remaining games by large margins) to actually do something like that.
They will end up something between 25 and 50, if I cast a wide net.
We have enough sample size now to know what they are -- they are a blah, below average team in the Big Ten, good enough to maybe fight for an NCAA tournament invitation and reach up to bite some better teams, but with a rather limited ceiling.
That win against Nebraska last night was pretty good. So was their win against us.
They can be pretty good. They are just not that good on very many nights.
According to ESPN, we were #18 earlier this year....can't make this stuff up. Not hard to fact check.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...devils-remain-atop-ap-poll-top-four-unchanged
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...devils-remain-atop-ap-poll-top-four-unchanged
I'm not making fun of them. Their numbers are still propped up by early season wins that aren't that good anymore. Unless something changes they're not a tournament team. We played our worst game against an average to decent team and got it handed to us. Voters care a lot less about the whole "rivalry" thing than we do.
It'll work out fine, I just dont think we should be top 15 YET with that one hanging out there. 'Zona isn't helping us any either.
