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Domination has been a regularly visited topic on this board. I think most, if not all, would agree that UConn has been the most dominant program in WBB over the last X years (fill in your own value for X). Often Domination is measured in terms of national championships, final fours, and the like. One measure I've been tracking with data going back to 2003 has been the voting in the AP and ESPN polls, and more specifically, the first place ballots cast.
Now it's true, as many will point out, that why should you care about the polls because it all gets sorted out on the court. It is also true that I'm not a fan of contests where the winner is decided by a panel of voters (e.g., the "National Shampion" crowned in football). That said, the voters in the two polls do have value. They are, after all, someone who somebody with enough influence to get their opinions listened to has decided offer sufficient expertise and objectivity to call on for advice. The reason for a preference for first place ballots is, first of all, a practical one: they are published with the poll. Beyond that, a first place vote means that one of the "objective" experts considers that team the best. It is the best programs that can show dominance, not the 25th best programs.
Beyond first place votes themselves, I look for unanimity among the voters. Each week more than 30 voters cast ballots in each poll. Unanimity is difficult to achieve. Our justice system only demands twelve people agree to convict someone of the most egregious offenses. As good as UConn was this past year, six separate times they failed to collect all the first place ballots: Tennessee got one in ESPN in the preseason, Duke got one in the AP in the first week, and four times Notre Dame received a first place vote in ESPN at the end of the season.
My records contain nearly 10,000 first place votes cast in AP balloting and 7800 votes in the ESPN polls. Of all those weekly votings, only seven teams have ever been the unanimous selection in either an AP or an ESPN poll.
Six of those teams are:
(1) Maryland, once, in ESPN.
(2) North Carolina, 4 times in the AP.
(3) Tennessee, 5 times, 3 in the AP and 2 in ESPN.
(4) Duke, 6 times, 2 in the AP, 4 in ESPN, and twice unanimous #1 in both polls.
(5) LSU, 16 times, 9 in the AP, 7 in ESPN, and 7 times in both polls.
(6) Baylor, 36 times, 23 in the AP, 13 in ESPN, and 11 times in both polls.
Then there's UConn. We have been the unanimous choice, no dissenters, as the best team almost twice as often as all other programs combined in the AP, and almost three times as often in the ESPN. UConn has been the unanimous choice in either the AP or ESPN poll an astounding 153 times, 74 in the AP, 79 in the ESPN, and 68 times in both! That's domination.
Now it's true, as many will point out, that why should you care about the polls because it all gets sorted out on the court. It is also true that I'm not a fan of contests where the winner is decided by a panel of voters (e.g., the "National Shampion" crowned in football). That said, the voters in the two polls do have value. They are, after all, someone who somebody with enough influence to get their opinions listened to has decided offer sufficient expertise and objectivity to call on for advice. The reason for a preference for first place ballots is, first of all, a practical one: they are published with the poll. Beyond that, a first place vote means that one of the "objective" experts considers that team the best. It is the best programs that can show dominance, not the 25th best programs.
Beyond first place votes themselves, I look for unanimity among the voters. Each week more than 30 voters cast ballots in each poll. Unanimity is difficult to achieve. Our justice system only demands twelve people agree to convict someone of the most egregious offenses. As good as UConn was this past year, six separate times they failed to collect all the first place ballots: Tennessee got one in ESPN in the preseason, Duke got one in the AP in the first week, and four times Notre Dame received a first place vote in ESPN at the end of the season.
My records contain nearly 10,000 first place votes cast in AP balloting and 7800 votes in the ESPN polls. Of all those weekly votings, only seven teams have ever been the unanimous selection in either an AP or an ESPN poll.
Six of those teams are:
(1) Maryland, once, in ESPN.
(2) North Carolina, 4 times in the AP.
(3) Tennessee, 5 times, 3 in the AP and 2 in ESPN.
(4) Duke, 6 times, 2 in the AP, 4 in ESPN, and twice unanimous #1 in both polls.
(5) LSU, 16 times, 9 in the AP, 7 in ESPN, and 7 times in both polls.
(6) Baylor, 36 times, 23 in the AP, 13 in ESPN, and 11 times in both polls.
Then there's UConn. We have been the unanimous choice, no dissenters, as the best team almost twice as often as all other programs combined in the AP, and almost three times as often in the ESPN. UConn has been the unanimous choice in either the AP or ESPN poll an astounding 153 times, 74 in the AP, 79 in the ESPN, and 68 times in both! That's domination.
