AP Poll - 1/8

[upstater]

Just looking at this week's poll, several voters have us down at 6 or 7. All of these below 3 loss UNC.

But the one I noticed mostly is Jon Wilner from San Francisco.

This guys has always had something against UConn. I have always noticed him downgrading the school no matter what.

Writers from the Atlantic coast or Carolina typically rank UConn fairly, but the deep south (Texas, Alabama, Miss, etc.) doesn't show much love.

 

[tzznandrew]

Just looking at this week's poll, several voters have us down at 6 or 7. All of these below 3 loss UNC.

But the one I noticed mostly is Jon Wilner from San Francisco.

This guys has always had something against UConn. I have always noticed him downgrading the school no matter what.

Writers from the Atlantic coast or Carolina typically rank UConn fairly, but the deep south (Texas, Alabama, Miss, etc.) doesn't show much love.

I mean, we deserved a pretty big drop after Seton Hall, and anyone who ranked us 4-5 (rather than 1-3) was going to have us lower. We didn't move in the polls on a macro scale, but on the micro scale it is clear we were dropped by a bunch before starting a rebound.

But 6 or 7 is actually pretty fair given how they've played with Clingan and the (somewhat) uncertainty surrounding his return.

 

[upstater]

I mean, we deserved a pretty big drop after Seton Hall, and anyone who ranked us 4-5 (rather than 1-3) was going to have us lower. We didn't move in the polls on a macro scale, but on the micro scale it is clear we were dropped by a bunch before starting a rebound.

But 6 or 7 is actually pretty fair given how they've played with Clingan and the (somewhat) uncertainty surrounding his return.

Again, I'm not complaining about the ranking, or the poll; it really doesn't matter right now. I'm talking about the multi-decade constant rating of UConn lower than all other reporters. And it's by this one guy in San Francisco.

 

[J187Money]

Again, I'm not complaining about the ranking, or the poll; it really doesn't matter right now. I'm talking about the multi-decade constant rating of UConn lower than all other reporters. And it's by this one guy in San Francisco.

East coast people generally under-rank west coast teams also. Probably lack of familiarity / doesn't get to watch the games. Other than in the NFL, I rarely actually see any west coast games of any consequence because they are on too late.

 

[SubbaBub]

Like any of these arguments, the datum matters. All-time, 1970, 1979, 1984, the lifetime of the current players, whatever works best for UConn?

Personally, rules of the time aside, I'd pick the Alcindor UCLA era as the time when people began to care about BB. Every fan knowns those teams and very few know anything before that era. Yes, it's biased in favor of UCLA, but so be it.

The 64+ team bracket is another option, but that excludes the aforementioned UCLA, Bird/Magic, and the bulk of the Bob Knight indiana run. Seems tough to talk history without including those.

 

[tzznandrew]

Like any of these arguments, the datum matters. All-time, 1970, 1979, 1984, the lifetime of the current players, whatever works best for UConn?

Personally, rules of the time aside, I'd pick the Alcindor UCLA era as the time when people began to care about BB. Every fan knowns those teams and very few know anything before that era. Yes, it's biased in favor of UCLA, but so be it.

The 64+ team bracket is another option, but that excludes the aforementioned UCLA, Bird/Magic, and the bulk of the Bob Knight indiana run. Seems tough to talk history without including those.

He starts where College Basketball Reference starts having more than one poll. They used to have one final poll before the start of the post-season. Could have added those too—it wouldn't change a ton. But mid-way through the 1948-1949 season, you get weekly polls. I don't think it does much to shift this for anyone—schools like NYU of Eastern Kentucky don't get some unfair benefit. But I think starting there—when the NCAA tournament is expanding and has been around over a decade—really does give you a good size and scope of the history of the game. When you start digging through, it doesn't really over-value some of those more traditional blue-bloods as you might think.

 

[boba]

Again, I'm not complaining about the ranking, or the poll; it really doesn't matter right now. I'm talking about the multi-decade constant rating of UConn lower than all other reporters. And it's by this one guy in San Francisco.

Opinions are like ... everyone has one, and they usually stink. Not sure what Wilner's beef is, but it extends decades. He was beat writer for SJ Mercury News then things happened but guess he's still in business. Funny thing is he was opposite Geracie, who memorably predicted UConn over Duke back in "99. Not sure who had the AP vote that year. I doubt that beatdown UConn administered to St Mary's softened his opinion of the team.

 

[REB1094]

Another rough day for ranked teams yesterday

#3 Kansas goes down to UCF
#5 Tennessee loses to Mississippi St
#9 Oklahoma loses to TCU
#11 Marquette loses at home to Butler
#13 Memphis needs OT at home against UTSA (I don’t even know what UTSA stands for)
#21 Clemson loses to Virginia Tech

#4 UConn won by 5 (but up 14 with 4 min left), #7 UNC with a comfortable win over NC St, and #15 Wisconsin with a good road win @ Ohio St

 

[J187Money]

University of Texas at San Antonio