AP Poll - 12/18

[Candyman]

I don't understand the Houston love. Houston may be very good but how would anyone know this? what makes them top 4? They haven't beaten an AP ranked team yet. The fact that everyone else has played top 10 teams but Houston (who hasn't played a top 25 team yet).

Lets check the rest of the top 6:

• Marquette played Purdue and Kansas;
• UConn played Kansas, NC and Gonzaga.
• Arizona played Duke and Purdue;
• Kansas played UConn, Tennessee, Kentucky and Marquette.
• Purdue played Marquette, Arizona, Tennessee, and Gonzaga.

All these teams are top 10 or were ranked at some point this year in the top 10. Houston deserves to be 6. I don't care if they are undefeated or that they beat Xavier at Xavier.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Houston doesn't face the Big12 ranked opponents until late Jan / Feb so may not be tested until then. First ranked opponent they face this year is @BYU on 1/23....@TX & @KU follow soon after. Houston also @IA St & @TCU earlier in January who are decent teams.

They will be tested. Even mediocre Big XII teams are vastly more difficult than what they usually play. They are in for some pain.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

AZ beat 3 teams who were ranked at the time of their games. We've beaten 3 as well.

Both teams are 0-1 against teams currently in the top 10s.

We are ranked 6th and 7th in WAB resume metric.

There's just not much to get upset about. Coin flip situation and they had the poll inertia on their side.

I hear ya, but I don't think "currently ranked" means too much early in the season for teams like Duke and Michigan State this season - if they didn't have those specific names on the front of their jerseys they looked more like high mid-major teams than top 10'ers.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Arizona also won @ Duke which is a pretty darned good win. I figured it could go either way between us.

Meh on Duke - not impressed. Maybe later in the season but not to date.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

UH does have 4 Q1 NET wins

Just not feeling it.

 

[TheChamps990411]

They should not be ahead of UConn.

To be fair, nobody should. I can now say Uconn is the best team ive seen this year and they havent even played their A game yet.

 

[uconnyankee]

It’s all trivial….
Basketball ends on the court so nobody is hiding behind the polls like football.
We win the Big East, we should be a 1 seed.
That’s all that matters.

 

[Hunt for 7]

The only ranking I need to see right now is what everyone knows. We are the betting favorite to get to the final four. So you can take all the analytics and evaluate data until the cows come home. But what this UConn team has verified too me is that basketball is an art form of athleticism more so than any other game. Which is why the numbers cannot quantify what everyone’s eyes are telling them. We are the best team in the country and it might not be close. No better proof than people putting their money on that thought. What’s that saying put your money were your mouth is……we are the best team. No matter what ranking system; NET, KenPom, AP poll, Coaches Poll ESPN power ratings or CBS sports 25+1 makes no difference. They are all wrong unless they have UConn #1. Let’s Go!!!!!!

 

[pepband99]

The only poll that matters is the final poll

Only if you’re dook. Those crybaby losers hang a banner for being #1 in the final poll, when they don’t win

Like 1999

 

[Waquoit]

The Athletic Top 25 guy had UConn 2nd today. Their power ratings guy had UConn 2nd last week to Arizona.

 

[HooperScooper]

AP pollsters vote UConn as the 5th best team out of 351 teams playing Division 1 basketball. And the Boneyard reaction is to get out the pitchforks and torches.

LOL! Arrogant and spoiled.

Even better. Out of 362.

 

[superjohn]

They will be tested. Even mediocre Big XII teams are vastly more difficult than what they usually play. They are in for some pain.

Cincinnati and Houston both scheduled like they're absolutely terrified of the conference season.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Even better. Out of 362.

Pitchfork and torches is a bit of a stretch from what I am reading. But perhaps you agree we are a solid #5 team in the country. Then you would have to consider whether inferiority is a complex or a feeling that happens over time when treated with less respect than what has been earned.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Pitchfork and torches is a bit of a stretch from what I am reading. But perhaps you agree we are a solid #5 team in the country. Then you would have to consider whether inferiority is a complex or a feeling that happens over time when treated with less respect than what has been earned.

People love to exaggerate when disappointment is expressed on any topic here. It’s ok for UConn fans to think we’re slightly under ranked, it doesn’t seem like anyone’s day is ruined.

 

[Viet Vet]

Polls? Big whoop.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Dont let all this who beat who stuff distract any of you from the fact that Uconn is one 3 point shot going down away from being the consensus #1 team in the country.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Dont let all this who beat who stuff distract any of you from the fact that Uconn is one 3 point shot going down away from being the consensus #1 team in the country.

And we should be anyway. The guy who took the shot was playing on two bad feet. DC was 60%. AK could not shoot with the tape on his hand and our best athlete and quite possibly best defender was not playing.

 

[JohnnyJr]

Dont let all this who beat who stuff distract any of you from the fact that Uconn is one 3 point shot going down away from being the consensus #1 team in the country.

That’s why people are saying it’s bull because we lost by one shot on the road we’re 5 instead of 1. Purdue lost to a then unranked team on the road (yes they have better wins), Kansas got smoked by Marquette, Houston hasn’t played anyone, and Arizona just lost but has really only played Duke outside of the Purdue game. I get Purdue being 1 because of the quality of their wins but really we should be 2 at a minimum. We basically got no credit for our last two top ten wins maybe because we made them look so bad idk.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Cincinnati and Houston both scheduled like they're absolutely terrified of the conference season.

They probably are. But Houston scheduled that way in the American too. They are terrified of ever playing anybody good.

 

[JB75]

I still don’t understand how we are not least number two —zona got way too much credit and shot up the polls based off that Duke win have done nothing since. - pretty much got handled by Purdue
- we easily handled UNC Texas and Gonzaga- in control the entire game and barely moved in the polls
-we had Kansas down to our final shot on road without our McDonald’s all American - spencer had his worst game of the year and Clingan injured.
- Houston has played no one
*** I mean, how are we at least not ahead of Arizona ? I could see if we beat no one last week or didn’t play , but come on. What a joke. Pollsters will continue to sweat the big 10

 

[Conndog]

The only ranking I need to see right now is what everyone knows. We are the betting favorite to get to the final four. So you can take all the analytics and evaluate data until the cows come home. But what this UConn team has verified too me is that basketball is an art form of athleticism more so than any other game. Which is why the numbers cannot quantify what everyone’s eyes are telling them. We are the best team in the country and it might not be close. No better proof than people putting their money on that thought. What’s that saying put your money were your mouth is……we are the best team. No matter what ranking system; NET, KenPom, AP poll, Coaches Poll ESPN power ratings or CBS sports 25+1 makes no difference. They are all wrong unless they have UConn #1. Let’s Go!!!!!!

We may be the best, but to declare it and say it may not even be close, when Kansas has already defeated us (close game away yes), is premature.

 

[Hunt for 7]

We may be the best, but to declare it and say it may not even be close, when Kansas has already defeated us (close game away yes), is premature.

Might was the key word. What I do know is that we are certainly better than #5 which is what started the whole thread.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Cincinnati and Houston both scheduled like they're absolutely terrified of the conference season.

Consider as well that UCF, BYU, Houston, and Cincinnati football were a combined 8-28.

Current NET Top 50 lists for many statistical categories show BYU and Houston quite favorably. If they can sustain performance in-conference, more power to them. I share the widespread doubt here, but I'm not going to stress over UConn's week 7 ranking, and I know you aren't going to either. (And yes, UConn shows quite well in those stat rankings).

A year ago, this board was awash with posters wondering how and to whom the team could possibly lose. And then we saw and felt the pain, the doubt, and the bewilderment.

In that sense, it might be psychologically healthier for the Boneyard to have something in the loss column.

Somehow we are exhibiting confidence that we are undoubtedly among the very best teams; believing we haven't even played super-well yet; loving an awful lot of what we're seeing on the court; speculating giddily about what things will be like when injuries heel and freshmen mature; basking in media adulation; and feeling we're being disrespected...all at the same time.

In response, we have multiple threads examining the team's flaws, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses. I wonder if we'd find a similar set of discussions within any other Top 5 -ranked team's message board.

May the coaches, players, and fans do their best to focus on

One
Game
At
A
Time

 

[Hunt for 7]

Consider as well that UCF, BYU, Houston, and Cincinnati football were a combined 8-28.

Current NET Top 50 lists for many statistical categories show BYU and Houston quite favorably. If they can sustain performance in-conference, more power to them. I share the widespread doubt here, but I'm not going to stress over UConn's week 7 ranking, and I know you aren't going to either. (And yes, UConn shows quite well in those stat rankings).

A year ago, this board was awash with posters wondering how and to whom the team could possibly lose. And then we saw and felt the pain, the doubt, and the bewilderment.

In that sense, it might be psychologically healthier for the Boneyard to have something in the loss column.

Somehow we are exhibiting confidence that we are undoubtedly among the very best teams; believing we haven't even played super-well yet; loving an awful lot of what we're seeing on the court; speculating giddily about what things will be like when injuries heel and freshmen mature; basking in media adulation; and feeling we're being disrespected...all at the same time.

In response, we have multiple threads examining the team's flaws, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses. I wonder if we'd find a similar set of discussions within any other Top 5 -ranked team's message board.

May the coaches, players, and fans do their best to focus on

One
Game
At
A
Time

Everything you write in your post is very sound from a logical and mature point of view. I think what you did is sort of spell out what it means to be a die hard fan. Giddy about what has been seen, adoring the media attention, believing (granted incorrectly so) that we cannot be beaten, while complaining about some deficiency that probably does not exist. Yes being a fan is all things….good and bad….and you did a wonderful job of capturing many of the idiosyncrasies that go along with fandom.

 

[connVA]

They probably are. But Houston scheduled that way in the American too. They are terrified of ever playing anybody good.

At least they can update their marketing slogan for the move to the Big XII- “Just wait until March- err, late January- when we play someone good!”