AP poll 2/4: How far will UConn drop?

[IWearShoes]

In looking at the way the pollsters voted, I am particularly perplexed by Percy Allen of the Seattle Times. Last week, he did not even have SC ranked, and this week, his ranking of SC falls way outside that of each other pollster by a long shot. Then, upon further investigation, I have to seriously question his logic. He clearly is either not taking his responsibility seriously, or he hasn't watched any women's basketball games this year and only looks at final scores and ignores opponents, SOS, actual flow of games (some scores are definitely not true pictures of how close the game was played, i.e. ND/Louisville, SC/MSU, etc.). For example, he still has NCSU ranked #6 despite losing to unranked UNC and having an overall weak schedule thus far this season. He also has TAMU and Kentucky ranked in the top 15, and BYU is listed at #25 despite taking 2 losses this week to unranked teams. I understand rankings are more for the fans than anything, particularly at this point of the season; however, I believe if you are tasked with the responsibility of casting a ballot, you should at least put forth some effort.

No, he's clearly a mad genius. Has MSU at #2.

Honestly, not easy to defend some of his positioning to put it mildly.

 

[Carnac]

I guess I don't understand the philosophy behind the rankings. IMO, if you're a top 5 team, and you lose to an UNRANKED opponent, that is a very bad loss, and you should drop down in the rankings accordingly.
Similar to if you defeat the #1 team while unranked, you should move in to the top 25 accordingly.

At least into the top half of the top 25. Why? If the #1 team is ranked at the top, it's because they are "perceived" to be better than all the teams BELOW them. Usually they are an "elite" major that has a very strong and dominant team, who theoretically would beat everyone ranked below them. I can also understand that if an unranked team did beat #1, that does not mean they are better than all of the other top 25 teams, and consequently not does it mean they would/could defeat any or all of them. If you do not deserve to be in the top 25, you won't be there long.

I thought #1 ND should have dropped a lot further than they did after their loss to North Carolina. NC was only 2 games over .500 (11/9) at the time. Not exactly a team on the rise. They only fell 4 spots to #5. Not far enough. Not because they are ND, but because they were #1. I can only imagine the tenor of the comments here if UConn were to lose to an unranked AAC opponent.

When you fall from the top, you can usually work your way back near the top, IF there's enough time. UConn falling to #5 seems right to me. They lost to the team immediately below them in the rankings. I guess that some sort of "standard" should be established that we can all use (and feel comfortable with) to judge the weight of a loss, or a win. Because judging from the comments here, we're clearly not all using the same unit(s) of measurement. i.e., losing to a top 25 opponent would not be as bad (and not considered a "bad" loss) as much as losing to an unranked opponent.

The way UConn is playing right now, and based on the way they struggled with unranked Cincinnati (14-8) Saturday and using the simple "eye test", I'm not sure they could beat any of the other top 12 teams if they played them tonight. Right now UConn is out of sync, and it cannot be assumed what those results would be. When they're in sync and clicking on all cylinders like they were against UCF (19-3). They posted a 36 point win over a much better UCF team than Cincinnati. There were in sync and running on all cylinders. They are a true top 5 team when they are right, and could very well win the NC come April.

 

[Bajan Best]

To me This is all a bunch of nonsense, not that it matters anyways..
But For augments sake lets just acknowledge the following;

Baylor has a collection of "Better wins"
And Uconn has a collection of "Better Losses"
Then shouldn't the tie-breaker be head to head matchup?
And I haven't even looked at whether games were played on the road or at home etc

Bottom Line, a win is a win and a loss is a loss. Anything else is excuses to justify preferences.

They were ranked and un-ranked teams in past years who played UConn close, but just because that team presented a better matchup to UCONN on a given night did not mean they were automatically the 2nd best team in the country. Just as when Uconn beat the 2nd ranked team in the country by 25 points it didn't mean the team should drop below all the other teams that played Uconn closer..

In my book all Losses are bad and all wins are good, period.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

Dear @vowelguy apparently my attempt to use logic to understand this process is not just me...as per posts from @Scoop and @Bajan Best above. And...in reply to your previous comments to me...my comments were in the line of the AP poll voters... I didn't make the leap to braketology except to indicate that Charlie Creme IS NOT (as far as anyone has ever said) one of the committee that makes the final Brackets.

SO... I attempted to use Logic to understand a process that is not built on logic. That's all.

 

[hussybulldog]

AP ranking is like Oscar voters, they don’t have to know the teams/games, they vote according to their personal likes. I trust coaches’ ranking better. Tomorrow we will see UConn ranked ahead of ND. It does not matter how pretty one paints ND’s loss to NC, it ain’t prettier than UConn’s loss to either Baylor or Louisville, one can’t say the former one was a quality loss. One can argue last week’s Stanford’s two losses are “quality losses” but certainly not ND’s. A pig with lipsticks, shall we say?

 

[triaddukefan]

Having watched them the last two Sundays, I find it hard to believe they are not one of the best 25 teams right now.

I also can't understand how they lost to the likes of Ohio State and Colorado earlier this year. They are truly a mystery.

I totally understand why they are not in the top 25, but if I had a ballot, they would be on it.

 

[DallasBUFan]

I don't agree is Iowa State at 22. I also don't think A&M deserves to be 18 either.

 

[Orangutan]

In looking at the way the pollsters voted, I am particularly perplexed by Percy Allen of the Seattle Times.

His rankings caught my eye as well because he had NC State at 6 and ND at 7, which is quite a unique take. I'll spare everyone the big rant, but the big criticism against ND that they lost to unranked UNC obviously doesn't play here given that NC State lost by more and at home.

I checked the guys twitter. No tweets that I could find about women's college basketball over the last several days. It appears his primary beat is Washington men's basketball. Makes you wonder

 

[Vowelguy]

A poll ranking should be who are the best teams. If someone really thinks UConn is better than ND right now, then they'll rank them higher.
Looking at how UConn has played lately, I would not agree with that assessment.

 

[JordyG]

Yeah, times are tough. UConn is only number 4. I guess Geno's must be on suicide watch.

 

[Plebe]

The 2/11 game in Storrs will be absolutely no cakewalk. UConn will have to bring it or else the Boneyard will completely implode.

Oops actually I just checked the schedule and it’s in Hartford. Either way ...

 

[triaddukefan]

As an aside..... these abbreviations are confusing me when i go through this and other threads. MSU? Im thinking Michigan State... OSU.... Im thinking Oklahoma State I saw a SC ... a NC ... Southern Cal ? National Championship?

 

[Fightin Choke]

As an aside..... these abbreviations are confusing me when i go through this and other threads. MSU? Im thinking Michigan State... OSU.... Im thinking Oklahoma State I saw a SC ... a NC ... Southern Cal ? National Championship?

What I hate is when people write "LV" when they mean Louisville. I always associate that with the Lady Vols.

 

[IWearShoes]

MSU? Im thinking Michigan State...

So Mississippi State hasn't done enough in the last 3 seasons to earn national use of MSU on a Women's BB board. Tough crowd.

When I use it I kinda assume my avatar and the name below it help.

 

[JordyG]

As an aside..... these abbreviations are confusing me when i go through this and other threads. MSU? Im thinking Michigan State... OSU.... Im thinking Oklahoma State I saw a SC ... a NC ... Southern Cal ? National Championship?

What I hate is when write "LV" when they mean Louisville. I always associate that with the Lady Vols.

With me it's always MSS for Mississippi State, UT for Tenn, Okla State for you know what. Avoids confusion.

 

[Vowelguy]

So Mississippi State hasn't done enough in the last 3 seasons to earn national use of MSU on a Women's BB board. Tough crowd.

When I use it I kinda assume my avatar and the name below it help.

For me,
I don't care how well SoCar does in WCBB, USC is always the team in Cali.
OSU is Ohio St; maybe Okla St.
MSU doesn't resonate much with me, but moreso Mich St than anything else.

 

[Vowelguy]

What I hate is when people write "LV" when they mean Louisville. I always associate that with the Lady Vols.

Agreed. LV is perfect, as it reminds me of eViL.

 

[IWearShoes]

For me,
I don't care how well SoCar does in WCBB, USC is always the team in Cali.
OSU is Ohio St; maybe Okla St.
MSU doesn't resonate much with me, but moreso Mich St than anything else.

I've occasionally use USCe or USCw to denote the two SC's, but I generally think of South Carolina as SC and Southern Cal as USC.

I use OK St or Okie St, which they prolly hate.

I think most of the SEC thinks of MSU as Mississippi State because they play us pretty often. I understand Michigan St is more of a national brand. MSS may work for some, but is not used at all by Bulldog fans.

 

[Orangutan]

So Mississippi State hasn't done enough in the last 3 seasons to earn national use of MSU on a Women's BB board. Tough crowd.

When I use it I kinda assume my avatar and the name below it help.

My Big Ten country brain goes to Michigan State for MSU, but in the context of women's basketball it's usually easy to figure out the school to which is being referred.

UT is the confusing one for me. Because that could be Texas or Tennessee and each are relevant in women's basketball (well, Tennessee used to be )

 

[LoTrader]

OSU BEAVERS

 

[donalddoowop]

I may have to eat my words now, from a previous post regarding Antonelli and something to do with Siberia. Tastes good, thank you...can I have another?

I don't know about the rest of you posters but, D. Antonelli irritates me for a number of reasons. Also, she seems to love to let people know that she has a vote on the top 25 teams.

 

[Plebe]

I feel like the context makes the acronym clear in about 95% of the cases. If I talk about "Oregon's loss to MSU," obviously I'm talking about Michigan State; if it's "Oregon's win over MSU," then it's Mississippi State.

But on the rare times context doesn't clarify (e.g., "that reminds me of Ionescu's performance in the MSU game"), I'll write the dang thing out.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I think where BYers are having disagreements is where "logic" is being used to forecast the AP Poll & the NCAA Committee's seeding the teams for the tournament!
But remember back to 2001, where Sue Bird hit the last second shot to beat ND & win the Big East Tournament than a week later when ND was placed as the #1 #1 over UCONN because the Committee Chairwoman said ND was placed because they beat UCONN TWICE, winning the Big East regular season AND Tournament!
Forget the rules and logic NOTHING APPLIES HERE! The seeding is what the Committee decides on that date!
Common Sense be da--ed!

 

[MilfordHusky]

What I hate is when people write "LV" when they mean Louisville. I always associate that with the Lady Vols.

Agreed. Some folks use GT for Georgetown, but I think of it as Georgia Tech.

 

[Bajan Best]

I think where BYers are having disagreements is where "logic" is being used to forecast the AP Poll & the NCAA Committee's seeding the teams for the tournament!
But remember back to 2001, where Sue Bird hit the last second shot to beat ND & win the Big East Tournament than a week later when ND was placed as the #1 #1 over UCONN because the Committee Chairwoman said ND was placed because they beat UCONN TWICE, winning the Big East regular season AND Tournament!
Forget the rules and logic NOTHING APPLIES HERE! The seeding is what the Committee decides on that date!
Common Sense be da--ed!

That is actually logical, if a team wins two out of three head to head and barely loss the third, they should be the higher seed.... that is common sense...

 

[j66kicker]

That is actually logical, if a team wins two out of three head to head and barely loss the third, they should be the higher seed.... that is common sense...

I believe what @RSHERMVIKES was remembering was the chairwoman based her (and the committee's) seeding rationale on the incorrect and incompetent belief that ND won the BE tournament final game when, in fact, UConn did.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I believe what @RSHERMVIKES was remembering was the chairwoman based her (and the committee's) seeding rationale on the incorrect and incompetent belief that ND won the BE tournament final game when, in fact, UConn did.

Thanks j66kicker! Yes the Chairwoman was completely ignorant of the UCONN victory in the BE Tournament and when the ESPN crew pointed out that UCONN WON the Finals the Chairwoman looked incredulously and said, "They did?"

 

[Vowelguy]

Thanks j66kicker! Yes the Chairwoman was completely ignorant of the UCONN victory in the BE Tournament and when the ESPN crew pointed out that UCONN WON the Finals the Chairwoman looked incredulously and said, "They did?"

I do not believe that is correct.

I'm pretty sure she said "they won the big east conference." Which they did, as the regular season. Technically the co-champ, but they were the #1 seed.

UConn got bumped down because Shea was injured during the BET game and out for the season.