AP Poll Week #13 | Page 4 | The Boneyard

AP Poll Week #13

rashadray11 said:
The UConn women played Tennessee yesterday. They do this to ensure they play high level competition throughout the year, despite being in the worst of the P5 leagues. We should be doing the same type of thing. It's pretty obvious.
Expand ...
Our schedule is perfect this season. If we were healthy we would be #1 and heading into the Garden to play a really tough opponent.
 
KingAG said:
You were doing good until you added Vegas again. You can’t help yourself. Again when will we have that opportunity that Michigan had last week in the BE? Or even something like what Duke will have next week against UNC and Clemson? Blame the BE. UConn can’t win this year in this conference
Expand ...
When I say Vegas, I am saying the odds on favorite, which aligns with most viewers/analysts/talking heads.

We'll have that opportunity on the road against StJ this week? If we can go into MSG and win, I think we'll be alright.
 
KingAG said:
Yea that was until I saw the light. It’s the BE.
Expand ...
I'd say the Big East is responsible for us being ranked as high as we are, because lets be honest, if we had played a B12/B10 type schedule over the past month we probably would have lost and would be ranked lower than 3.
 
7774 said:
I'd say the Big East is responsible for us being ranked as high as we are, because lets be honest, if we had played a B12/B10 type schedule over the past month we probably would have lost and would be ranked lower than 3.
Expand ...
Given our only loss is to the current number one by 4 points without two of our starters, I'm inclined to disagree.
 
.-.
KingAG said:
This wouldn’t be a problem if the BE didn’t suck. You know why you don’t remember Mich close win against Penn State or them losing to Wisconsin? Because they had high end opportunities after that.
Expand ...
You’re right. I agree (and just for the record Wisconsin doesn’t suck. They got some T25 votes I believe.) And they have multiple high end games coming up. Their final 6 games include 4 different ranked opponents including Duke. Our final 6 games include St John’s. Hurley gets that for us to go where we want to go high end non-league scheduling is crucial. Problem is playing those games early loses its impact on voters as time goes by.
 
freescooter said:
You’re right. I agree (and just for the record Wisconsin doesn’t suck. They got some T25 votes I believe.) And they have multiple high end games coming up. Their final 6 games include 4 different ranked opponents including Duke. Our final 6 games include St John’s. Hurley gets that for us to go where we want to go high end non-league scheduling is crucial. Problem is playing those games early loses its impact on voters as time goes by.
Expand ...

Hence playing one or two of them in Jan or Feb : ) Resting my case now. Go Huskies.
 
aceboon said:
ACC is still better than the Big East and the past few weeks they've been winning these conf games convincingly, not going life and death with scrub teams
Expand ...
OK, here is the issue, they are not scrub teams. The Big East may not be great with consistent good and ranked teams BUT many of these teams have players who will play at the next level and on any given night keep their team hanging around in games. Particularly when we have a horrible shooting night, or we don’t have our lottery pick playing.
If you need confirmation of that just ask someone who actually knows, Dan Hurley. He has said it over and over again that BE games are not easy. We had the best team ever a couple years ago we were challenged and lost games, right?
 
.-.
KingAG said:
You were doing good until you added Vegas again. You can’t help yourself. Again when will we have that opportunity that Michigan had last week in the BE? Or even something like what Duke will have next week against UNC and Clemson? Blame the BE. UConn can’t win this year in this conference
Expand ...
Nothing has changed since the mid-November. The team hasn't deviated from impressions that it is a plausible contender and the door is still open for a National Championship. Only a select number of teams have been and still are seen that way.

Given the rarity of a team winning 6 consecutive win-or-go-home games, and the way that (un)lucky bounces and injuries have resulted in great teams not winning and not-so-great teams winning, it should be more widely recognized that we fans are in a weird & enviable position.

Our anxious natures are aroused by regarding the season as a binary situation: we either win the NC (Yay) or we don't (Boo/Boohoo). We won't know which until our time in the Tournament ends.

Figure that less than 5% of fan D1 bases allow themselves such fantasies, and the majority of those precious few aren't operating with the Yes or No mentality.

So far, we've seen a 6-1 November, a 7-0 December, and an 8-0 January. A pre-season #4 ranking has improved to a #3 current ranking.

Of course things will be decided on the court, but in addition to overall talent & playing well, a healthy roster, team chemistry, and excellent coaching will be most determinative.

The 2025-26 team has had numerous injuries and roster adjustments. The coaching staff has acknowledged that these shifts have been disruptive. In the best light, it could now look as though the team did not get to know & reveal itself until last Saturday night, with a 9 player rotation that has previously been too variable for comfort. The ideal would be for tomorrow night's game to show a solidification of what was seen in the final 20+ minutes in Omaha.

I still deeply want to see the rim attacked, fouls drawn, and foul shots made, and I want Demary to lead the way in this regard. If successful, a stronger inside game will result in improvements throughout the team. I also think that Dan Hurley wants this as well, and holds himself responsible for deficiencies that we are bickering about and attributing to individual players.

A major theme in the Hurley years before NCAA Tournament invitations was "excruciating losses," and then it carried over to opening round disappointments. And then there were back-to-back championships.

January 2026 was not particularly beautiful and fun-to-watch basketball. But, each game earned a handwritten W on the refrigerator calendar that is an evolving symbol of this season's success. We just witnessed a month with a number of "excruciating wins." Time to move forward.

The coaching staff has its team, and I am most concerned that the players heal from, work through, and/or avoid injuries. May each player grow into their role within the whole, and may the staff continue to do its best to have a great season. We are still in the hunt.

Go Huskies.
One game at a time.
 
Last edited:
freescooter said:
Except not so much.

This is a result of a series of factors:
1. Struggling against the likes of Providence, the Hall, Georgetown, DePaul. Meanwhile Michigan was beating the #5 and #7 teams in the country.
Expand ...

Yet Michigan struggled with Penn State and Wisconsin, and they didn't blow out the next 4 teams either, the likes of Oregon & Washington. The only decent team they beat was Indiana.
freescooter said:
4. Michigan’s wins are equal or better than our wins. They beat Gonzaga, Nebraska and Michigan State. In our only(I think) common opponent they blew Villanova out of the building. We got taken to OT at home. Again recency bias comes into play. Not a knock on our wins. Just the way things are perceived.
Expand ...

Well they have 3 of those wins, UConn has 4. And I'd be really hardpressed to argue how much better Nebraska is than Illinois or Florida.

But I know this: UConn did not lose to an unranked team. Up until now, UConn's resume has been better
 
jibsey said:
OK, here is the issue, they are not scrub teams. The Big East may not be great with consistent good and ranked teams BUT many of these teams have players who will play at the next level and on any given night keep their team hanging around in games. Particularly when we have a horrible shooting night, or we don’t have our lottery pick playing.
If you need confirmation of that just ask someone who actually knows, Dan Hurley. He has said it over and over again that BE games are not easy. We had the best team ever a couple years ago we were challenged and lost games, right?
Expand ...
I'd like to know which players we've faced that are playing at the next level? I've seen a bunch of mocks so far this year and I'm not sure the BE has anyone non UConn other than Zubi in the second round. There is literally no NBA talent in the BE this year.

BE games are not easy because of reffing, familiarity and target on back.
 
This is absolutely a warning shot that voters (and by extension the Selection Committee) are not impressed with our resume compared to others at the top. We're probably the 4th #1 seed at the moment, behind Arizona, Michigan, and Duke.

The question is, how close do they consider the teams behind us -- Houston, Iowa State, Purdue, Gonzaga, Illinois?

I used to think that we're safe on the #1 line with two more losses, but even that might put us in jeopardy. The Big East is costing us big time this year.
 
Tenspro2002 said:
This is absolutely a warning shot that voters (and by extension the Selection Committee) are not impressed with our resume compared to others at the top. We're probably the 4th #1 seed at the moment, behind Arizona, Michigan, and Duke.

The question is, how close do they consider the teams behind us -- Houston, Iowa State, Purdue, Gonzaga, Illinois?

I used to think that we're safe on the #1 line with two more losses, but even that might put us in jeopardy. The Big East is costing us big time this year.
Expand ...
We're safe with 2 more losses if the other teams lose multiple games as well.

I would prefer to keep on winning and take any consternation out of it.
 
.-.
jibsey said:
OK, here is the issue, they are not scrub teams. The Big East may not be great with consistent good and ranked teams BUT many of these teams have players who will play at the next level and on any given night keep their team hanging around in games. Particularly when we have a horrible shooting night, or we don’t have our lottery pick playing.
If you need confirmation of that just ask someone who actually knows, Dan Hurley. He has said it over and over again that BE games are not easy. We had the best team ever a couple years ago we were challenged and lost games, right?
Expand ...
Providence is absolutely a scrub team, yes they have talent but objectively they are not a good basketball team. Only on Planet Boneyard is a 9-13 team not considered a scrub team.
 
KingAG said:
Which all circles back to it’s the BE fault. UConn will never have the opportunity that Michigan had this week. They barely beat these teams and it’s “they can’t even blow out bad teams”. They blow them out “ it doesn’t matter because they suck”. You can start to see why a competitor would begin to get disinterested. Which is what I think the majority of out January problems stemmed from.
Expand ...

This is a bad year for the BE. If this becomes the norm, then it's a problem. We need to get out anyway. You won't get any disagreement from me over that.

But if the BE has a good year, then we definitely can have great weeks during conference play.
 
It's a shame that there isn't something like an end of season tournament to determine who really is the best team.

I know some here are petrified of having to face a top five team before the regional finals (that wouldn't bother me, but I guess that's just me), but fortunately we won't need to worry about that this year as we would need to tank in order to drop below a two seed.

Let the voters view us however they want to. They don't have a say in much of anything beyond silly little polls like this one. When the dust settles we could well be the only one still standing. I'll take enough from that to completely dismiss this poll.
 
IndyLives said:
UConn disrespected. Drops in the polls after 2 good wins. Media and coaches continue to give the BE zero respect!!
Expand ...
The BE has 4 teams in the KenPom top 65....the MWC has 6. The BE is very down this year.

That said UConn is still a #1 seed come March unless they have a wtf loss (any loss at this point besides @St. John's).
 
nomar said:
This is a bad year for the BE. If this becomes the norm, then it's a problem. We need to get out anyway. You won't get any disagreement from me over that.

But if the BE has a good year, then we definitely can have great weeks during conference play.
Expand ...
I guess I don't know how we fix it if we aren't recruiting at a high level. I've been saying this for a couple years now. The BE as a whole doesn't recruit well at the HS level, so how do we miraculously turn it around?

Latest mock has Zubi, and then Dillon Mitchell back end of 2nd round. The entire first two rounds is made up of SEC/B12/B10/ACC. It's nothing but a talent shortage because we can't recruit. Who do we have in this league next year that has a chance to be special? Gtown has a fairly high kid coming in. No one really mopped up in the portal this past go outside of UConn & StJ.

Go look at the B12 - it's a lot of star power through HS recruiting, mixed with high end returners.


Best HS class after us is Creighton at 37. The BE is cooked. It's just not a draw anymore for top kids, and gets second rate transfers.

247sports.com

2026 Recruit Basketball Team Rankings

In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.
247sports.com 247sports.com
 
upstater said:
Yes, it depends on how you look at things.

UConn has wins over 5, 11, 16 and 17. Only loss is the #1.
Michigan has wins over 6, 9, 10. Only loss is to UNRANKED team.

The metrics put Michigan on top.
Recency bias puts Michigan on top.
What I just wrote above puts UConn on top if only by virtue that they were on top last week.
Expand ...
There is also something to the ranking when you played them.

Creighton was ranked when Michigan beat them
Creighton was unranked when UConn beat them
 
.-.
Tenspro2002 said:
This is absolutely a warning shot that voters (and by extension the Selection Committee) are not impressed with our resume compared to others at the top. We're probably the 4th #1 seed at the moment, behind Arizona, Michigan, and Duke.

The question is, how close do they consider the teams behind us -- Houston, Iowa State, Purdue, Gonzaga, Illinois?

I used to think that we're safe on the #1 line with two more losses, but even that might put us in jeopardy. The Big East is costing us big time this year.
Expand ...
The CBS Sports guys just dropped UConn to a 2 seed and elevated Iowa State to the 4th 1 seed. So is this what people were saying about the Big East not helping UConn this season?

Iowa State supplanted UConn on Monday in the updated CBS Sports Bracketology model as the fourth No. 1 seed, bumping the 21-1 Huskies to a projected No. 2 seed on the heels of ISU's fourth consecutive win over the weekend. The. Cyclones (20-2) and Huskies each have a 5-1 record in Quadrant 1 opportunities, and while the former ranks higher than the latter at KenPom, BartTorvik and the NET, the latter has a better Wins Above Bubble (WAB) metric -- which is results-based and generated to quantify how many more or fewer wins a team compiled compared to what a bubble team would average against the same schedule -- as well as a perfect 8-0 record vs. Quad 2 foes.

All that to say: the margin between ISU and UConn is obviously razor-thin. And the change coming after ISU's 95-61 win on Sunday suggests it did well for the Cyclones particularly in the NET, which factors in scoring margin. It should be a tight race for the final couple spots on the No. 1 seed line all the way into March.

www.cbssports.com

Bracketology: Iowa State moves up to a No. 1 seed, bumps UConn from top line

The Cyclones join Duke, Arizona and Michigan on the top line of the CBS Sports Bracketology model
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
166,849
Messages
4,496,320
Members
10,367
Latest member
ctfan2


Top Bottom