BY25 poll #2: Ballots due on Monday, Dec. 7

[Plebe]

The 2nd biweekly edition of the 2020-21 Boneyard Top 25 poll is approaching.

Ballots are due to me, via private message, by 11:00 a.m. ET on Monday, Dec. 7. (If you don't know how to send a PM, let me know in this thread and I will PM you first.) Ballots should reflect all games played through Sunday, Dec. 6.

A few rules:

• Early ballots (before all poll-relevant games have been decided on Sunday) are acceptable, but only if accompanied by contingency scenarios in the event of any potentially ballot-impacting upsets.
• Full ballots (of 25 teams) are strongly encouraged; short ballots (of at least 10 teams) are accepted.
• No ties are allowed on a ballot. Each team on the ballot must have a unique ranking.
• And it bears repeating: All voters are welcome regardless of fan base affiliation. The only requirement is to have a Boneyard account. Also, there is no requirement to have participated in previous polls.

As an aid to voters, the results for BY25 teams since the preseason poll of Nov. 23 are shown below, along with the games still to be played this weekend. (If you see any mistakes or omissions, please let me know and I will correct.)

Team (points) <#1>	Wins	Losses	Dec. 4-6 games
1. S. Carolina (565) <18>	Charleston, 119-38 (n) S. Dakota, 81-71 (n) #20 Gonzaga, 79-72	#6 NC State, 46-54	at #17 Iowa St
2. Stanford (541) <1>	Cal Poly, 108-40	--	at UNLV
3. UConn (534) <4>	--	--	--
4. Baylor (499)	Central Arkansas, 82-37 at South Florida, 67-62	--	at #13 Arkansas
5. Louisville (482)	at SE Missouri St, 74-53 E. Kentucky, 101-58	--	(n) #19 DePaul UT Martin
6. NC State (440)	N. Florida, 91-65 NC Central, 108-70 at #1 S. Carolina, 54-46	--	Coastal Carolina
7. Arizona (429)	N. Arizona, 76-63	--	#10 UCLA USC
8. Mississippi St (404)	Jacksonville St, 88-58 New Orleans, 106-51	--	at South Florida
9. Oregon (364)	Seattle, 116-51 at Portland, 85-52	--	Colorado Utah
10. UCLA (359)	CS Fullerton, 98-49	--	at #7 Arizona at Arizona St
11. Kentucky (328)	Murray St, 86-60 Belmont, 70-50 at Kansas St, 60-49	--	#15 Indiana
12. Maryland (325)	(n) Davidson, 94-72 (n) #13 Arkansas, 115-96 Towson, 112-78	(n) #23 Missouri St, 72-81	--
13. Arkansas (246)	Oral Roberts, 96-49 (n) Wake Forest, 98-82 at FGCU, 86-80	(n) #12 Maryland, 96-115	#4 Baylor
14. Texas A&M (229)	Lamar, 77-61 at #19 DePaul, 93-91 Lamar, 83-60	--	at #22 Texas
15. Indiana (227)	E. Kentucky, 100-51 Samford, 71-26	--	at #11 Kentucky
16. Oregon St (215)	Montana Western (D2), 88-54 San Francisco, 89-80	--	Colorado
17. Iowa St (187)	Omaha, 69-43 at TCU, 91-68	at S. Dakota St, 69-76	#1 S. Carolina
18. Northwestern (180)	--	--	--
19. DePaul (172)	Chicago St, 128-66	#14 Texas A&M, 91-93	(n) #5 Louisville Xavier
20. Gonzaga (150)	(n) S. Dakota, 54-50	(n) #1 S. Carolina, 72-79	at S. Dakota St
21. Syracuse (140)	at Stony Brook, 50-39 Lincoln (PA) (D2), 90-39	--	Penn St
22. Texas (102)	SMU, 90-51 N. Texas, 106-69 Louisiana Tech, 84-57	--	#14 Texas A&M
23T. Missouri St (63)	at FGCU, 74-49 #12 Maryland, 81-72	Wake Forest, 59-68	Lincoln (MO) (D2)
23T. Notre Dame (63)	Miami (OH), 88-68	at Ohio, 85-86 Michigan, 66-76	IUPUI
25. Ohio State (61)	Duquesne, 82-47 Kent St, 103-47	--	N. Kentucky
RV. Michigan (41)	C. Michigan, 93-75 at Oakland, 95-62 at #23 Notre Dame, 76-66	--	--
RV. North Carolina (32)	Radford, 90-61 UNC Greensboro, 96-38 High Point, 95-70 S. Carolina St, 98-28	--	Charlotte
RV. South Dakota St (17)	#17 Iowa St, 76-69 Creighton, 66-47	--	#20 Gonzaga
RV. South Dakota (13)	--	(n) #1 S. Carolina, 71-81 (n) #20 Gonzaga, 50-54	Lipscomb
RV. Florida St (12)	Florida, 81-75	--	Austin Peay
RV. Iowa (12)	Northern Iowa, 96-81 Drake, 103-97	--	Wisconsin
RV. Marquette (12)	at N. Dakota, 90-82	Milwaukee, 64-55	Providence
RV. Tennessee (6)	W. Kentucky, 87-47 E. Tennessee St, 67-50	--	at W. Virginia
RV. Kansas State (3)	Southern, 66-51	#11 Kentucky, 49-60	at C. Arkansas

 

[triaddukefan]

Is petty allowed in the voting? Asking for a would be voter.

 

[Plebe]

Is petty allowed in the voting? Asking for a would be voter.

Ah, gee, I wonder who the voter would be

Let's just say that a modicum of good faith is expected. A ballot that has Belmont Abbey ranked #1 just for beating UNCG might not fly, just to give an example.

 

[triaddukefan]

Ah, gee, I wonder who the voter would be

Let's just say that a modicum of good faith is expected. A ballot that has Belmont Abbey ranked #1 just for beating UNCG might not fly, just to give an example.

Naw.... Belmont Abbey is Division II... can't rank them. Now if we had a BY Division II poll... they would definitely get a vote.

 

[Lorcan]

Ah, gee, I wonder who the voter would be

Let's just say that a modicum of good faith is expected. A ballot that has Belmont Abbey ranked #1 just for beating UNCG might not fly, just to give an example.

I still remember the time that I accidentally dropped Florida State off my ballot when they were hovering around #11 in the rankings and my ballot was accepted.

I'm struggling with how to rank UConn. If I adopt the same ranking stratagem that some voters took with Football, they would remain off my poll until they've played at least one game. IIRC The Pac-12 football teams weren't ranked at the beginning of the season as they didn't have any games, and there were some voters who left them off until they had played at least one game since this is no longer a preseason poll. I don't think I'd adopt this stratagem, but it's been on my mind given how other teams were treated this year in other sports.

In regards to "accidentally" leaving someone off the poll, I can't help it if I repress memories of certain teams playing. In my mind, they clearly lost. I mean, Louisville clearly got thrashed by Southwest Missouri State, right?

 

[Plebe]

I've updated the results table below to reflect the results of the past two days.

A word about early ballots. Multiple people have now submitted their ballot an entire day or two early. As noted above, the ballot should reflect all results through Sunday, Dec. 6. This is why I include the following rule:

• Early ballots (before all poll-relevant games have been decided on Sunday) are acceptable, but only if accompanied by contingency scenarios in the event of any potentially ballot-impacting upsets.

Since it's extremely rare to go an entire Sunday slate without any "ballot-impacting upsets" (i.e., ranked teams losing to a lower-ranked or unranked team), there's not much point in submitting a very early ballot that can't possibly anticipate how all of the weekend's remaining games will turn out.

I hope this makes sense. I want to keep the poll fun and not bog it down in a bunch of rules, but this is one that I'll have to enforce rather strictly: Ballots that don't reflect all games through Sunday will not be considered valid.

I get that it's a tight turnaround between Sunday evening and the Monday morning deadline, and this is why I allow for contingency instructions if it's Sunday afternoon and one or two games are still being played that could potentially impact the voter's ballot.

== == ==

Twenty-one out of the BY25 teams are in action today, including 4 matchups between BY25 teams.

Team (points) <#1>	Wins	Losses	Dec. 6 games
1. S. Carolina (565) <18>	Charleston, 119-38 (n) S. Dakota, 81-71 (n) #20 Gonzaga, 79-72	#6 NC State, 46-54	at #17 Iowa St
2. Stanford (541) <1>	Cal Poly, 108-40 at UNLV, 101-54	--	--
3. UConn (534) <4>	--	--	--
4. Baylor (499)	Central Arkansas, 82-37 at South Florida, 67-62	--	at #13 Arkansas
5. Louisville (482)	at SE Missouri St, 74-53 E. Kentucky, 101-58 (n) #19 DePaul, 116-75	--	UT Martin
6. NC State (440)	N. Florida, 91-65 NC Central, 108-70 at #1 S. Carolina, 54-46	--	Coastal Carolina
7. Arizona (429)	N. Arizona, 76-63 #10 UCLA, 68-65	--	USC
8. Mississippi St (404)	Jacksonville St, 88-58 New Orleans, 106-51	at South Florida, 63-67 OT
9. Oregon (364)	Seattle, 116-51 at Portland, 85-52 Colorado, 82-53	--	Utah
10. UCLA (359)	CS Fullerton, 98-49	at #7 Arizona, 65-68	at Arizona St
11. Kentucky (328)	Murray St, 86-60 Belmont, 70-50 at Kansas St, 60-49	--	#15 Indiana
12. Maryland (325)	(n) Davidson, 94-72 (n) #13 Arkansas, 115-96 Towson, 112-78	(n) #23 Missouri St, 72-81	--
13. Arkansas (246)	Oral Roberts, 96-49 (n) Wake Forest, 98-82 at FGCU, 86-80	(n) #12 Maryland, 96-115	#4 Baylor
14. Texas A&M (229)	Lamar, 77-61 at #19 DePaul, 93-91 Lamar, 83-60	--	at #22 Texas
15. Indiana (227)	E. Kentucky, 100-51 Samford, 71-26	--	at #11 Kentucky
16. Oregon St (215)	Montana Western (D2), 88-54 San Francisco, 89-80	--	Colorado
17. Iowa St (187)	Omaha, 69-43 at TCU, 91-68	at S. Dakota St, 69-76	#1 S. Carolina
18. Northwestern (180)	--	--	--
19. DePaul (172)	Chicago St, 128-66	#14 Texas A&M, 91-93 (n) #5 Louisville, 75-116	Xavier
20. Gonzaga (150)	(n) S. Dakota, 54-50	(n) #1 S. Carolina, 72-79	at S. Dakota St
21. Syracuse (140)	at Stony Brook, 50-39 Lincoln (PA) (D2), 90-39	--	Penn St
22. Texas (102)	SMU, 90-51 N. Texas, 106-69 Louisiana Tech, 84-57	--	#14 Texas A&M
23T. Missouri St (63)	at FGCU, 74-49 #12 Maryland, 81-72	Wake Forest, 59-68	Lincoln (MO) (D2)
23T. Notre Dame (63)	Miami (OH), 88-68	at Ohio, 85-86 Michigan, 66-76	IUPUI
25. Ohio State (61)	Duquesne, 82-47 Kent St, 103-47	--	N. Kentucky
RV. Michigan (41)	C. Michigan, 93-75 at Oakland, 95-62 at #23 Notre Dame, 76-66	--	--
RV. North Carolina (32)	Radford, 90-61 UNC Greensboro, 96-38 High Point, 95-70 S. Carolina St, 98-28	--	Charlotte
RV. South Dakota St (17)	#17 Iowa St, 76-69 Creighton, 66-47	--	#20 Gonzaga
RV. South Dakota (13)	--	(n) #1 S. Carolina, 71-81 (n) #20 Gonzaga, 50-54	Lipscomb
RV. Florida St (12)	Florida, 81-75	--	Austin Peay
RV. Iowa (12)	Northern Iowa, 96-81 Drake, 103-97 Wisconsin, 85-78	--	--
RV. Marquette (12)	at N. Dakota, 90-82 Providence, 89-40	Milwaukee, 64-55	--
RV. Tennessee (6)	W. Kentucky, 87-47 E. Tennessee St, 67-50	--	at W. Virginia
RV. Kansas State (3)	Southern, 66-51 at C. Arkansas, 47-33	#11 Kentucky, 49-60	--

..

 

[Bobcat]

Polls and rankings this time of year especially this year, are meaningless.

 

[Lorcan]

Polls and rankings this time of year especially this year, are meaningless.

They are still fun to do as you consider who is perceived to be the better teams in the land. If you want to be a bah humbug on our fun, please take it elsewhere.

 

[Plebe]

Polls and rankings this time of year especially this year, are meaningless.

Oh gee thanks for your enriching contribution.

Care to tell us the exact date upon which our chosen form of entertainment acquires meaning in your eyes? We would hate to trigger another such comment ever again.

 

[Argonaut]

All of these upsets have me like...

 

[Plebe]

Updating the table to reflect all of Sunday's results.

Still trying to catch my breath from all the close and competitive games today.

Ballots are due in about 12 hours from now.

Team (points) <#1>	Wins	Losses
1. S. Carolina (565) <18>	Charleston, 119-38 (n) S. Dakota, 81-71 (n) #20 Gonzaga, 79-72 at #17 Iowa St, 83-65	#6 NC State, 46-54
2. Stanford (541) <1>	Cal Poly, 108-40 at UNLV, 101-54 (n) Washington, 83-50	--
3. UConn (534) <4>	--	--
4. Baylor (499)	Central Arkansas, 82-37 at South Florida, 67-62	at #13 Arkansas, 78-83
5. Louisville (482)	at SE Missouri St, 74-53 E. Kentucky, 101-58 (n) #19 DePaul, 116-75 UT Martin	--
6. NC State (440)	N. Florida, 91-65 NC Central, 108-70 at #1 S. Carolina, 54-46 Coastal Carolina, 98-46	--
7. Arizona (429)	N. Arizona, 76-63 #10 UCLA, 68-65 USC, 78-77	--
8. Mississippi St (404)	Jacksonville St, 88-58 New Orleans, 106-51	at South Florida, 63-67 OT
9. Oregon (364)	Seattle, 116-51 at Portland, 85-52 Colorado, 82-53 Utah, 85-43	--
10. UCLA (359)	CS Fullerton, 98-49 at Arizona St, 63-59	at #7 Arizona, 65-68
11. Kentucky (328)	Murray St, 86-60 Belmont, 70-50 at Kansas St, 60-49 #15 Indiana, 72-68	--
12. Maryland (325)	(n) Davidson, 94-72 (n) #13 Arkansas, 115-96 Towson, 112-78	(n) #23 Missouri St, 72-81
13. Arkansas (246)	Oral Roberts, 96-49 (n) Wake Forest, 98-82 at FGCU, 86-80 #4 Baylor, 83-78	(n) #12 Maryland, 96-115
14. Texas A&M (229)	Lamar, 77-61 at #19 DePaul, 93-91 Lamar, 83-60 at #22 Texas, 66-61	--
15. Indiana (227)	E. Kentucky, 100-51 Samford, 71-26	at #11 Kentucky, 68-72
16. Oregon St (215)	Montana Western (D2), 88-54 San Francisco, 89-80 Colorado, 70-53	--
17. Iowa St (187)	Omaha, 69-43 at TCU, 91-68	at S. Dakota St, 69-76 #1 S. Carolina, 65-83
18. Northwestern (180)	--	--
19. DePaul (172)	Chicago St, 128-66	#14 Texas A&M, 91-93 (n) #5 Louisville, 75-116
20. Gonzaga (150)	(n) S. Dakota, 54-50	(n) #1 S. Carolina, 72-79 at S. Dakota St, 72-75 OT
21. Syracuse (140)	at Stony Brook, 50-39 Lincoln (PA) (D2), 90-39 Penn St, 82-72	--
22. Texas (102)	SMU, 90-51 N. Texas, 106-69 Louisiana Tech, 84-57	#14 Texas A&M, 61-66
23T. Missouri St (63)	at FGCU, 74-49 #12 Maryland, 81-72	Wake Forest, 59-68
23T. Notre Dame (63)	Miami (OH), 88-68 IUPUI, 65-58	at Ohio, 85-86 Michigan, 66-76
25. Ohio State (61)	Duquesne, 82-47 Kent St, 103-47 N. Kentucky, 96-63	--
RV. Michigan (41)	C. Michigan, 93-75 at Oakland, 95-62 at #23 Notre Dame, 76-66 Wright State, 82-59	--
RV. North Carolina (32)	Radford, 90-61 UNC Greensboro, 96-38 High Point, 95-70 S. Carolina St, 98-28 Charlotte, 81-75	--
RV. South Dakota St (17)	#17 Iowa St, 76-69 Creighton, 66-47 #20 Gonzaga, 75-72 OT	--
RV. South Dakota (13)	Lipscomb, 89-52	(n) #1 S. Carolina, 71-81 (n) #20 Gonzaga, 50-54
RV. Florida St (12)	Florida, 81-75	--
RV. Iowa (12)	Northern Iowa, 96-81 Drake, 103-97 Wisconsin, 85-78	--
RV. Marquette (12)	at N. Dakota, 90-82 Providence, 89-40	Milwaukee, 64-55
RV. Tennessee (6)	W. Kentucky, 87-47 E. Tennessee St, 67-50	at W. Virginia, 73-79 OT
RV. Kansas State (3)	Southern, 66-51 at C. Arkansas, 47-33	#11 Kentucky, 49-60

..

 

[MSGRET]

Plebe, sent you my BY Top 25 and a correction, please check your inbox and sorry about the correction.

 

[Plebe]

Plebe, sent you my BY Top 25 and a correction, please check your inbox and sorry about the correction.

Got it! Thanks and you made a nice catch.

 

[baylorprof]

I won't vote in your poll; but I will confess that my LadyBears put up a real stinker in Fayetteville tonight. The hopeful side of me says that we're not this weak and Arkansas is not this good--but this afternoon in Fayetteville it sure seemed we had not much game in us.

Our ladies finish up final exams on Tuesday and then get ready for a trip to West Virginia next weekend (Thursday). Not sure which part of "this week" our ladies dread more--the finishing up of final exams or the practice sessions KMulkey has in store.

 

[mbr33ct]

Polls and rankings this time of year especially this year, are meaningless.

What else you got to do, don't you need to occupy timeslots usually reserved for UConn games?

 

[Plebe]

Last call for ballots. They're due in about 45 minutes.

 

[Plebe]

Fantastic turnout! Even more ballots were submitted for this poll than for the preseason poll. Thanks to everyone who has participated. There was a lot to digest over the first 12 days of play.

Due to my work schedule today, It might take me a little longer than usual to finish compiling and tabulating the votes. But I should have it no later than early evening. Good things are worth the wait, right?

 

[Lorcan]

Fantastic turnout! Even more ballots were submitted for this poll than for the preseason poll. Thanks to everyone who has participated. There was a lot to digest over the first 12 days of play.

Due to my work schedule today, It might take me a little longer than usual to finish compiling and tabulating the votes. But I should have it no later than early evening. Good things are worth the wait, right?

Until then, I heard that an insider confirmed that South Dakota State is the #1 team in the nation on this poll. There’s no facts to disprove my insider’s information until an official statement is made!

I can’t wait to see what happened in this poll.

 

[mbr33ct]

Are these ballots being hand counted @Plebe?

 

[Plebe]

Are these ballots being hand counted @Plebe?

Yes, as a matter of fact, as I mentioned over where us cool kids hang out it's a Georgia-style hand count.

I had a small army of vote counters, but amid the menace of the torches-and-pitchforks crowd screaming their heads off about spurious allegations of voter fraud, all of my workers have quit and now I have to do the counting myself.

Sorry for the delay, folks. I've been distracted today by my real job. It's my busy season. But I will have the results later this evening.

 

[Skeets]

Take your time, the electors won't vote until tomorrow.

 

[triaddukefan]

 

[TheFarmFan]

Plebe's doing a good job building the suspense. It's starting to feel like when you were 6 years old on the night before Christmas.

 

[Plebe]

Plebe's doing a good job building the suspense. It's starting to feel like when you were 6 years old on the night before Christmas.

And to intensify the suspense even further, I just discovered that someone listed the same team twice. Hopefully I hear back from them soon

 

[Argonaut]

And to intensify the suspense even further, I just discovered that someone listed the same team twice. Hopefully I hear back from them soon

Dammit, @triaddukefan, he’s already told you that you can’t vote for Duke twice.