New Ap poll is out

[pap49cba]

Duke drops to #5, NC to #13

LINK

 

[ndmb]

Rolling my eyes at Louisville moving ahead of Duke. Duke's beaten Kentucky, who beat Louisville. Louisville's only win against a currently ranked team is over LSU in November. In addition to the win over Kentucky, Duke has wins over currently ranked Cal and Purdue. And, unlike Louisville, Duke's only losses have come to the two teams who are clearly a step ahead of everyone else in the country.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Yeah, in the absolute I think Louisville is maybe a bit too high, and Duke was over-penalized.

But polls are all about "what have you done for me lately" combined with perception.

 

[Phil]

Good day for BiG, with two new teams

 

[Phil]

Still too little respect for Texas. They skyrocketed from 1 point to 3, but still too low.

 

[NickyNewark]

Wheres RU? L'ville barely beat them last week when they were 5th ranked and the 3 pt loss to LSU in Dec? That early UMass loss is really hurting them!

 

[watanabe]

The race for A'ja is getting tighter. SC at #5.

 

[Aluminny69]

Rolling my eyes at Louisville moving ahead of Duke. Duke's beaten Kentucky, who beat Louisville. Louisville's only win against a currently ranked team is over LSU in November. In addition to the win over Kentucky, Duke has wins over currently ranked Cal and Purdue. And, unlike Louisville, Duke's only losses have come to the two teams who are clearly a step ahead of everyone else in the country.

Louisville will be knocked down soon enough...

 

[ndmb]

Yeah, in the absolute I think Louisville is maybe a bit too high, and Duke was over-penalized.

But polls are all about "what have you done for me lately" combined with perception.

Well, yeah. But that's not how it should be.

 

[ASweet3781]

Talk about lack of respect for Louisville.

Last time I checked Louisville has made the National Title game 2 times in the last 5 years. Duke hasn't even made the Final 4 in that time period.

It would be a joke if Duke stayed at #4. They got destroyed by the #1 and #2 teams on their home floor. Excuse me if I'm not doing jumping jacks because Duke beat a couple of more decent teams like Purdue who really isn't that good. If you count Purdue I'll count Louisville winning at Rutgers and Colorado.

People also realize that if Louisville gets a 1 seed it eliminates UConn having to play them in the regional final on their home floor for the 4th time in 7 weeks. That is a really really good thing.

 

[ASweet3781]

Yeah, in the absolute I think Louisville is maybe a bit too high, and Duke was over-penalized.

But polls are all about "what have you done for me lately" combined with perception.

Over penalized? They were destroyed on their home court by 2 teams. They should be lucky WCBB lacks the type of depth that only Louisville was even available to jump him.

If Duke is so much better than Louisville they will have the opportunity to prove it. If they both lose 3 times to ND and UConn, Duke will have more opportunities to prove their alleged superiority against UNC, Maryland, NC State, etc. Duke has had a number of near miss losses against teams like Miami. Virginia Tech, and FSU. I've seen no evidence that it's some type of outrage that Louisville moved a spot ahead of Duke.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Well, yeah. But that's not how it should be.

Yes and no. Most ratings systems are based on a full year's body of work, and if you had an early season loss to a bad team, that counts as much as if it happened yesterday. But rankings polls weight the recent games much more than November games because they are supposed to reflect the current strength of a team. After winning 10 of their last 14 games going into the NCAA tourney last year in a tough Big East, Louisville might have been better than the #17 ranking they were given in the Coaches poll, though they had a poor early season loss to Colorado. At the end of the season they were a better team than their final 29-9 indicated and got the #3 ranking ahead of Baylor, Duke, Stanford and many teams with fewer losses.

 

[ndmb]

Talk about lack of respect for Louisville.

Last time I checked Louisville has made the National Title game 2 times in the last 5 years. Duke hasn't even made the Final 4 in that time period.

What relevance does that have at all to this year?

It would be a joke if Duke stayed at #4. They got destroyed by the #1 and #2 teams on their home floor.

Duke, Stanford, Tennessee, Penn State, and Maryland. Five out of the eight top ten teams have gotten blown out by either Notre Dame or UConn.

Excuse me if I'm not doing jumping jacks because Duke beat a couple of more decent teams like Purdue who really isn't that good. If you count Purdue I'll count Louisville winning at Rutgers and Colorado.

If I was cherry picking teams, I would have included Syracuse, Florida State, and Oklahoma (who Louisville needed an OT to beat). But that'd be anecdotal. Bottom line: Duke is 9-2 against Sagarin Top 50, Louisville is 5-1. Duke's two losses come to the two best teams in the country, who have blown out almost everyone they've played. Louisville's loss comes to a struggling Kentucky team that Duke beat. By any objective measure, Duke has the better record.

 

[ndmb]

Yes and no. Most ratings systems are based on a full year's body of work, and if you had an early season loss to a bad team, that counts as much as if it happened yesterday. But rankings polls weight the recent games much more than November games because they are supposed to reflect the current strength of a team. After winning 10 of their last 14 games going into the NCAA tourney last year in a tough Big East, Louisville might have been better than the #17 ranking they were given in the Coaches poll, though they had a poor early season loss to Colorado. At the end of the season they were a better team than their final 29-9 indicated and got the #3 ranking ahead of Baylor, Duke, Stanford and many teams with fewer losses.

I agree that more recent games should be waited more heavily. That's not what's happening here with Louisville and Duke. Since the start of the new year, they have a 1-0 record against RPI top 50 teams with a win over Rutgers and haven't had a win against a currently ranked team since they beat LSU on November 14th.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Over penalized? They were destroyed on their home court by 2 teams. They should be lucky WCBB lacks the type of depth that only Louisville was even available to jump him.

If Duke is so much better than Louisville they will have the opportunity to prove it. If they both lose 3 times to ND and UConn, Duke will have more opportunities to prove their alleged superiority against UNC, Maryland, NC State, etc. Duke has had a number of near miss losses against teams like Miami. Virginia Tech, and FSU. I've seen no evidence that it's some type of outrage that Louisville moved a spot ahead of Duke.

I'm not arguing - one way or the other - which team is better. Only that, objectively based on the records and such that the pollsters use to rank teams, Duke should not have been penalized much for losing to the only 2 teams ahead of them. They are supposed to lose those games. And I certainly won't hold the UConn margin against them - who is not getting blown out by UConn.