The Polls...since 2002/3 anyway

[RegisteredUconn]

Maybe it's just me but it seems like we've had a greater number of posts about the polls this year. Uncertainty (who really is the best now that UConn lost the better part of a WNBA team to the draft) will do that.

Unlike many (most? all-save-one?) here, I'm a fan of the polls. I think they tell us stuff and drive the conversation to an extent. Trust me, I've heard/seen all contrary reasoning. The polls mean nothing. Yawn, wake me when that April poll comes out. Etc.

Still, me likey. So, at the expense of causing a run on No-Doz sales, I am presenting a chart summarizing all the #1 ballots cast in the AP and ESPN polls since the 2002/3 season. Any team that received a vote for the best team in any preseason, postseason, or weekly survey is included. Data are from ESPN. Make of it what you will (or won't).

 

[xHunt3r]

Actually winning games on the court is more important then someone's opinion about which team is better.

The only numbers that really matter from 2003 - 2016:

UConn - 8
Baylor - 2
Tennessee - 2
Maryland - 1
Texas A&M - 1

1,348 AP votes and 963 ESPN votes for Duke as the number #1 team in the country... zero championships.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

ND really sticks out. Explains all those puckers (er...dimples) in Muffet's visage. The mirror just keeps telling her Geno.

 

[BigBird]

Thanks for your post, RU. While I see the folly in polls as many here do, your table shows something a little different - a unique snap shot. No team is likely to manifest the data that UConn has done, except that they be a pretty darned good team. And I suspect that was the point.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Actually winning games on the court is more important then someone's opinion about which team is better.

The only numbers that really matter from 2003 - 2016:

UConn - 8
Baylor - 2
Tennessee - 2
Maryland - 1
Texas A&M - 1

1,348 AP votes and 963 ESPN votes for Duke as the number #1 team in the country... zero championships.

Just because something is more important than something else doesn't mean the something else doesn't matter.

 

[Wbbfan1]

If you would have asked me about the Number of Voters who voted Notre Dame #1 in the country since 2002/03 Season, I would have thought totals would be significantly higher.

111 AP Votes is less then 4 weeks of unanimous weeks ranked #1. 139 USA Today/ESPN Votes, is less then 5 Weeks. As good as ND has been over the last 4 years or so, you would think the totals would be higher.

Your stats also shows the decline of the Lady Vols as I'm sure most of their votes were prior to the 2009/10 Season.