This week's poll

[Husky pride]

Here it is:

1. Notre Dame (12)
2. Louisville (10)
3. UConn (3)
4. Baylor (5)
5. Oregon
6. Stanford
7. Mississippi St.
8. NC State
9. Maryland
10. Oregon State

Notre Dame back at No. 1 in AP women's basketball poll

Yeah, this really makes a lot of sense. We trash ND on their homecourt and we both have one loss ....resulting in their ranked #1 and we end-up, with the Baylor loss,#3. All the reason why you have to ignore the early rankings. They’re not only meaningless, but at times like this, nonsensical!!

 

[LoTrader]

Tennessee also lost on their home court

 

[DallasBUFan]

I mean ND lost to no.2 by double digits at home. Where as UConn lost to no.8 by double digits on the road. I think it's pretty fair where the top 4 are right now.

 

[Vowelguy]

TN lost to an unranked team, and only dropped a little.

there are things that happen in this world that just have no explanation.

How far should they have fallen?

 

[BackBay]

What a disgrace. UConn crushed ND recently on their home court. Both teams have similar SOS, 1-loss. And, they put ND over UConn??? Garbage & typical ND-bias. That's all I'll say.

 

[DallasBUFan]

What a disgrace. UConn crushed ND recently on their home court. Both teams have similar SOS, 1-loss. And, they put ND over UConn??? Garbage & typical ND-bias. That's all I'll say.

Disagree. UConn lost no.8 ranked team. ND lost to no.2 and both lost by double digits. If Louisville wasn't undeafeated they would have only dropped a spot. Baylor beat UConn and is still behind UConn.

 

[BackBay]

Disagree. UConn lost no.8 ranked team. ND lost to no.2 and both lost by double digits. If Louisville wasn't undeafeated they would have only dropped a spot. Baylor beat UConn and is still behind UConn.

Two big differences:
1). UConn lost on the road, ND lost at home to the team they just jumped in the polls! Both were hostile environments.
2). ND & UConn had the same record, while Baylor had 1 loss already.

BTW, I would have been fine with:
1). Louisville (undefeated)
2). UConn
3). ND
4). Baylor

 

[DallasBUFan]

Two big differences:
1). UConn lost on the road, ND lost at home to the team they just jumped in the polls! Both were hostile environments.
2). ND & UConn had the same record, while Baylor had 1 loss already.

Baylor was undefeated at this time you were mentioning this. Okay so ND lost at home to the no.2 team by double digits. You lost to a team at the bottom half of top ten by double digits. So they practically even out.

 

[Sifaka]

How far should they have fallen?

Perhaps the five slots MD fell after losing to unranked Rutgers?

Other than seeding for the regionals, this is mostly about who we dislike, isn't it?

 

[Vowelguy]

What a disgrace. UConn crushed ND recently on their home court. Both teams have similar SOS, 1-loss. And, they put ND over UConn??? Garbage & typical ND-bias. That's all I'll say.

Might I recommend a switch to decaf?

 

[MilfordHusky]

Here it is:

1. Notre Dame (12)
2. Louisville (10)
3. UConn (3)
4. Baylor (5)
5. Oregon
6. Stanford
7. Mississippi St.
8. NC State
9. Maryland
10. Oregon State

Notre Dame back at No. 1 in AP women's basketball poll

4 teams receiving 1st place votes, as I expected. They are bunched closely in terms of points.

 

[Coler]

I would have thought beating #4 on their floor would have gotten us a bit more love. But oh well, it seems like we lose whenever we get ranked anyways. Just got to keep winning.

 

[Vowelguy]

Perhaps the five slots MD fell after losing to unranked Rutgers?

There is no formula for how to do rankings. It is ENTIRELY based on context.

Maryland, even moreso than Louisville, is an unknown so it gets penalized heavily for a loss.

Tenn, in contrast, won at now-#11 Texas. The Horns have done nothing remarkable since then, so there's little reason for them to be far from TN in the ranks. And with #12, 15, 16, 18 losing, just who is Tn supposed to fall behind?

 

[veryolddog]

What I do not understand is why Baylor is less than UConn. Louisville should be number 1, Baylor 2, UConn 3, and ND 4. I am just dreaming. What the hell do I know. Seems to be no logic to their ranking that is easy to see.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I would have Baylor ahead of us given they just soundly won the head to head matchup.

 

[Plebe]

What I do not understand is why Baylor is less than UConn. Louisville should be number 1, Baylor 2, UConn 3, and ND 4. I am just dreaming. What the hell do I know. Seems to be no logic to their ranking that is easy to see.

Baylor has a loss to Stanford.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Yeah, for folks worried about why Notre Dame is ranked ahead of UConn despite the head to head result, shouldn't there be similar concern for Baylor jumping Stanford even though Stanford beat them? That game was more recent than the ND-UConn game.

 

[SLY63]

I think UConn hovering at #2 or #3 puts us in a good position to get a strong seed and be somewhat below the radar (less of a target)
.

 

[Shades]

ND 715 pts
LOU 708 pts
CON 701 pts

Considering it was 30 people voting, I think it’s not unfair to consider voting this close as a virtual tie for first place.

If LOU beats ND, then they would be the clear #1 in my mind. But UConn will be playing LOU on Jan 31, so there’s the chance for UConn to be #1 again.

 

[Centerstream]

I think UConn hovering at #2 or #3 puts us in a good position to get a strong seed and be somewhat below the radar (less of a target)
.

UConn is never below the radar, are they? If we're on any other team's schedule, it's their biggest game of the season (according to the other team), isn't it? Twice as much if they are at home.

 

[Fightin Choke]

What a disgrace. UConn crushed ND recently on their home court. Both teams have similar SOS, 1-loss. And, they put ND over UConn??? Garbage & typical ND-bias. That's all I'll say.

It's not as ridiculous as it seems to you. Notre Dame had several other good wins before they lost to UConn, so their fall was soft and short. UConn hadn't look as good recently, winning the games before Baylor, but not very impressively. Did you not see the anxiety of many posters on this board before the loss to Baylor?

Are the computer rankings equally biased favoring Notre Dame?

Massey:

1. Notre Dame
2. UConn
3. Miss St.
4. Baylor
5. Louisville

Massey SOS:

1. Notre Dame
2. UConn
3. Baylor
4. Marquette
5. Drake

RPI

1. Notre Dame
2. Iowa St.
3. Syracuse
4. Stanford
5. UConn

RPI SOS

1. Notre Dame
2. Drake
3. Southern
4. Iowa St.
5. UCLA
15. UConn

ELO

1. Notre Dame
2. Louisville
3. UConn
4. Oregon
5. Stanford

Sonny Moore

1. Miss St.
2. Notre Dame
3. Marquette
4. UConn
5. Baylor

Sonny Moore SOS

1. Ohio St.
2. UConn
3. Notre Dame
4. Marquette
5. Oklahoma

Top 10 Massey teams record against the Massey Top 25 (ranking of teams played)

1. Notre Dame: 5-1 (2, 9, 10, 17, 18, 22)
2. UConn: 1-1 (1, 4)
3. Miss St. 3-1 (6, 9, 13, 15)
4. Baylor: 2-1 (2, 7, 14)
5. Louisville: 2-0 (13, 14)
6. Oregon: 2-1 (3, 11, 25)
7. Stanford: 2-1 (4, 10, 19)
8. NC St.: 1-0 (25)
9. Marquette: 0-3 (1, 3, 23)
10. Gonzaga: 1-1 (1, 7)

 

[SimpleDawg]

Top 10 Massey teams record against the Massey Top 25 (ranking of teams played)

1. Notre Dame: 5-1 (2, 9, 10, 17, 18, 22)
2. UConn: 1-1 (1, 4)
3. Miss St. 3-1 (6, 9, 13, 15)
4. Baylor: 2-1 (2, 7, 14)
5. Louisville: 2-0 (13, 14)
6. Oregon: 2-1 (3, 11, 25)
7. Stanford: 2-1 (4, 10, 19)
8. NC St.: 1-0 (25)
9. Marquette: 0-3 (1, 3, 23)
10. Gonzaga: 1-1 (1, 7)

Not sure now why people bash our schedule when we've played more top 25 teams than any other team except Notre Dame.


...

 

[Fightin Choke]

Not sure now why people bash our schedule when we've played more top 25 teams than any other team except Notre Dame.

Well, to be honest, that's only true because by chance you played a top 25 team on the first week of conference play (SEC foe Kentucky). The OOC portion of the schedule featured just 3 top 25 teams, tie with many other schools. In fact, some teams have OOC games interspersed with their conference schedule. If we just consider the OOC portion of the schedule, here at the games against top 25 opponents:

Notre Dame: 7
UConn: 3
Miss St: 3
Baylor: 3
Louisville: 3
Oregon: 3
Stanford: 3
NC St.: 1
Marquette: 3
Gonzaga: 2

Miss St. should not be criticized for the 3 competitive OOC games they scheduled, but the remainder of the OOC schedule invites criticism. Rankings are Massey (99, 101, 140, 148, 282, 308, 344, 447, 464, 727). LINK

 

[Grad1990]

Anyone else hoping for a tie at the top? It would be great marketing for the Notre Dame- Louisville matchup if they were both ranked number 1 when they face off this week. A long shot for sure but that's what I'm hoping for.

My real guess:
1. Notre Dame
2. Louisville
3. UConn
4. Baylor
5. Oregon
6. Stanford
7. Mississippi State
8. NC State
9. Maryland
10. Oregon State

I can see a legitimate argument for each of the teams in that top 4 to receive first place votes, and would not be surprised if they do. Has that ever happened this late in the season?

Nice job..you nailed it!

 

[Grad1990]

UConn
ND
Louisville
Baylor
Mississippi State

Could be crazy, but you cannot put ND over UConn after UConn beat them on their home court by 18.

Not so crazy...ND over UConn in lieu of Uconn's pummeling of ND on their court not too long ago makes the poll irrational.

Especially since UConn (and to be fair, Baylor) were coming off long breaks. The break affected UConn much more....they were ice cold and their timing was, to be very polite, way off.

You can tell the pollsters struggled with this one as the first three were grouped tightly.

I would have left the top three the same and moved Baylor up.

Its hard to make the argument that UConn is not the top team because ND and Louisville did nothing to earn the spot.

Losing by default is a concept I never much cared for....but I guess its too hard for these pollsters to really think it through.