UConn #13 in latest AP poll

[maple]

The important thing is Geno, the coaches and the players themselves don't pay attention to rankings. UConn's focus right now is as it should be on the next game and the game after that and after that culminating in the BE regular season and championship.

Yes, leave the pearl clutching and hand wringing to us "professionals".

 

[RadfordRam]

Here's my ranking. It's based on a forecasting method and it's very UConn-centric in the sense that I asked myself who I thought the Huskies could conceivably defeat in March on the basis of what we're seeing now. Teams above I think UConn more likely than not wouldn't beat, and those below they would beat (more likely than not). There's lots of room for upsets here, and some teams, like ND, probably deserve a higher ranking but for injuries that may not be season long. That is, if Citron, Prosper and Westbeld are up to speed in a few weeks, they probably belong much higher. Net rankings in parentheses.

1. SC (1)
2. UCLA (5)
3. Stanford (2)
4. LSU (16)
5. Texas (3)
6. NC St (10)
7. Va Tech (15)
8. UConn (4)
9. IU (11)
10. Iowa (7)
11. Baylor (8)
12. USC (13)
13. K St (9)
14. Colorado (19)
15. Michigan St (14)
16. tOSU (17)
17. Utah (6)
18. Gonzaga (18)
19. ND (12)
20. Ore St. (21)

And a side note, I put NC St and Texas above UConn because they've already won games against UConn. But one might argue that they wouldn't repeat.

Not sure UCONN is beating Iowa, Baylor, Colorado, Kansas State. That's a tough sell in my opinion.

 

[Bone Dog]

Not sure UCONN is beating Iowa, Baylor, Colorado, Kansas State. That's a tough sell in my opinion.

I doubt we'd have to play all of them, no matter how bad a seeding we got. Could we beat any one of them? I think so. Colorado may be the toughest matchup for us, though I think of their team as structured roughly similarly to Louisville and we beat them handily.

 

[Gordo]

We only play one team ranked higher than us the rest of the season. By this logic, #13 is our ceiling.

No, the logic IS that at this point in the season you don't move up just by beating teams beneath you. However, teams above us can (and probably will) lose some games to lower ranked teams and we then could move up. If you look at the teams ranked above us, #13 is about right at the moment.

 

[RadfordRam]

I doubt we'd have to play all of them, no matter how bad a seeding we got. Could we beat any one of them? I think so. Colorado may be the toughest matchup for us, though I think of their team as structured roughly similarly to Louisville and we beat them handily.

Baylor would be the toughest match-up in my opinion, they have size and excellent guards. But any of those first 4 teams listed below UCONN is a tough out. Would love to see those games though.

 

[triaddukefan]

I doubt we'd have to play all of them, no matter how bad a seeding we got. Could we beat any one of them? I think so. Colorado may be the toughest matchup for us, though I think of their team as structured roughly similarly to Louisville and we beat them handily.

Colorado is far superior to Louisville. Vonleah and Miller inside would be a problem for yall. They have a legit pg (unlike Louisville) who is very good. Plus, their team has played together for a few years, unlike Louisville's patchwork roster.

 

[CL82]

Baylor would be the toughest match-up in my opinion, they have size and excellent guards. But any of those first 4 teams listed below UCONN is a tough out. Would love to see those games though.

Quick, aggressive opposing guards is pretty much our kryptonite. KK and Ashlynn may end up being the antidote however.

 

[triaddukefan]

Quick, aggressive opposing guards is pretty much our kryptonite. KK and Ashlynn may end up being the antidote however.

Well good thing yall won't face anything like that until late March if at all.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Well good thing yall won't face anything like that until late March if at all.

We still play Notre Dame and South Carolina.

 

[triaddukefan]

We still play Notre Dame and South Carolina.

ND has a quick aggressive guard... just one. The rest of the team is rather plodding (in my amateur opinion). SC... I guess.

 

[triaddukefan]

On that note, Virginia Tech's next 3 games are Miami, FSU and Duke. Remember that ACC teams are contractually obligated to hand out “quality wins” to each other like it's a Sunday potluck. That's the only thing that can explain NC State's abysmal 4th quarter collapse and nonexistent defense on the winning play

Just give Virginia Tech a week or so and they'll be due for their next egg casserole dish.

They are definitely going down to defeat in Durham... mark my words. I might just drive down to see a arse whipping in person. I could also see them losing at F$U. Miami will be tough, but at least the game is in Blacksburg.

Don't want to get this thread off track... but what exactly is egg casserole?? Sounds intriguing.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

ND has a quick aggressive guard... just one. The rest of the team is rather plodding (in my amateur opinion). SC... I guess.

Meh knowing Notre Dame Miles will be back for that game. But I do think a player like Hidalgo will be a problem for us, similar to Harmon and UCLA’s guards. We will see.

 

[MilfordHusky]

We dropped because of a quirky circumstance. The only team ahead of us that lost was way up at #3, undefeated NCSU, which beat us by double-digits early on. They dropped, but not as far as where we are. The team that edged them at the buzzer was just behind us last week and jumped over us. No other team ahead of us lost last week.

Some other interesting observations:

--Of the 12 teams ahead of us, 3 are undefeated, 8 have only one loss, and only Va Tech has two losses. We, of course, have 3 losses.

--4 previously undefeated teams lost last week. Only 3 remain: SC, UCLA, and Baylor.

--We have 487 points this week and had 469 last week. So, we moved up by 18 points, but Va. Tech moved up by 107 points and, thus, jumped over us. So, we moved up, as measured by points, but moved down, based on relative ranking.

--Creighton is still ranked, despite a 44-point loss to us. Marquette is also still ranked, despite their second loss.

--Shea's Vanderbilt team is #26.

--Maryland is back among the "others receiving votes" with 2 points. They are tied with Fairfield, who also has 2 points.

--Tennessee still has 0 points. No voter thinks they are a top-25 team. They are not in the top 40.

Iowa behind S. Carolina, UCLA atop women's poll

South Carolina remained No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 women's basketball poll and is now one of three unbeaten teams left.

www.espn.com

 

[maple]

Meh knowing Notre Dame Miles will be back for that game. But I do think a player like Hidalgo will be a problem for us, similar to Harmon and UCLA’s guards. We will see.

We will be able to out rebound them and get a lot of 2nd chance points.

 

[Plebe]

--Tennessee still has 0 points. No voter thinks they are a top-25 team. They are not in the top 40.

Some really interesting notes you provided. On Tennessee, they're not getting AP votes but curiously they are #30 in Massey. Their NET ranking tanked in early December but has risen steadily from #96 to #67 in the past month.

 

[housekeys]

Some other interesting observations:

--Of the 12 teams ahead of us, 3 are undefeated, 8 have only one loss, and only Va Tech has two losses. We, of course, have 3 losses.

Unless I have tallied them wrong, of the 12 teams ahead of us, UConn is the only school to have played more than 1 "true" away game against a ranked opponent. UConn has played true away games 3 times against ranked teams (2 of our losses). All of the 12 teams ahead of us, have 1 or zero such games. Iowa has lost at home to the single ranked team that visited. A few, impressively, have won such an away game; most have lost.

 

[cferraro04]

I don’t think this has anything to do with disrespecting UConn. UConn moved down because Virginia Tech was rewarded for beating NC State. It’s nothing to do with anything that UConn either did or didn’t do. NC State was not going to drop below UConn, so we went down one spot. All of the other teams above us won they’re games.

How would NC State drop below UConn when NC State dropped from 3rd to 6th and UConn was 12th...your explanation doesn't make sense. So we are now a 4 seed...I would think that UConn is going to be the best 4 seed there ever was. I don't have a problem with UConn's ranking because we have 3 losses no one above us has three losses. If you were to ask me if I thought Kansas State, Colorado State, or Texas was a better team than UConn I would be scratching my head.

 

[Plebe]

Unless I have tallied them wrong, of the 12 teams ahead of us, UConn is the only school to have played more than 1 "true" away game against a ranked opponent. UConn has played true away games 3 times against ranked teams (2 of our losses). All of the 12 teams ahead of us, have 1 or zero such games. Iowa has lost at home to the single ranked team that visited. A few, impressively, have won such an away game; most have lost.

Interesting stat about no one above us having played more than 1 true road game vs. ranked opponent thus far. Here is the list of such games:

• SC (won) at UNC
• UCLA (won) at Ohio State
• Baylor (won) at Texas
• NC State (lost) at Virginia Tech
• Stanford (lost) at Gonzaga (unranked at time of game, but ranked since)
• USC (lost) at UCLA
• Texas (won) at West Virginia
• Virginia Tech (lost) at LSU
• Kansas State (won) at Iowa

So unless I'm missing games somewhere, that would make a tally of 5-4.

 

[Pharos]

Boneyarders, please, it is not disrespect that UConn is ranked where it is. Pollsters are giving other teams the chance to be ranked probably higher than they should be because it helps in reinforcing the argument about college WBB - and MBB - that ESPN and others seem to have latched onto. Turn on any of the talking heads about college basketball and you'll hear what the transfer portal has done, etc. in creating "parity". It's kinda what professional sports is like with players being traded from one team to another in the off season. It's also great for the media so why shouldn't they push it?

But that's not the important thing. The important thing is Geno, the coaches and the players themselves don't pay attention to rankings. UConn's focus right now is as it should be on the next game and the game after that and after that culminating in the BE regular season and championship. Of course, one or two wins in the upcoming games with ND and SC will certainly help to change things a lot.

Rankings right now are insignificant except maybe for setting betting lines and the prognostications of the prognosticators. UConn should simply concentrate on winning and the rest will take care of itself.

Curious...
1) "Pollsters are giving other teams the chance..." a) What are pollsters asked to do? b) Are pollsters coordinated enough to act (in any way other than according to their mandate) in some kind of unity to advance some parallel agenda?
2) "Geno... don't pay attention to rankings..." a) Of course not. b) Why do we? Unless we trust that those polled are giving educated and experienced opinions about the actual rank relationship among teams.
3) "... the rest will take care of itself." a) always does. b) let's watch the games and enjoy...

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Interesting stat about no one above us having played more than 1 true road game vs. ranked opponent thus far. Here is the list of such games:

• SC (won) at UNC
• UCLA (won) at Ohio State
• Baylor (won) at Texas
• NC State (lost) at Virginia Tech
• Stanford (lost) at Gonzaga (unranked at time of game, but ranked since)
• USC (lost) at UCLA
• Texas (won) at West Virginia
• Virginia Tech (lost) at LSU
• Kansas State (won) at Iowa

So unless I'm missing games somewhere, that would make a tally of 5-4.

Didn’t you just prove their point. None of these are examples of two true road games against ranked opponents.

 

[Plebe]

Didn’t you just prove their point. None of these are examples of two true road games against ranked opponents.

I'm not disputing that part. I'm addressing the part where they said: “A few, impressively, have won such an away game; most have lost.”

 

[bbsamjj]

We dropped because of a quirky circumstance. The only team ahead of us that lost was way up at #3, undefeated NCSU, which beat us by double-digits early on. They dropped, but not as far as where we are. The team that edged them at the buzzer was just behind us last week and jumped over us. No other team ahead of us lost last week.

Some other interesting observations:

--Of the 12 teams ahead of us, 3 are undefeated, 8 have only one loss, and only Va Tech has two losses. We, of course, have 3 losses.

--4 previously undefeated teams lost last week. Only 3 remain: SC, UCLA, and Baylor.

--We have 487 points this week and had 469 last week. So, we moved up by 18 points, but Va. Tech moved up by 107 points and, thus, jumped over us. So, we moved up, as measured by points, but moved down, based on relative ranking.

--Creighton is still ranked, despite a 44-point loss to us. Marquette is also still ranked, despite their second loss.

--Shea's Vanderbilt team is #26.

--Maryland is back among the "others receiving votes" with 2 points. They are tied with Fairfield, who also has 2 points.

--Tennessee still has 0 points. No voter thinks they are a top-25 team. They are not in the top 40.

Iowa behind S. Carolina, UCLA atop women's poll

South Carolina remained No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 women's basketball poll and is now one of three unbeaten teams left.

www.espn.com

Here's a crazy stat: The 12 teams ranked ahead of UConn have a TOTAL of 10 losses between them. That's about to change:

Kansas St and TX play each other this weekend. VA Tech has a two game road swing to Duke and Fl St. USC is about to play UCLA, Utah, and Colorado in a row. Stanford's next two games are at Utah and at Colorado.

UConn's path back into the Top 10 of the polls isn't far off.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

I'm not disputing that part. I'm addressing the part where they said: “A few, impressively, have won such an away game; most have lost.”

A got it, seems like a quibble over the word most but ok

 

[visitingcock]

How would NC State drop below UConn when NC State dropped from 3rd to 6th and UConn was 12th...your explanation doesn't make sense. So we are now a 4 seed...I would think that UConn is going to be the best 4 seed there ever was. I don't have a problem with UConn's ranking because we have 3 losses no one above us has three losses. If you were to ask me if I thought Kansas State, Colorado State, or Texas was a better team than UConn I would be scratching my head.

UConn is not a four seed. The AP has nothing, zilc, nada, zip, zero to do with seeding. NOTHING!

UConn is NET # four - a probable one Seed if that ranking holds.

I can’t understand why anybody gives a rip what the AP thinks.

WHO CARES?

 

[MilfordHusky]

Here's a crazy stat: The 12 teams ranked ahead of UConn have a TOTAL of 10 losses between them. That's about to change:

Kansas St and TX play each other this weekend. VA Tech has a two game road swing to Duke and Fl St. USC is about to play UCLA, Utah, and Colorado in a row. Stanford's next two games are at Utah and at Colorado.

UConn's path back into the Top 10 of the polls isn't far off.

There are 2 ways for UConn to move up--(1) wins against ND and SC and (2) having the higher-ranked teams lose. UCLA, Stanford, USC, and Colorado will lose some games to each other. SC could lose to LSU or the reverse. K State, Texas, and Baylor will lose to each other. Iowa could lose to a good team in the conference. The top 12 teams have 10 losses combined. In time, that will increase to 15, 20, and 25.