College hoops poll???

[Willie Bee]

Looking at the two majors, the AP and the Coaches (ESPN/USA Today), which one means the most to you?

AP Top 25 Preseason
1. Kansas (55) 0-0 1,612
2. Michigan State (5) 0-0 1,515
3. Texas (1) 0-0 1,397
4. Kentucky (3) 0-0 1,372
5. Villanova 0-0 1,347
6. North Carolina (1) 0-0 1,320
7. Purdue 0-0 1,284
8. West Virginia 0-0 1,115
9. Duke 0-0 1,064
10. Tennessee 0-0 897
11. Butler 0-0 864
12. Connecticut 0-0 844
13. California 0-0 800
14. Washington 0-0 776
15. Michigan 0-0 578
16. Ohio State 0-0 465
17. Oklahoma 0-0 410
18. Mississippi State 0-0 393
19. Louisville 0-0 335
20. Georgetown 0-0 326
21. Dayton 0-0 318
22. Georgia Tech 0-0 301
23. Illinois 0-0 282
24. Clemson 0-0 217
25. Minnesota 0-0 172
Others Receiving Votes
Maryland 171, Siena 112, Notre Dame 107, Florida State 92, Vanderbilt 90, Syracuse 83, Oklahoma State 65, UCLA 63, Florida 53, Wake Forest 50, Xavier 42, Gonzaga 37, South Carolina 28, Kansas State 24, Brigham Young 21, Northern Iowa 16, Tulsa 16, Mississippi 15, Texas A&M 10, Missouri 8, Boston College 6, Pittsburgh 4, Western Kentucky 2, Utah State 2, Virginia Commonwealth 2, Old Dominion 1, Holy Cross 1.

ESPN/USA Today Preseason Poll
1. Kansas (27) 0-0 770
2. Michigan State (3) 0-0 732
3. Texas 0-0 676
4. North Carolina (1) 0-0 653
5. Kentucky 0-0 635
6. Villanova 0-0 620
7. Purdue 0-0 586
8. Duke 0-0 528
9. West Virginia 0-0 501
10. Butler 0-0 408
11. Tennessee 0-0 406
12. California 0-0 370
13. Washington 0-0 364
14. Connecticut 0-0 361
15. Michigan 0-0 279
16. Oklahoma 0-0 244
17. Ohio State 0-0 241
18. Minnesota 0-0 151
19. Mississippi State 0-0 149
20. Georgia Tech 0-0 136
21. Georgetown 0-0 134
22. Dayton 0-0 130
23. Louisville 0-0 123
24. Clemson 0-0 114
25. Syracuse 0-0 111
Others Receiving Votes
Maryland 100, Illinois 83, Siena 72, UCLA 59, Vanderbilt 38, Oklahoma State 29, Missouri 28, Xavier 25, Gonzaga 24, Notre Dame 22, USC 22, Pittsburgh 19, Tulsa 17, Kansas State 16, Brigham Young 16, Florida State 15, Florida 13, Wake Forest 13, San Diego State 8, Creighton 7, Boston College 4, Texas A&M 4, Southern Illinois 3, Utah State 3, Cornell 3, Memphis 3, Mississippi 3, UNLV 2, South Carolina 1, Northern Iowa 1.

[BobHarvey]

Looks about right. What's startling is to look at the polls and not see UCLA. Based on Howland's recruiting job this year the Bruins are NOT a Top-25 team.

I hear Kansas is going to be REAL good.

[onthewhat]

Neither, they are meaningless

Polls do not matter in this sport, NCAA doesn't even use them when bracketing teams in March

[Willie Bee]

NCAA doesn't even use them when bracketing teams in March

Little Buddy, I think it's naive to think these two polls don't play any part in the bracketing for the tournament. Are there biases in these polls? Yes. But mostly these two polls, when taken in combination and when stepping back to see the forest among the trees, are a reflection of general consensus.

[onthewhat]

Willy trust me they do not look at the polls. In years past overrated mid-majors like Gonzaga who are ranked top 10 get a higher seed (6) than what they were ranked (top 5).

[smitch124]

A 6 seed when ranked in the top 5?

I sure don't remember that.

[pavyracer]

How can you tell who is number 1 or 25 since they all have 0-0 records?

[onthewhat]

Yes look it up

[onthewhat]

2002 Final AP Poll: Gonzaga ranked 6th http://www.appollarchive.com/mbasket...?seasonid=2002

2002 NCAA Tournament: Gonzaga a 6 seed and loses first round to Wyoming http://www.mcubed.net/ncaab/gonzaga/

[smitch124]

wow that does back up your point, I probably was outraged by that seeding when it happened too. Citing east coast bias, but the result proved the seeding was correct.

[onthewhat]

These polls just slot teams forward when they win, etc. so when Gonzaga goes undefeated in their conference, especially back then when the other teams had no one (the conference has since gotten better) they just kept slotting up because major conference teams would drop a game or two.

[smitch124]

My team, Stanford, is gonna be REALLY bad this year. Gonna be a long season.

[goldengoat]

kentucky's freshmen class is crazy stacked

[BobHarvey]

Down year for the Pac-10. They'll be lucky to get three teams in the tournament.

[Team Ramrod]

Sooners are gonna be good this year. nice group of young guys to go along with willie warren

[tbill11]

It's nice to see my Bears up in the top 15, though I'm sure we'll find a way to f*ck it up quickly. It's a tradition at our school.

[Shortstop]

I'm really looking forward to seeing West Virginia play this year. They're a legit Final Four contender in my opinion.