2 votes for Marquette in Coach's poll

[ChicosBailBonds]

Top 25 is out....I can't wait to look at this at the end of the year to show how badly the pollsters are.  Nevertheless, here it is

Becky is 24th
Pitt 4th
Syracuse 13th
Georgetown 21st

The Legend, Stew Merril, got 5 votes
WVU and Louisville some votes


http://www.freep.com/article/20101021/SPORTS07/101021048/1355/sports/Spartans-are-No.-1-in-preseason-coaches-poll

[SalsaMan]

So The Legend has 5 votes while The Tradition sits at #2. My money is on The Tradition.

[Blue Horseshoe]

So The Legend has 5 votes while The Tradition sits at #2. My money is on The Tradition.

Tradition of playing in a less athletic conference, having an unfairly weighted seed, advancing well into the tournament, being over matched when push comes to shove?

[jmayer1]

Top 25 is out....I can't wait to look at this at the end of the year to show how badly the pollsters are.  Nevertheless, here it is

This statement is laughable, it's the same tired arguement.  I guess if you never make predictions or set expecations you can never be wrong. 

[Mr. Nielsen]

Is this poll even real? It's not even up on espn.com

[ChicosBailBonds]

This statement is laughable, it's the same tired arguement.  I guess if you never make predictions or set expecations you can never be wrong.  

You're missing the point.  It's fine to make predictions, we all do it.  Where I think people get sidetracked is when they tie too much validity to them, especially the coaches poll.  Just because you're preseason ranked 20th doesn't mean a cup of piss.  Play the games, rank the teams in midseason.  Preseason polls are fun for the fans, but they are hardly representative of anything remotely representing reality.  That's the point...just don't put crazy stock into them to prove an irrelevant point based on completely irrelevant data inputted by SID's or Assistant coaches \ team managers that are voting on teams they have never seen play, have no idea about their rosters and have put no more than 5 minutes into the entire process.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Is this poll even real? It's not even up on espn.com

Yes, it's real.  ESPN has it in article form

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5711887

[HoopsMalone]

I am looking forward to getting into the polls by beating #1 and #3 in back to back overtime wins this November.

[jaygall31]

HOW THE heck does any person with knowledge even consider the badgers to be in the least bit a better basketball team than US this year?

I'm just baffled, and laughing.

Playing Duke and K-State (potentially) does get me super excited though.

[QuetteHoops]

HOW THE heck does any person with knowledge even consider the badgers to be in the least bit a better basketball team than US this year?

I'm just baffled, and laughing.

Playing Duke and K-State (potentially) does get me super excited though.

I hate to say it but Leuer is better then anybody on Marquette.

[jaygall31]

I hate to say it but Leuer is better then anybody on Marquette.

i agree there. Leuer is one of the toughest guards in college basketball I think. But top to bottom...idk. Maybe my bias is just oozing out. I feel like we're better. If DJO's game steps up even just a little from last year, I think he could overtake leuer as the best player in Wisconsin.

Probably just my rambling of the Hatred of anything Badger.

[jmayer1]

You're missing the point.  It's find to make predictions, we all do it.  Where I think people get sidetracked is when they tie too much validity to them, especially the coaches poll.  Just because you're preseason ranked 20th doesn't mean cup of piss.  Play the games, rank the teams in midseason.  Preseason polls are fun for the fans, but they are hardly representative of anything remotely representing reality.  That's the point...just don't put crazy stock into them to prove an irrelevant point based on completely irrelevant data inputted by SID's or Assistant coaches \ team managers that are voting on teams they have never seen play, have no idea about their rosters and have put no more than 5 minutes into the entire process.

I think it's a starting point to base expectations.  Of course, a variety of things happen (injuires, regression, breakouts..etc) during a season which result in teams either under or overperforming what people expected.  Nobody's predictions are ever going to be perfect, but I don't simply throw it out the window or discount people's opinions when a team doesn't perform as exected.

[HoopsMalone]

i agree there. Leuer is one of the toughest guards in college basketball I think. But top to bottom...idk. Maybe my bias is just oozing out. I feel like we're better. If DJO's game steps up even just a little from last year, I think he could overtake leuer as the best player in Wisconsin.

Probably just my rambling of the Hatred of anything Badger.

Leuer is better than DJO or Jimmy, but I think we will run Wisco out of the gym and win by 8-12 points.  They don't have the guards they have had in the past and less talent overall.  Maybe they have a underrated DJO-type of player who we do not know about, but I would project a win at the BC with them not being able to keep up with our offense.

Depending on how well the CBE goes, we'll jump Wisco by conference play. 

[dsfire]

That's selling their backcourt short, I think.  Taylor's a good player who saw a lot of playtime last year, and Wilson is efficient and should play a similar role to what Bohannon played last year (same on defense?  not sure).  I'm expecting us to be underdogs for that game.

That said, they're really thin at guard and if Taylor can't play a ton of minutes it could be a long year for Badger fans.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I think it's a starting point to base expectations.  Of course, a variety of things happen (injuires, regression, breakouts..etc) during a season which result in teams either under or overperforming what people expected.  Nobody's predictions are ever going to be perfect, but I don't simply throw it out the window or discount people's opinions when a team doesn't perform as exected.

Maybe, but here's where I question using it as any type of real barometer.  What on earth is it actually based on?  When some guy that has seen Missouri play once last year, believes they have a decent recruiting class and some top returners coming back and decides they will be a good team...I'm fine with that....but when they say that is the 14th best team out of 355 teams and then that is used to determine the success or failure of a team during the year...sorry...I call BS on that one.  It shouldn't be a barometer or anything other than seeing how well people throw darts against a wall amidst a bunch of other darts.

[HoopsMalone]

That's selling their backcourt short, I think.  Taylor's a good player who saw a lot of playtime last year, and Wilson is efficient and should play a similar role to what Bohannon played last year (same on defense?  not sure).  I'm expecting us to be underdogs for that game.

That said, they're really thin at guard and if Taylor can't play a ton of minutes it could be a long year for Badger fans.

I guess we can look at their backcourt and agree to disagree.  The Wisco game is a W because of the disparity in the backcourt and the homecourt advantage.

[Lennys Tap]

Maybe, but here's where I question using it as any type of real barometer.  What on earth is it actually based on?  When some guy that has seen Missouri play once last year, believes they have a decent recruiting class and some top returners coming back and decides they will be a good team...I'm fine with that....but when they say that is the 14th best team out of 355 teams and then that is used to determine the success or failure of a team during the year...sorry...I call BS on that one.  It shouldn't be a barometer or anything other than seeing how well people throw darts against a wall amidst a bunch of other darts.

Nobody that I know views this as science. Conversely, it's not just throwing darts against the wall. The polls provide reasonable expectations if one applies a reasonable + or - to the equation.

[Villacats]

Becky is 24th
Pitt 4th
Syracuse 13th
Georgetown 21st

The Legend, Stew Merril, got 5 votes
WVU and Louisville some votes


http://www.freep.com/article/20101021/SPORTS07/101021048/1355/sports/Spartans-are-No.-1-in-preseason-coaches-poll

#6 says hi.

[Brewtown Andy]

You're missing the point.  It's fine to make predictions, we all do it.  Where I think people get sidetracked is when they tie too much validity to them, especially the coaches poll.  Just because you're preseason ranked 20th doesn't mean a cup of piss.  Play the games, rank the teams in midseason.  Preseason polls are fun for the fans, but they are hardly representative of anything remotely representing reality.  That's the point...just don't put crazy stock into them to prove an irrelevant point based on completely irrelevant data inputted by SID's or Assistant coaches \ team managers that are voting on teams they have never seen play, have no idea about their rosters and have put no more than 5 minutes into the entire process.

And since there's a tournament to decide a champion at the end of the season, the polls do what the NCAA needs them to do: Advertise important games.

[dsfire]

#6 says hi.

Umm... okay?

I guess we can look at their backcourt and agree to disagree.  The Wisco game is a W because of the disparity in the backcourt and the homecourt advantage.

I should mention that I don't think their backcourt is better than ours - DJO may average as many points as Wilson scores in his best game - just that it's not a huge dropoff from what they had last year.  Plus it's always nice to have experience at the point.

[Litehouse]

#6 says hi.

LeBron James?  Is that you?  Those connections with DWade are really paying off for us.

[Litehouse]

i agree there. Leuer is one of the toughest guards in college basketball I think. But top to bottom...idk. Maybe my bias is just oozing out. I feel like we're better. If DJO's game steps up even just a little from last year, I think he could overtake leuer as the best player in Wisconsin.

Probably just my rambling of the Hatred of anything Badger.

Are you calling Leuer a guard?  or are you saying he's tough to guard?

[hdog1017]

I don't know why some people get so hot and bothered by preseason polls in college basketball.  At most, it's used by the media to get people talking about college buckets again.  

[Benny B]

Nobody that I know views this as science. Conversely, it's not just throwing darts against the wall. The polls provide reasonable expectations if one applies a reasonable + or - to the equation.

Sure it is.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings/_/year/2010/week/1/seasontype/2

Granted...#2, 8, 9 & 10 made the Final Four.  Granted, it's not #1, 2, 3 & 4, but all of them were top ten -- not too bad.  But WTF is up with #4 and their single first-place vote?

In other words, the best poll predictions are rarely right, they're typically close, at best, when they are... but when they're wrong, they completely miss the mark.  I don't know about you, but that seems to describe every game of darts I've ever played.

[MU06CU10]

Umm... okay?

You missed the fact that the guy is pointing out that Villanova is ranked #6 and was not included with the other Big East teams in Chicos' original post.