MU 9th in ESPN Poll

[🏀]

Big Jump

[rocky_warrior]

Cool  8)  Glad my predictions were one off in this case.

Here's the link
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/rankingsindex

[dwaderoy2004]

wow.  lots of big changes in that poll.  i feel bad for georgetown...they dropped to 23rd from 16th, and they didn't even lose!  now that the bullseye is even more firmly on our backs, let's go out and spank valpo so these mid-majors don't get any ideas about upsetting us.

[rocky_warrior]

Anyone else surprised to see OSU at #1?  I know they haven't lost...bust exactly who have they beaten?  Oh well...it will work itself out.

[WashDCWarrior]

Wow, awesome.  I'll take the liberty of getting rediculously ahead of myself.  If we stay undefeated through the UW game, does anybody think we will get any #1 overall votes?  They're currently split among 4 teams, OSU, Pitt, UCLA, and Florida.

[dwaderoy2004]

ohio st. has won every game by double figures.  but yeah, they haven't so much earned that ranking as opposed to not doing anything to lose it.  personally i think UCLA should be put up there.  like you said rocky, it'll work itself out soon: OSU plays UNC on wednesday.

[AlienWarrior]

It's a beautiful thing as is this being my 1st post on this new board .

[NavinRJohnson]

8th in AP.

[SoCalwarrior]

Wow, awesome.  I'll take the liberty of getting rediculously ahead of myself.  If we stay undefeated through the UW game, does anybody think we will get any #1 overall votes?  They're currently split among 4 teams, OSU, Pitt, UCLA, and Florida.

Let's take a look shall we...

Here are the teams ahead of us and their opponents up to the 9th of December.

1. OSU plays UNC, Valpo and Cleveland St.
2. UCLA plays Long Beach St., UC Riverside, SC Fullerton and Texas A&M
3. Pitt plays R. Morris, Auburn, Duquesne and Buffalo
4. Florida plays Souther, Florida St. and Providence
5. Kansas plays Dartmouth, Depaul, USC and Toledo
6. UNC plays OSU, Kentucky and High Point
7. Alabama plays ULMonroe, Tenn. St., Notre Dame and Alabama St.
8. Texas A&M plays UALR, Pacific, LSU, UCLA
9. MU plays Valpo,N'west St., Deleware St and Wisconsin

Looking at that, I'd say Texas A&M has the best chance of losing a game or two (LSU and UCLA).  UNC is next with games against OSU and Kentucky.  Pitt, Florida, Kansas and Alabama should sweep.  UCLA and MU should sweep, but have a tough final game.  

[SoCalstu09]

Anyone else surprised to see OSU at #1?  I know they haven't lost...bust exactly who have they beaten?  Oh well...it will work itself out.

Also, the #1 and #2 teams lost this week (#1 Florida to KU and #2 UNC to Gonzaga). That being said, it's just the ESPN poll...UCLA tops the AP poll by a lot.

GO MU! #8/9 in the nation!!!

[spiral97]

It's a beautiful thing as is this being my 1st post on this new board .

Welcome aboard Alien! (never thought I'd hear (see) myself say that!).

[Big Papi]

As great as we looked against Duke and Texas Tech, i don't see how we can be ranked higher than OSU, Florida, Pitt and Kansas.  Those teams are definitely a notch above ours so I don't think we will get any first place votes.

[augoman]

it's great to have the recognition, but had hoped to stay 'under the radar' so as to go into the uw game as an underdog..., coming out with an upset of the baaaaadjrs.

[NavinRJohnson]

it's great to have the recognition, but had hoped to stay 'under the radar' so as to go into the uw game as an underdog..., coming out with an upset of the baaaaadjrs.

Heck with that. Let's go in as favorites and give them the beating they so richly deserve.

[SoCalwarrior]

Agreed.  We have to start acting like a top ten team and beat inferior teams up.   We're not going to take anyone by surprise anymore.

[spiral97]

At this point in the season, the polls are still very granular.. they're getting somewhat accurate about who should be in the top 25 and maybe generally whether a team should be in the bottom half or top half but there just has not been enough games to truly narrow down who should be #3 vs #11 or #9 vs. #15.. If you look at the volatility of the AP poll there was an average of 3.6 change in poll position up or down per team which gives a 7.2 position swing range (ESPN poll is 4.2 for a swing range of 8.4).  You might argue that the bottom half is more volatile and you are correct but it is not that much less volatile: just looking at the AP top 10 shows a volatility of 3.2 for a 6.4 swing range (3.4 for a 6.8 swing range in ESPN poll).  That means that it would not be out of the poll character for the #3 team be ranked as low as #6 or #7 come next week or the #10 team be ranked as high as #7 or #6.  Until at least the time we hit conference play, I'm really focusing less on who is ranked just above who or just below who and more on what general area of the top 25 we're in.  Being in the top 10 area is major kudos as I feel that it says we're among the top 15 teams - for which I am happy (not satisfied, but happy).

Which brings me to the reason why I post (and not because I want to be a downer on our awesome #8 ranking):

As great as we looked against Duke and Texas Tech, i don't see how we can be ranked higher than OSU, Florida, Pitt and Kansas.  Those teams are definitely a notch above ours so I don't think we will get any first place votes.

How are those teams "definitely a notch above ours"?  I don't think this has been established yet.. by ANY team.  Florida was viewed as untouchable by many yet they dropped 4 places themselves even though they played a very close game to a highly regarded top-10 ranked kansas team (and lost).  I thoroughly expect a good and fairly evenly matched game vs. Pitt -  no disrespect to them but I have no significant basis of comparison between the teams to expect otherwise.  Do you have any reasoning behind your "notch above" comment?

Please note that this is NOT a hostile challenge response but rather a search for insight in that realm as I know I am traditionally optimistic about the teams I root for.  You can't just make a statement like that without backing it up... 

I should also point out that my use of the terms "volatility" and "swing range" as I analyzed the poll positions are just labels I applied to my own analysis (average of the differentials between each current top 25 team's current position and position last week).

[dwaderoy2004]

someone's got a lot of free time at work on a monday.  lucky...

[COS98]

So let me get this right....If you lose you go down and if you win you go up?  Sounds like a cardboard box and one defense to me.

[WashDCWarrior]

As great as we looked against Duke and Texas Tech, i don't see how we can be ranked higher than OSU, Florida, Pitt and Kansas.  Those teams are definitely a notch above ours so I don't think we will get any first place votes.

I'm not trying to pile on here, but I think if we get to 10-0? having beat Duke and UW, there's got to be some consideration for us to receive at least one #1 vote.  I'm not saying I would vote MU over the teams you mentioned, but someone might.

[SoCalwarrior]

The polls are half popularity contest, half merit and very little science.  If a popular team like Duke, Kansas, Florida, Kentucky, etc. loses, than the voters call it a rare upset and knock them down a few spots.  If MU loses, the voters say, "I guess they weren't so great afterall", and knock them down more than they would a nationally recognized powerhouse. 

[TCforLife]

It's definitely a popularity contest.  If Kansas weren't named Kansas, they wouldn't get any first place votes and probably would be somewhere in the mid teens with their resume.  Who loses to Oral Roberts at home???  I can't see how they got first place votes.  The early season college bball polls are always the biggest joke in sports.

[WashDCWarrior]

Thank god they don't matter like football polls.

I know how the "game" works and I'm not saying I expect the voters to collectively decide MU would be #1.  I'm not saying that I'd vote them #1.  I'm just saying that with the resume they would have put together at that point, coupled with some loses to teams currently ahead of us, there could be one voter to rank us on top.

The important thing would be being in the position (10-0) to give the voters a chance.

[WashDCWarrior]

If Kansas weren't named Kansas, they wouldn't get any first place votes ...

They didn't receive any first place votes in either poll.

[MUHoopsfan6]

Did any of you catch Coach K's weekend radio show on ESPN, and his raging bull comments about D. James?  I was deer hunting up north so was up real early, my Dad has XM radio we were listening to one of the 5 espn's he has.  I think it was Saturday.   Anyway, Coach K was talking to the owner of the Miami Heat (the guy who owns Carnival Cruise Lines Mickey something)about D Wade and was actually at a loss for words when trying to describe how special Wade is.  But the coolest part was when they started talking about the sports movie of the week which was "Raging Bull" with Deniro.  Coach K went on to say that he wished his team had been the raging bulls last week VS Marquette, but it had turned out that it was D. James.  Thought you guys might like that.

Hasta la bye bye

[rocky_warrior]

Sounds like a cardboard box and one defense to me.

Lol...can't wait for the weekend of Feb 17