That voter usually ends up getting Poll Attacked.
(I hope it was worth it, Ron.)
Let's do this!
(Details of AP ballots courtesy of PollSpeak.com.)
Associated Press poll: Duke might be America's best team, might win the national title, might finish the season ranked No. 1. Who the hell knows? But voting the Blue Devils No. 1 right now is just as silly as voting anybody but the Blue Devils No. 1 in the preseason, because there's nothing tangible to back up such a vote. For the millionth time, the games have to matter. And by any measuring stick the only team that can be voted No. 1 right now is Ohio State ... unless you just love San Diego State. Honestly, I would not ridicule anybody for ranking SDSU No. 1 because the Aztecs are obviously good and possibly great, and there's no stain on their resume to hold against them. Want to hold their schedule against them? Fine. I'm OK with that, too. That's why I have the Aztecs fourth, because they do lack quality wins. But any defense of SDSU can start with, "Yeah, but nobody has beaten them," and that's an obviously difficult thing to counter. So I guess what I'm saying is that you can do whatever you want with San Diego State, and you'll hear nothing from me. Rank them first or fourth or eighth. I'm cool with it.
But what I'm not cool with is Duke at No. 1.
How can that be justified?
The Blue Devils do have a stain on their resume, specifically that 66-61 loss at Florida State.
Beyond that, Ohio State has better wins than Duke.
Seriously, take a look:
- Number of Duke wins vs. currently ranked teams: 1
- Number of Ohio State wins vs. currently ranked teams: 4
Knowing all that, how could anybody rank Duke ahead of Ohio State?
Answer: I have no idea.
But I'd love for you to email Ron Morris from The State newspaper in South Carolina and ask him.
He's the lone AP voter ranking Duke ahead of Ohio State.
Perhaps he knows something the rest of us don't.
Or, more likely, he doesn't know any of the stuff I just referenced.
Coaches poll: I loved Baylor in the preseason.
Loved LaceDarius Dunn. Loved Quincy Acy. Loved Perry Jones. Loved the potential. But then the season began and Baylor started taking bad losses, and the Bears haven't done anything to offset them to date, which is why I can't comprehend -- neither can ESPN's Eamonn Brennan, by the way -- how some coach is still voting the Bears on his Top 25 ballot. The Bears are 13-5 with four losses to teams currently unranked in the coaches poll (Gonzaga, Iowa State, Washington State and Florida State) and one loss to a currently ranked team (Kansas). And their best win is a home win over unranked Oklahoma State. So while there might come a day when Baylor again deserves to be on a Top 25 ballot (I still like the potential of the roster), that day is most certainly not to day. So shame on the coach who voted Baylor 25th ... unless, of course, the guilty party is Baylor coach Scott Drew.
In that case, hey, I understand.
I guess.
