2014-15 National Rankings

[jocoshock]

@LukeMeredithAP: It's happened. Iowa State 9th, Northern Iowa 20th and Iowa 25th in @AP_Top25 - First time the state has had 3 ranked teams at once.

@kseminoff: #Shockers have been Turgeonated. Maryland (now 13) trades spots in AP poll with WSU (now 14). #kubball 11th, down 2. ISU 9, UNI 20.

[WuDrWu]

Iowa being ranked is a complete laugh. If you're going to rank Iowa, better go ahead and rank Illinois State too, especially since they're more talented, 1-12.

[Cdizzle]

There really isn't much defense for Iowa being ranked.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

A fair argument can be made against putting Iowa in the top 25, but they are close enough I wouldn't say there is any reason to throw a fit over voters who decided to put them there.

[Art Bunch]

Voters will never be impressed by what we do in the Valley except for UNI. Everybody expects a ranked Wich St to beat those teams.

[Dave Stalwart]

We had 832 Votes last week. 857 this week. Just the ranking went down. More votes though.

I think I understand how this works, but its a little confusing. Can someone explain how that happens? is it that the teams above us are losing votes, but not enough for us to jump them, and at the same time, one or two teams from behind gained a whole bunch (enough to edge us)?

[SHOCKvalue]

I think I understand how this works, but its a little confusing. Can someone explain how that happens? is it that the teams above us are losing votes, but not enough for us to jump them, and at the same time, one or two teams from behind gained a whole bunch (enough to edge us)?

I think it means voters are having trouble with a consensus in the range where we are ranked. Voting the same set of teams all over the place.

[Remember'70]

Kenpom has Iowa at 37 with a SOS at 224.

That's 4 losses...in the non con with a SOS of 224.

[The Mad Hatter]

Here is a grid comparing the AP order to Coaches, Kenpom, and Sagarin, with red indicating overrated and green underrated according to the statistical models (anything within 2 slots will not be considered):

Team	AP	Coaches	Kenpom	Sagarin
Kentucky	1	1	1	1
Virginia	2	2	2	2
Gonzaga	3	3	3	3
Villanova	4	4	4	6 (-2)
Duke	5	6 (+1)	9 (-4)	4 (+1)
Wisconsin	6	5 (-1)	6	5 (+1)
Arizona	7	7	5 (+2)	9 (-2)
Notre Dame	8	9 (-1)	15 (-7)	11 (-3)
Iowa State	9	12 (-3)	16 (-7)	12 (-3)
Louisville	10	10	12 (-2)	10
Kansas	11	14 (-3)	18 (-7)	14 (-3)
Utah	12	11 (+1)	7 (+5)	7 (+5)
Maryland	13	8 (+5)	14 (-1)	21 (-8)
Wichita State	14	13 (+1)	11 (+3)	16 (-2)
North Carolina	15	15	8 (+7)	8 (+7)
VCU	16	16	17 (-1)	18 (-2)
Texas	17	18 (-1)	21 (-4)	17
West Virginia	18	17 (+1)	13 (+5)	13 (+5)
Oklahoma	19	20 (-1)	10 (+9)	15 (+4)
Northern Iowa	20	19 (+1)	19 (+1)	26 (-6)
Baylor	21	21	20 (+1)	20 (+1)
Dayton	22	22	31 (-9)	42 (-20)
Indiana	23	23	52 (-19)	44 (-21)
Seton Hall	24	24	36 (-12)	35 (-11)
Iowa	25	NR	37 (-12)	27 (-2)

[Rlh04d]

Voters will never be impressed by what we do in the Valley except for UNI. Everybody expects a ranked Wich St to beat those teams.

All you have to do is look at the teams we're playing.

On the one hand, yeah, we beat a top 50 RPI team on the road last week, and another top 100 RPI team this week. On the other hand, we're complaining about Maryland jumping us for beating a six loss Michigan State team ... but that's the same Michigan State team that obliterated Loyola by 35. That's now the second best team we can play in-conference and they did everything in their power to make it hard for voters to respect our victory over them.

This conference gives voters every reason to not be impressed by what we do in the Valley.

[Cdizzle]

A fair argument can be made against putting Iowa in the top 25, but they are close enough I wouldn't say there is any reason to throw a fit over voters who decided to put them there.

They are close enough in a sort of way that WSU is close enough to be in the Top 5. But I'm guessing you wouldn't think WSU fans making that argument were being reasonable.

[KC Shox]

You guys are crazy for thinking Iowa is not Top 25 worthy, I mean, they did beat North Carolina and if you can do that, you've got instant cred. In all seriousness, Iowa being ranked is more of an indication of how down D1 basketball is this year. Michigan State, UCONN, Ohio State, UCLA, Memphis, and Marquette to name a few off the top of my head are all down. These programs are typical mainstays in the rankings so if they aren't in the polls they've gotta put someone in. Might was well be Iowa right now.

[shockmonster]

All you have to do is look at the teams we're playing.

On the one hand, yeah, we beat a top 50 RPI team on the road last week, and another top 100 RPI team this week. On the other hand, we're complaining about Maryland jumping us for beating a six loss Michigan State team ... but that's the same Michigan State team that obliterated Loyola by 35. That's now the second best team we can play in-conference and they did everything in their power to make it hard for voters to respect our victory over them.

This conference gives voters every reason to not be impressed by what we do in the Valley.

Your comparing scores leaves important information out so I'll give you some more comparative scores. You evidentially think that KU is deserving of their lofty ranking, but they lost to RPI 88 (ken Pom)Temple by 25. Temple lost to atulsa team who we beat by 20 pts. One Loyola bad game/loss should not negate a good win for the Shockers.

[WSUwatcher]

This conference gives voters every reason to not be impressed by what we do in the Valley.

Unfortunately, that's largely true.

I suspect if anyone actually saw WSU smother Evansville, they'd have to be a little impressed, but how many did who write or comment nationally, or who vote? And if all you see are the scores and what some of the teams do -- like Loyola losing at Drake, for example -- it's not a very good look.

WSU (and the UNIs even more so) are going to have to provide their own best PR via what they do on the court.

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

They are close enough in a sort of way that WSU is close enough to be in the Top 5. But I'm guessing you wouldn't think WSU fans making that argument were being reasonable.

Who missed out on the top 25 that deserved it more than Iowa?
Who in the top 5 is not an obvious choice to rank ahead of WSU?