2014-15 National Rankings

[ShockerFever]

He bumped them all the way from #18. Said reasoning was so many others lost as well. I don't believe very many top 20 teams lost to a team lower than K St.

That's unfathomable. After. A. Loss. To. A. .500. Team.

[Dave Stalwart]

Oklahoma and Baylor don't belong in the top 20. Maybe not even the top 25. There are going to be a lot of "upsets" in the dance if people buy into this stuff and keep a lot of these 8-10 loss teams really high.

[Blackmag]

Actually when this schedual was put together it was a very good challenge. On paper, Memphis, Seton Hall, New Mexico State, Alabama, Tulsa, St. Louis, Utah, and George Washington is no walk in the park. We can't help that some teams under-performed. I imagine if we played in the Big 12 or the ACC we would have more chances week end week out to get those top 50 wins or quality losses. Marshall tries to schedual the best teams that he can if they are willing to play home and home. To me it is all relative when a team like K-State has beaten some of the so called high power teams in the big 12 when they are having such a weak season. Look at some of k-states quality losses in the non-con. portion of their season and that pretty much tells me all I need to know about the big 12.

[ShockTalk]

That's unfathomable. After. A. Loss. To. A. .500. Team.

Of the 8 teams OK past, UNI, WSU, and Utah won both their games Utah beating Stanford and Cal.

The 5 losing teams they past: Louisville lost to NC St and it cost them 5 spots, Iowa St lost to Oklahoma (that should be a "quality loss" unlike the others) that cost them only 1 spot, Baylor lost twice - KU and Ok St only cost them 3 spots, UNC lost to Pitt and lost 7 spots, and Ohio St lost to Mich St and lost 3 spots. All the "lost to" teams were equal to or better than K St. OK did have the best win over these other teams, but they also had the "worst loss". This Big 12 Love Fest is unbelievable. Okla St loses to TCU and drops only 5 spots.

One other oddity: Butler beats DePaul, loses to Villanova, moves up 3 spots, and passes UNC and Ohio St.

[Dave Stalwart]

I think there's just so much parity once you get past about #10 they just can't decide what to do. It's like a crap shoot because you've got a carousel of about 20-30 teams that all have basically 6-12 losses and no one knows what to do week to week.

Well they know one thing: no matter how murky it gets, they can't move WSU or UNI up higher than where we are because that was decided once and for all a few weeks ago. I can see how it would be hard to craft a ranking system when you lock in a couple 2 or 3 loss teams at about #15 regardless of what happens around them.

There are going to be 10 loss teams seeded higher than these crappy Valley teams...
UNI is going to start getting really annoyed with it because they have never been this high I don't think. We've been #2 receiving a few votes for #1 so whether or not we are #15 or #5 or #25 just comes down to seeding. For them, every spot they gain is probably a school record they'd like to grab, so watching Oklahoma get #10 would be such a joke from their perspective.

[ShockTalk]

I think there's just so much parity once you get past about #10 they just can't decide what to do. It's like a crap shoot because you've got a carousel of about 20-30 teams that all have basically 6-12 losses and no one knows what to do week to week.

Well they know one thing: no matter how murky it gets, they can't move WSU or UNI up higher than where we are because that was decided once and for all a few weeks ago. I can see how it would be hard to craft a ranking system when you lock in a couple 2 or 3 loss teams at about #15 regardless of what happens around them.

There are going to be 10 loss teams seeded higher than these crappy Valley teams...
UNI is going to start getting really annoyed with it because they have never been this high I don't think. We've been #2 receiving a few votes for #1 so whether or not we are #15 or #5 or #25 just comes down to seeding. For them, every spot they gain is probably a school record they'd like to grab, so watching Oklahoma get #10 would be such a joke from their perspective.

I agree with what you say, but would like to add about the "locking in" of teams that someone thinks shouldn't be higher.

As long as those teams do what is expected, the only way such teams could drop would be if no teams above them have losses that one wouldn't expect them to have and that teams below them do better than expected including no "lesser" losses.

With WSU and UNI (and Utah in this case), these teams have done all that can be expected while a team below them has done nothing more than expected and actually had a loss at a level that penalized many other teams in that week to the point of falling below the locked-in teams causing the 3 to rise. Moving Oklahoma that many spots while penalizing others is nuts. Moving past teams who also had a "lesser" loss while not have a quality win is one thing. Moving Oklahoma past the 3 locked-in teams is indefensible, IMHO.

[ShockerPhi]

Oklahoma and Baylor don't belong in the top 20. Maybe not even the top 25. There are going to be a lot of "upsets" in the dance if people buy into this stuff and keep a lot of these 8-10 loss teams really high.

Personally, I'm greatly looking forward to MAYBE one B12 team making it past the first weekend again this year.

[shox1989]

@SethDavisHoops: 1. UK 2. Wisc 3. Duke 4. UVa 5. Gonz 6. Nova 7. Kan 8. NDame 9. Ariz 10. Okl 11. Iowa St 12. Utah 13. Lou 14. N.Iowa 15. Wich St 16. Baylor


Haven't paid attention to Seth the past couole of weeks. Surprised to see us at #15..

Actually, last week Seth Davis had WSU at #17, so he actually moved the Shockers up 2 spots. I would be very happy if every AP voter did that.

[shox1989]

Rick Bozich has WSU at #15 (He had the Shocks at #16 last week): http://www.wdrb.com/story/28116396/bozich-my-weekly-ap-college-basketball-top-25-ballot

Geoff Grammar has moved WSU up to #12 (He had the Shockers at #16 last week): http://www.abqjournal.com/542158/sports/geoff-grammers-ap-top-25-mens-basketball-ballot-for-feb-16.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Bret Strelow also moves WSU up to #12 (He also had the Shockers at #16 last week)! http://www.fayobserver.com/blogs/sports/acc_basketball/acc-basketball-bret-strelow-s-ap-top-ballot-for-feb/article_834384e0-b59c-11e4-8023-db74ab38369c.html

I like the early returns on the 4 ballots we have seen so far. The Shockers have moved up on every one. The average movement is 2.75 spots. The average ranking is 13.5.

[wufan]

UNI should also be ~ 11 after this week.

[Play Angry]

Jerry Carino also moves us up to #12 from #16 last week.

[Play Angry]

BJ Rains moves us up to #12 from #14.

Looks like we're gonna get a real nice bump in today's polls. Will be interesting to see whether we have enough mmmph to leap Louisville. It will be close, but we might check in as high as #12.

[Dave Stalwart]

Sounds like we will get a bump. I really don't even care because I'm really happy about even a #15. I don't have any problem being content regardless. i just think the locking us in at 15 thing is funny. It would make sense if everyone else wasn't losing all the time.

[newshock1234]

Im guessing we get a bump up to 13

[Play Angry]

Kevin Lyttle moves us up to #13 from #17.

Chris Dachille bumps us to #10 from #11.

Good stuff.