The polls are really just about production value for the TV product and discussion. The common watcher of college hoops who isn’t a huge college hoops fan doesn’t wanna hear about “Kenpom this” or “Torvik that” without knowing what those things mean.
AP poll rankings just give networks and analysts a basic ranking number to work with and to put next to team names during games and in advertisements for games.
Creighton is going to be a major issue next year. One senior scholarship player and it’s a 10 mpg backup center with a ORtg under 100.
There was a time in my fandom, and probably everyone reading this, where the rankings mattered to us (the fans). Whether that’s a 10 year old player in the YMCA, or the casual sports fan flipping through channels after dinner…it boosts the feeling of a program to see that little number.
If our goal is to have a consistently loud building, and people talking about UM hoops outside of “UMHoops”, Then I’d prefer to see rankings that accurately reflect how good our team is.
That is the only reason they matter
I will say that they used to matter back when Sports Center only showed highlights of top 25 teams.
But I don’t think fans are going to be more in on Michigan if they are ranked 11th than 18th, for example.
What amazes me about the weekly rankings is how much weight they carry with so many fans. My brother is a huge hoops fan, and an ex-college player. He loves the B1G, and watches games almost every night. Whenever we get together, we end up talking some college hoops, and this time of year, he always cites the rankings when we start to discuss potential seedings etc. I mean, he is not even close to being a casual fan, and he doesn’t know how the committee works. The percentage of fans who realize the true significance of the weekly polls must be extremely small.
The polls are just a construct, man.
And there’s recency bias at play as they are coming off a Final Four appearance.
The AP voters are heavily influenced by won-loss records. To be honest I’m surprised we’re as high as 19 with an 18-9 record (although I think it’s very much deserved).
I don’t thinking ranking Auburn higher is that bad. For one, I think the Big Ten is a bit over pumped on Torvik and Kenpom - two 1-A wins over Rutgers seems sort of silly to me.
Also, at some point the game has to be about winning games, not margin and Auburn has won more. If the records were a bit closer the difference in SOS would sway me. I’m not saying they are a better team, but they’ve had more success on the floor in general, and at some point it’s ok to reward that.
Much like Hawaii, the travel within conference seems to take it out of West Virginia. They can’t win on the road.
Louisville didn’t want any of that Florida State smoke.
(Is this getting old yet?)
No, it’s not getting old.
Anyone get ACC Network? Duke and Wake in OT.
Going to double OT now.
Love Tulane’s road uniforms with the purple and gold piping and white fleur-de-lis on ESPNU. Something different for Mardi Gras or are these their regular away unis?
Duke gets outscored 16-4 in double OT and loses to Wake, 113-101.
Analytics rankings harder take wins and losses into account I would think (maybe they don’t at all, I’m not sure). AP and Coaches don’t really take analytics into account and mostly factor in the quality of win/quality of loss
I would guess that most coaches who participate in the coaches poll don’t put a ton of thought into it at all. I’m sure by mid-season, it’s just a pain in the ass to have to do.
Most delegate their votes to someone else.
Yeah, should be called the College SID Poll