syracuse.com/orangebasketball wrote:
1) Gonzaga 1541 points
2) Baylor 1491
3) Iowa 1427
4) Michigan State 1307
5) Kansas 1289
6) Houston 1169
7) Villanova 1163
8) West Virginia 1113
9) Creighton 1037
10) Tennessee 941
11) Texas 873
12) Wisconsin 846
13) Illinois 742
14) Texas Tech 669
15) Florida State 619
16) Missouri 491
17) Virginia 456
18) San Diego State 455
19) Rutgers 396
20) Ohio State 392
21) Duke 345
22) North Carolina 328
23) Louisville 164
24) Clemson 156
25) Michigan 142
26) Richmond 140
27) Saint Louis 121
28) Virginia Tech 115
29) Xavier 55
30) Oklahoma State 48
31) Oregon 31
32) Indiana 22
33) Florida 18
34) Arizona State 13
35) UCLA 9
36) Connecticut 7
37) Arizona 5
38) Syracuse 4
38) Georgia 4
38) Arkansas 4
41) SMU 1
41) Minnesota 1
42T) Marquette 0
Writer Donna Ditota wrote: ”I’m among the AP men’s basketball poll voters. Scroll below to see the ballot I submitted Sunday night and my rationale for choosing those teams:”
Plenty of teams are on my radar: They include Xavier (26th, my last team out), UCLA, Louisville, Michigan, St. Louis, and Arkansas.
Each week, I find it interesting and instructive to look at the various tiers that immerge in the AP Poll. These tiers are unwittingly created by the 62 basketball writers, including Donna Ditota, who vote in the AP Poll. By definition, these tiers are subjectively determined by any interested observer.
Above, I have created seven tiers, with the following rationale in mind: (1) create tier boundaries where there are significant gaps (on a percentage basis), and (2) try to keep the total number of tiers to a minimum. Originally, I had six tiers, but I then decided to carve out teams ranked Nos. 29), 30), and 31) as a separate tier, because Xavier - with 55 points - shouldn’t be in the same tier as teams with 1 or 4 points, nor should they be in the tier above them having 115 points.
I also decided to group the top 9 teams into two separate tiers, due to the 120-point difference between Iowa (1427 points) and Michigan State (1307).
I obviously accept that other posters may view the dataset from another perspective, with more or fewer tiers, and tier division lines at other places.
I would invite any interested poster to copy the dataset above and post their own subjective tiers by moving the linebreaks. Moving on...
XUFan09 wrote:
I said in another thread not to expect Xavier to be ranked even if they beat both UC and Oklahoma, but after they absolutely trounced Oklahoma, I thought that might change. It's clear that the voters just don't pay attention to games.
I strongly disagree with your assertion. So does AP Poll voter Donna Ditota – in her own word, in fact.
While Xavier’s wins over Cincinnati and Oklahoma were commendable, neither Cincinnati nor Oklahoma received a single vote in the AP Poll.
On the other hand, Marquette was 1-2 vs. teams receiving votes in the AP Poll prior to last night’s thrilling win in Omaha.
Marquette stuns No. 4 Wisconsin 67-65 on buzzer beater – Associated Press/ESPN – December 5, 2020
Marquette uses strong 2nd half to beat No. 9 Creighton 89-84 – Associated Press/ESPN – December 15, 2020
Marquette Golden Eagles (5-2) Schedule & Results 2020-21 - ESPN
Wed, Dec. 2 vs Oklahoma State Lost 70-62
Sat, Dec. 5 vs #4 Wisconsin Won 67-65
Sat, Dec. 12 @ UCLA Lost 69-60
Tue, Dec. 15 @ #9 Creighton Won 89-84
Even before last night’s win over Creighton, Marquette had a résumé worthy of votes in the AP Poll. UCLA may be a Top 25 team this season. So might Xavier, So might Marquette. But none of these teams team have proven it just yet.
You can take it for granted that Xavier’s gaudy 7-0 record has the attention of all 62 AP Poll votes. They’re just waiting to see how Xavier fares against the likes of
Villanova, Creighton, Connecticut, and Marquette before elevating Xavier into the Top 25.
You can also take it that the AP Poll voters will be looking to see if Marquette is the only team in the country to go
2-0 against teams ranked in the
Top 10 in the country at the time they played. Xavier hasn't had that opportunity this season, but it sure looks good for Marquette's résumé.
It is my strong opinion that the Golden Eagles were unduly punished by the AP voters for their loss at UCLA. There should now be no doubt now that Marquette will be getting votes in next week’s AP Poll - hopefully, a whole lot.
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Related: on December 11, 2020, I posted this about
Xavier vs. Marqutte on another thread.
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 12:22 pm