Top 25 talk

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I can tell you it was a mixed bag for me... some schools I gave the benefit of the doubt and others I didn't. I also gave varying degrees of that benefit. I was all over the place... and I could have kept writing, erasing, moving, adjusting, etc. for days and never gotten comfortable with my ballot. This was one of the more difficult preseason MBB Top 25's I've ever considered.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I can tell you it was a mixed bag for me... some schools I gave the benefit of the doubt and others I didn't. I also gave varying degrees of that benefit. I was all over the place... and I could have kept writing, erasing, moving, adjusting, etc. for days and never gotten comfortable with my ballot. This was one of the more difficult preseason MBB Top 25's I've ever considered.

I was wondering if perhaps it were easier this year because almost no one expects it to be right?  Outside of Augustana, you're not really going to have anyone upset if their team isn't where they want it to be, since it's literally a guessing game for almost everybody.

[Greek Tragedy]

It'll be a top ten Final Four:

#4 Babson vs. #6 Augustana
#8 UW-Stevens Point vs. #9 Virginia Wesleyan

Congrats to the pollsters for reading the tea leaves well enough to place the eventual Final Four that high in their end-of-regular-season poll. Considering that this has been a year in which everything seemed to be up for grabs due to there being a real dearth of standout teams, that's an accomplishment.

I thought I would expand on this a little.

2015 Final Four - Preseason Poll - Final Regular Season Poll
Babson - 23 - 4
Augustana  - 3 - 6
UWSP - 7 - 8
VWC - 19 - 9

2014- Pre - Final
Whitewater - 13 - 3
IWU - 2 - 6
Amherst - 1 -7
Wiliams -3 - 9

2013
St. Thomas - 11 - 1
MHB - ORV - no votes
Amherst - 5 - 2
North Central - 6 - 3

2012
Cabrini - 14 - 5
IWU - ORV  - ORV
MIT - 10 - 3
Whitewater - ORV  - 8

2011
Wooster - 6 - 5
Williams - 8 - 4
St. Thomas - 13 - 8
Middlebury - 9 - 2

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I can tell you it was a mixed bag for me... some schools I gave the benefit of the doubt and others I didn't. I also gave varying degrees of that benefit. I was all over the place... and I could have kept writing, erasing, moving, adjusting, etc. for days and never gotten comfortable with my ballot. This was one of the more difficult preseason MBB Top 25's I've ever considered.

I was wondering if perhaps it were easier this year because almost no one expects it to be right?  Outside of Augustana, you're not really going to have anyone upset if their team isn't where they want it to be, since it's literally a guessing game for almost everybody.

Damn... I wish I thought of that excuse before voting!!! LOL

To some extent that is a fair point... no one is really going to be up in arms since there is so much parity and unknowns extending over from last year into this year... but, that actually makes it hard to place teams. Is Team A better than Team B: yes. Is Team B better than Team C: yes. Is Team C better than Team A: yes. Crap. I had 50 teams and couldn't get below I think about 35 comfortably... and then from 2-25 I struggled. LOL

[ronk]

And here's a little more about it that poll watchers will probably enjoy:
http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2015/10/mens-preseason-no-1

Pat,
  When's the women's poll expected to be out?

[gordonmann]

Ronk:

We're collecting information from the schools now and then will distribute the ballot to the voters.

[Bengalsrule]

Thanks for posting the ballot breakdown grid, Pat. It's very helpful.

Ditto Pat.  New insight that is much appreciated!

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

OK... finally got my Top 25 ballot thoughts put together: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/?p=2676

Talk about parity and wide open. I suspect this season will be nuts! It was a very challenging ballot to do this preseason.

[ronk]

Pat,
   Would you provide a link to the info to which Gordon Mann referred which is used by the Top 25 voters for the preseason poll? Some of us non-voters would like to see the newcomers(Frosh,xfers) that would affect that poll, and, more importantly, the conference races.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Probably not, ronk. First off... the data is in an Excel file; not online. It is a LARGE file LOL.

Second, some of that info I am sure isn't necessarily for public consumption (I am sometimes a little surprised by the info in the system)... and per that, not sure programs or SIDs would appreciate the info being made public if they didn't think it would be in the first place.

That's just my two cents.

[ronk]

Probably not, ronk. First off... the data is in an Excel file; not online. It is a LARGE file LOL.

Second, some of that info I am sure isn't necessarily for public consumption (I am sometimes a little surprised by the info in the system)... and per that, not sure programs or SIDs would appreciate the info being made public if they didn't think it would be in the first place.

That's just my two cents.

Thought it was worth a try.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Probably not, ronk. First off... the data is in an Excel file; not online. It is a LARGE file LOL.

Second, some of that info I am sure isn't necessarily for public consumption (I am sometimes a little surprised by the info in the system)... and per that, not sure programs or SIDs would appreciate the info being made public if they didn't think it would be in the first place.

That's just my two cents.

Thought it was worth a try.

When I first started up the Fan Poll, Pat was gracious enough to send me a copy of what he sent to his voters.  But this was way later in the season (the Fan Poll has always only started up in January), and whether or not it had been edited I have no idea.  I still thought it was an awfully nice thing for him to do, since he was obviously less than thrilled about there even being a Fan Poll!

(I always went out of my way to stress that we were in no way a competitor to the D3hoops.com poll, that his was the REAL poll, and I think he eventually came around to the notion that this increased poster involvement.  I gave up running the poll a couple of years ago, though I'm still a voter.)

[Greek Tragedy]

http://athletics.uwsp.edu/sports/2014/12/10/MBB_1210140918.aspx

Pointer article came out with the preseason Top 25 and had some nice historical information on them.

They've been ranked for 46 weeks in a row now (start of the 2012-2013 season). Probably not a huge feat. It was also noted that they've been in the Top 25 for 135 of the last 137 weeks (the other two weeks, they still received votes) dating back to the start of the 2006-2007 season.

I only mention this because last year there was talk about Amherst finally dropping out and the NESCAC not in the polls for the first time since 2002 (?).

The only other team I could think of off hand that could have such a streak would be St. Thomas since they've won the last 10 or so MIAC championships. Any thoughts or ideas of other streaks or who holds the all-time record and current streak?

[John Gleich]

Probably not a huge feat.

Easy for you to say...      


What's most interesting to me about the rankings are that Point has been ranked #1 more than any other ranking.... and they've never been #22!

[Greek Tragedy]

Probably not a huge feat.

Easy for you to say...      


What's most interesting to me about the rankings are that Point has been ranked #1 more than any other ranking.... and they've never been #22!

Well, off the top of my head, possible candidates could be Wooster, Whitworth, St. Thomas, Amherst, Williams, Virginia Wesleyan...

I could be completely wrong and just be a spoiled Pointer fan who is used to being part of a winning program.