Posters' Poll

[Greek Tragedy]

I guess you can say that St. Mary's entered the tourney ahead of Calvin, according to the last poll, and St. Mary's went further in the tourney.  Yeah, I guess you can look at the fact that St. Mary's played MIT, Alvernia, Morrisville State and MHB while Calvin traveled to RHIT, Stevens Point and St. Thomas.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

St. Thomas underwhelmed me in the tournament.  Even in the Calvin game, Calvin didn't seem like the better team, just one playing at the peak of it's abilities.

I had Calvin much higher until I saw St. Thomas play the next couple games, which were less impressive.

Also, given what St. Mary's showed, plus the fact they were missing a pretty big piece of the team, I thought they were tougher.

Honestly, with how different the two teams are, it's tough to judge.  Calvin had a lot of height, but they didn't seem to take as much advantage of it as they could have.

Just a tough call for me.  Plus the schedule was terrible.  They really didn't get to play many decent teams and when they did, they didn't win.

I'd say, if anything, it's still a schedule issue for me.  They didn't show me enough in the tournament to overcome the schedule.

You also have to remember I didn't even have them ranked before the tournament, so I did give them a lot of credit.

[7express]

So, when do we start the posters poll??  Preseason, after week 1, or after New Years??

[magicman]

So, when do we start the posters poll??  Preseason, after week 1, or after New Years??

Mr. Ypsi doesn't start it until after New Years, but knowing how big a hurry you are in to do one, we'll allow you to submit a preseason poll, so have at it.

[7express]

So, when do we start the posters poll??  Preseason, after week 1, or after New Years??

Mr. Ypsi doesn't start it until after New Years, but knowing how big a hurry you are in to do one, we'll allow you to submit a preseason poll, so have at it.

Nah.  I just wanted to know.  I hate rankings before New Years anyways, so this is perfect for me.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I know it's still a couple weeks out, but do we have a date when is the first poll due?

[Mr. Ypsi]

I know it's still a couple weeks out, but do we have a date when is the first poll due?

First poll will include games thru Jan. 12, so ballots are due as soon thereafter as possible.  I always hope to publish Tuesday evening, but it is usually Wednesday evening.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I've just corrected the previous post, to avoid confusion.  As always, polls cover games thru Sunday (just like the 'real' poll).  (I had inadvertently said the first poll would cover games thru Jan. 11, but that is a Saturday.)

Voters are self-selected - anyone who is interested, genuinely follows ALL of D3 (or at least all the teams with any reasonable likelihood of garnering top 25 votes ), and is capable of minimizing home team or home conference or home region biases.  (As to the latter, my experience has been that the voters we get tend to be MORE harsh towards their own teams than the voters overall!)

I hope we can retain most of past voters, and add at least a couple of new ones.  In past years we've had an over-concentration of upper midwest voters - potential voters from the east and west coasts are especially invited.

[7express]

So, we'd start sending in our first ballots starting on the 12th than??

[Mr. Ypsi]

So, we'd start sending in our first ballots starting on the 12th than??

Right, once any relevant games on the 12th have been played.  (I haven't checked to see if there are any relevant games, but I'd assume there are as the UAA generally plays Friday and Sunday games.)

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

So, I'm digging in now for a full investigation of every team in order to compile my initial list.  It only took 10 hours last year; I'm shooting for single digits this time around.

[pjunito]

Hoops.. Grab some wings, diet cola, and watch some NFL playoffs... I know you can do it under 10 hours this time!

Can't wait to see what the posters think.

[7express]

The good thing about making a trail run last week is that this week shouldn't take very long.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Hoops.. Grab some wings, diet cola, and watch some NFL playoffs... I know you can do it under 10 hours this time!

Can't wait to see what the posters think.

Doing it during football does tend to slow the process down.  I'm halfway through the conferences.  I usually divide teams into three groups: ranked teams, teams that may have to be ranked for lack of options, and teams that can't be written off just yet.  Once I get the groups established, I'll go over each team individually to try and rank them.  Finally I'll check Massey and the d3hoops poll to make sure there aren't other teams I need to consider and missed for some reason.

Once I get this initial poll out of the way, I really just adjust slightly by results the rest of the way.

[pjunito]

My wife just asked me, what could I possibly be reading at midnight.. I told her post by Hoops Fan. She says, oh does he work for State Farm?

I don't think you do.. but I do hope you're wearing khakis.

One more day gentlemen!