CHAPEL HILL — The new Associated Press top 25 college basketball poll is out. The theme song for this week's poll: Loser, by Beck. In recognition of the fact that teams on my ballot last week combined to lose 19 times -- none more than decisively than Duke at Miami.
Here's a look at how I voted this week, with some post-ballot thoughts. The second number, after the comma, is where I had that team ranked last week:
1. Michigan, 2
2. Kansas, 4
3. Indiana, 6
4. Florida, 9
5. Syracuse, 3
6. Duke, 1
7. Gonzaga, 10
8. Oregon, 15
9. Michigan State, 11
10. Miami, 23
11. Arizona, 7
12. Ohio State, 14
13. Louisville, 5
14. Butler, 8
15. Wichita State, 21
16. Mississippi, 24
17. Cincinnati, 20
18. N.C. State, 16
19. Kansas State, 13
20. San Diego State, NR
21. Missouri, NR
22. Notre Dame, 19
23. New Mexico, 18
24. Arizona State, NR
25. Creighton, 22
Thoughts:
--Lots and lots of movement on my ballot this week. Mainly because lots and lots of teams lost. Florida jumped five spots in my rankings, from ninth to fourth. Duke dropped five spots, from first to sixth. Oregon is up seven spots, from 15th to eighth. And on it went. Lots of movement.
--Newcomers on my ballot: San Diego State, Arizona State and Missouri. Which means that we bid farewell to VCU, UCLA and Minnesota. I like Minnesota a lot still, actually. But couldn’t justify ranking the Gophers amid a four-game losing streak. The first two of those, to Indiana and Michigan, are more than acceptable losses. They’re expected losses, really. But losing to Northwestern? The Gophers just beat that team by 18 points not long ago.
--I wanted to drop Duke lower than sixth after that ugly loss at Miami. But, really, you can only move the Blue Devils down so far. There’s so much parity in college basketball this season, that the top 20 or so teams aren’t really all that distinguishable. Teams are just going to beat up on one another, which makes for good drama but for difficulty when it comes to ranking them.
--And what to do with N.C. State. The loss at Wake Forest was inexcusable, but the Wolfpack was impressive – at least until the end – against North Carolina on Saturday night. I dropped the Wolfpack two spots, from 16th to 18th, but the Wolfpack could have dropped further if not for the fact that many teams ranked around them also lost.
--Count me on the Miami bandwagon. The Hurricanes didn’t let up following that dominant victory against Duke, and followed it with a one-sided victory against Florida State. The Hurricanes rose the highest in my ballot this week, from 23rd to 10th.
