Is the Coaches Poll serious?

[The Derski]

This is why preseason rankings needs to be eliminated. Rankings shouldn't even come out until after week 3 or 4. Otherwise it's basically gambling on how good they believe teams will be instead of what they actually are.

Pre-season rankings are a joke but for the most part in March teams are ranked where they should be anyway.

 

[ericd7633]

Hey Eric Ive been waiting to talk to you man. Your Irish looked pretty damn good in Iowa City last week. How the hell did they lose to the Sycamores anyway?? I know Indiana St is solid but that team I saw last week shouldnt be losing more than 6-8 games all year. Did you catch any of the ISU game or no?? Just curious because that was by far the best team Iowa has played this year IMO, even better than the Nova team that beat us. Took one of Iowas best offensive performances of the last few years to win that one.

This may sound weird, but I'm actually a Gophers fan in basketball. haha. I haven't seen any ND games this year, so I'm not sure what to expect out of them, other than I think they will be a 8-10 seed come tourney time. So it's a good resume building win for Iowa for sure. I really haven't watched as much as I would have liked to yet across the board. I honestly feel like Wisconsin could have the best resume right now.

 

[rmilia1]

This may sound weird, but I'm actually a Gophers fan in basketball. haha. I haven't seen any ND games this year, so I'm not sure what to expect out of them, other than I think they will be a 8-10 seed come tourney time. So it's a good resume building win for Iowa for sure. I really haven't watched as much as I would have liked to yet across the board. I honestly feel like Wisconsin could have the best resume right now.

Oh shit yeah I think I knew that. LOL.

 

[wingsauce7]

The coaches poll lost whatever credit they had left. Mass is ranked either 1rst or second in all the RPI projections. MSU still being ranked in front of UW is a major joke as well.

The COACHES don't even vote. They give their polls to Grad Assistants to fill out.

 

[CatsTopPac]

Do the coaches honestly know this little about the teams they are voting on? Teams are underranked all over the place.

#6 Wisconsin. Beat St. John's, Florida, SLU, WVU, Virginia, Marquette. Should be at least #4, maybe #3.
#12 Uconn. Beat Maryland, BC, IU, Florida. Should be ahead of Oregon, UK, Wichita, Duke at least.
#14 Villanova. Beat USC, Kansas, Iowa. Easily a top 10 resume.
#20 Massachusetts. Wins over BC, LSU, Nebraska, New Mexico, Clemson, BYU. #20 is a joke.

Preseason rankings so badly need to be thrown away and never done again. Just because teams like Kentucky and Michigan are big names, and start at the top, doesn't mean they are the best. There is way too much stubbornness on the part of the coaches to change their rankings.

I get what you are saying, and I agree for the most part, but it also looks like you just threw some names on here of some teams that you think should be good, without knowing that they actually suck. So, that doesn't help your case. For instance: You talk about UConn beating MD, BC, IU, and FL. Well, MD is 5-4 with losses against some weak teams, and BC is 3-6 with some losses against horrible teams. And UConn beat both of those teams by a total of 3 points. So really, an unranked Indiana win (by one), and a home win against FL (by one) are their best two wins. That's not much to write home about. Nova beat KU and Nova, but USC is a fucking joke in CBB, so that isn't a team that helps you out. And again, UMass beat LSU (not a great team) by 2, Nebraska (who is mediocre), BC (see above), and Clemson (who is "eh"). Really, their best wins are against a pretty decent BYU team, and UNM. So, I do think that UW and Nova should be moved up a couple spots, but UConn and UMass are about where they should be.

I do think that Colorado should be ranked in both polls though, and at least in the top 20. Their only loss is against Baylor in Dallas (the same venue they just beat UK in), with wins the rest of the way; including a solid Harvard team, and they just beat KU (albeit, at home).

 

[mr.hockey4242]

In reality it doesn't matter. The polls are always a joke, everyone knows it.

It's college bball, unlike football the rankings don't mean shit. At the end of the day it is what the committee thinks of your resume. That is all.

As long as you are in the top 25(scrolling scores on espn, highlights) it really doesn't do much.

Being 13 when you feel you deserve to be top 10 isn't a huge deal. The national perception of being top 10 can be nice but unless you are a true blue blood most people would forget you had that ranking quickly.

 

[TrollyMcTroller]

You'll be hard pressed to find a group of people in America that watch less basketball than the coaches. Think about it... the only thing they're ever going to see during the season is game film of their opponents. They'll be lucky to see 25 teams total. Hell two years ago I managed to see 20 of the AP Top 25 in person not to mention what I watched on TV. And I'm just some random schmoe. The sportswriters do that for a living. I'm not saying they're infallible, but I think they're actually better prepared to vote than the coaches. Sure I value Tom Izzo's opinion on Syracuse's zone defense and Boeheim's offensive philosophy, but since Cuse isn't on his schedule, Izzo probably hasn't seen them play this season, so his opinion where they should be ranked this season doesn't mean dick.

And to reiterate some points already made...

Coaches don't always fill out their own ballots anyway.
It doesn't matter since the polls aren't used for anything in CBB.
It'll all work itself out by march anyway.
Don't get in a twist over it, they don't mean shit.

And to add a few bullet points:
RPI is utterly useless at this point in the season.
RPI is a rating not a poll

(on a related note, if you want some entertainment, go over to the CBS rankings page and look at the comments section. Without fail there is always some asshole on their bitching about how somebody voted in the RPI)

 

[douggie]

Who really gives a shit about the "Coaches Poll"? It was started in 1993 after USA Today took over the UPI and so they published it after the season was over. It truly means nothing.

 

[Jim Rome is Flaming]

In reality it doesn't matter. The polls are always a joke, everyone knows it.

It's college bball, unlike football the rankings don't mean shit. At the end of the day it is what the committee thinks of your resume. That is all.

As long as you are in the top 25(scrolling scores on espn, highlights) it really doesn't do much.

Being 13 when you feel you deserve to be top 10 isn't a huge deal. The national perception of being top 10 can be nice but unless you are a true blue blood most people would forget you had that ranking quickly.

Well said. Oh, and thanks for the scrimmage last weekend.

 

[Clayton]

So is Zach LaVine on the Bruins.

He has a ton of upside but for some reason he was doing fade away 3pt shots instead of normal ones. UCLA's best player for the purposes of this year was the banger with the jacked up mohawk

 

[podsox]

I don't understand why people care how high their team is ranked. Rankings are not important in college basketball

 

[H2S]

rankings are imperfect gauges at best...

comic theatre as a rule (subscribe seriously at your own risk.)

I don't understand why people care how high their team is ranked. Rankings are not important in college basketball

I don't either.
It's probably got something to do with accomplishment, self-esteem, pride of association and a shitload of other psychological goo like that.

There can be only one.