Gophers ranked #19

[The Big L]

in latest ESPN/USA poll.

Go gophers!

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/usatpoll.htm

[hinjon]

What about the AP Polls?

[SelectionSunday]

AP usually comes out an hour or two later.

[TheDinkytowner]

Nice, ESPN.com doesn't have the ESPN poll up yet.

[SelectionSunday]

1. How in the heck is Louisville still ranked? Have beaten no one of consequence.

2. Notre Dame loses to a weak St. John's team and is still pretty high at #13? The Irish have beaten Texas, that's it. Even with playing Texas & UNC in Maui, the Irish's nonconference schedule is almost as weak as the Gophers' nonconference schedule. Until proven otherwise, the Irish are a "paper tiger."

[freshtrout]

ND plays Georgetown tonight at home. I like the Irish in this one, but Malone for Georgetown is a stud.

[TheDinkytowner]

Hey Sunday, who's the one coach who voted for UNC?

[ShowinGoldyLove]

Marquette jumping 10 spots from #25 to #15 seems quite drastic for beating Presbyterian, Villanova (#13 at the time), and Cincinnati.

[SelectionSunday]

To this point Notre Dame is a lot like Purdue. I think we all know they're pretty good clubs, but so far what they've accomplished is rather unimpressive. Considering both were clear top-10 teams heading into the season, it's surprising how little they challenged themselves (outside their tournaments) in November & December.

[shikenjanski]

2. Notre Dame loses to a weak St. John's team and is still pretty high at #13? The Irish have beaten Texas, that's it. Even with playing Texas & UNC in Maui, the Irish's nonconference schedule is almost as weak as the Gophers' nonconference schedule. Until proven otherwise, the Irish are a "paper tiger."

It seems like all the commentators repeat the same things about the Big East being the best conference in the nation. Maybe a weaker Big East team (Notre Dame) gets the benefit of the doubt in the polls just because they are a Big East team? At the end of the Big East conference schedule it will be interesting to see where they stand and how far they'll make it in the tournament. (If they make it.)

[ChemEGopher]

Nice, surprised to see us move up after going 1-1 this week.

[TheDinkytowner]

Gonzaga falls from #17 to #37 after playing 1 game this week (losing at Utah by 1 point.)

[Gopher4Life]

How is 11-1 Arkansas still unranked after beating #4 Oklahoma?

[Ogee Oglethorpe]

The Las Vegas Sports Consultants poll comes out later today, which is the only real poll I could care less about.

These guys set the lines, their livelihood depends on how well they know the teams, not some coaches or media who see two games a week.

Perfect example is the Gopher football team. When the Rodents made it to 7-1 and were ranked for a couple weeks, getting as high as around 19th or 20th in the polls, the LVSC still had them ranked 39th or so. Seems they were dead on with that one.

I'm curious to see where they fall this week, if they're ranked in the LVSC top 30 for college basketball.

[Gopherthewin]

Can you post the link for the LVSC poll?

[Ogee Oglethorpe]

But they do a horrible job of updating their website. They generally announce the rankings Monday afternoons on local radio here on their weekly interview with the LVSC rep but the website sucks. The last poll they have on the website right now is the Week 6, December 22 release.

www.vegassportsconnect.com

Hope that helps.....

[sec105]

19 and 22 (AP)

[rrjackIII]

Gonzaga falls from #17 to #37 after playing 1 game this week (losing at Utah by 1 point.)

Gonzaga has lost 4 of their last 5 IIRC.

[Jim V2]

The Las Vegas Sports Consultants poll comes out later today, which is the only real poll I could care less about.

These guys set the lines, their livelihood depends on how well they know the teams, not some coaches or media who see two games a week.

Perfect example is the Gopher football team. When the Rodents made it to 7-1 and were ranked for a couple weeks, getting as high as around 19th or 20th in the polls, the LVSC still had them ranked 39th or so. Seems they were dead on with that one.

I'm curious to see where they fall this week, if they're ranked in the LVSC top 30 for college basketball.

Interesting--I hadn't heard about that poll.

I do know that when the lines are set, it's not based solely on ability. The lines take into account betting proclivities by the fans of the schools, in order to try to keep even the amounts bet on both sides of the line. Do you know if that proclivity is reflected in the poll, or is it combined with poll results when determining the line?

For example, I don't think the 39th ranking was accurate either. While I do think they were ranked too high, the loss of Decker had a huge effect on the gophers' results. But if I take what I think is a reasonable ranking for the gophs (somehwere around 30?) and add the fact that Minnesotans tend to be small bettors, I might end up at 39.

[station19]

Interesting--I hadn't heard about that poll.

I do know that when the lines are set, it's not based solely on ability. The lines take inot account betting proclivities by the fans of the schools, in order to try to keep even the amounts be on both sides of the line. Do you know if that proclivity reflected in the poll, or is that com poll results when determining the line?

For example, I don't think the 39th ranking was accurate either. While I do think they were ranked too high, the loss of Decker had a huge effect on the gophers' results. But if I take what I think is a reasonable ranking for the gophs (somehwere around 30?) and add the fact that Minnesotans tend to be small bettors, I might end up at 39.


They also reflect the tendencies of the pro bettors whose bets are usually placed in the last 24 to 36 hours.

[CollegeBBallFan]

The betting polls also consider every little "hiccup" that the AP and coaches polls don't bother to consider: who's ailing and who's not; matchups - player to player- per game; who's hot and who's not; coach vs coach; etc, etc.... After all, there's money riding on it.

[Costa Rican Gopher]

Ogee, you know Roxie is from Mpls. So was Bob Martin for that matter. People in the biz respect Mpls.