NCAA Women’s Basketball Polls



Today, I’m going to guess the Gophers rise at least 2 spots in the AP poll.
I have Georgia dropping all the way off the poll from #14 after losing two games to good but unranked teams. Also I have #24 Miami dropping off after losing to unranked Iowa St.
The Gophers could go higher than #23 depending on what the pollsters do with some teams that lost, like Marquette is the most vulnerable. Missouri list to Green Bay, but I don’t think that’ll drop them lower than the Gophers. Texas A&M lost to a higher ranked team, so they’ll most likely stay where they are now.

So yeah, that’s my guess. Gophers at #23, or #22 if they punish Marquette.

Don’t be surprised to see Northwestern join the poll. They might even be nipping on the heels of the Gophers or leapfrogging them if that’s the pollsters’ whimsy. I personally think they should be higher, but I’ll take the higher ranking.
 


Do we know what happened to the coaches' poll? I can't find a published one since week 1.


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2nd to 3rd week motion in B1G teams in AP ranking ...

Team 2nd -> 3rd (Votes)
Maryland 9 -> 7 (508 -> 563)
Iowa 13 -> 12 (391 -> 435)
Minnesota 25 -> 23 (41 -> 115)
Northwestern 28 -> 28 (15 -> 45)
Michigan tie-32 -> tie-32 (3 -> 5)

The AP voters must have watched the 4th quarter of the Gopher-San Diego game. Rumor is, some Minnesota hacker destroyed the tape of the first 3 quarters.
 
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Almost need to wait for at least 5 games to be played before they begin to start these polls. Perhaps 8-10 games is a better number.
 

Almost need to wait for at least 5 games to be played before they begin to start these polls. Perhaps 8-10 games is a better number.

Agreed. MN ranked 23rd after two games is a little to early to take seriously. They have a lot of improvements to do.
 

If Marlene Stollings was still the coach this team would not be ranked this early. We will learn a lot when they play Syracuse. Go Gophers!
 



If Marlene Stollings was still the coach this team would not be ranked this early. We will learn a lot when they play Syracuse. Go Gophers!

And the team would be allowing 25-30 more points a game ;)
 

Intriguingly, Realtime RPI thinks the Gophers go undefeated until New Year's Eve:
http://www.realtimerpi.com/rpi_190_Women.html
(Note: Realtime RPI was slightly off on the San Diego score.)

With 4 wins under our belt and an AP ranking just bumped up to number 23, we see that the Lady Gophers now have an estimated RPI rank of 66 - as currently rated by the previously quoted Realtime RPI web site. They have us beating Cornell 90-50, and also think we'll beat (AP ranked 14) Syracuse 80-69. Not sure if the Realtime RPI guys got Lindsay's memo about us focusing on defense, so the actual scores might be lower all around, yet I can imagine us beating Cornell by 30+ points. Whether we can beat Syracuse by 11 points, remains to be seen.

The Realtime RPI folks still have us winning-out the non-conference season, and have us estimated at an 11 win/7 loss Big-Ten season. The only losses they predict for us are:
at Michigan
at Michigan State
at Nebraska
at Indiana
at Purdue
at Maryland
at Rutgers
(They must be heavily weighting the Barn as a home advantage, since they predict that we lose all B1G road games except for Wisconsin and Northwestern. I personally think their methodology is a bit shakey, since I suspect we can beat a lot of the teams in the above list, even in an away game.)

By the way, in the USA Today Coaches Poll (http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/rankings), Minnesota is ranked number 30, near Michigan and Northwestern and Michigan State, who clock in at number 27, 33 and 45, respectively. Maryland and Iowa are ranked 10th and 14th in the Coaches Poll, with Syracuse right behind Iowa at 15th. So one might speculate that if we can beat Syracuse, then we're almost ready to play the likes of Iowa and Maryland.
 

Today I’m going to guess USF and Missouri drop below the Gophers, so they rise to #21.
I’m also guessing if Missouri drops off the poll, Iowa St will join the poll.
 




The #20 ranking is nice, although I'm still thinking it's a bit high. We'll know more after #12 Syracuse visits Thursday. I'm not optimistic about the outcome of that matchup, but I'm hoping that I'm wrong. I like the new emphasis on defense, but the Gophers still have a lot to work on. They need to do a much better job of valuing the basketball (way too many turnovers), they need to improve their free throws, and they need to get a lot better offensively. I'm not sure they have enough offensive firepower to beat Syracuse. (I'm still bemoaning the loss of Hubbard and the graduation of Wagner.) If the Gophers are going to challenge Syracuse, it might have to be one of those "grind it out" games in the 60s/low 70s.
 

I agree with the fear we don't have the offense to stick with Syracuse. However my biggest fear is Taiye or Lamke foul trouble. Even if there are limitations on their offensive game, they need those two bigs on the court vs the bigs of Cuse. Kaposi and Tomancova having to play extended minutes due to foul trouble would be a nightmare. I think pitts will also have to play extended minutes as she is a big strong physical body that will have to guard and go against the 6'1 and 6'2 wings on Syracuse. The part that I'm not really concerned with in terms of tempo is Bell and Brunson. An up and down game suits their style. Plus Syracuse averages 18+ turnovers a game. that might be music to ball-hawking players like Bell and Brunson. I also agree free-throw shooting has to improve. I'm talking about missing 1-3 maybe four free-throws at the most. Probably will need 6-8 made 3-pointers to keep this competitive. I'm hoping we get one of those Bell games like last year vs Ohio St in the big ten tournament or vs Maryland where she is good at all aspects of the game and plays fast but under control.


The #20 ranking is nice, although I'm still thinking it's a bit high. We'll know more after #12 Syracuse visits Thursday. I'm not optimistic about the outcome of that matchup, but I'm hoping that I'm wrong. I like the new emphasis on defense, but the Gophers still have a lot to work on. They need to do a much better job of valuing the basketball (way too many turnovers), they need to improve their free throws, and they need to get a lot better offensively. I'm not sure they have enough offensive firepower to beat Syracuse. (I'm still bemoaning the loss of Hubbard and the graduation of Wagner.) If the Gophers are going to challenge Syracuse, it might have to be one of those "grind it out" games in the 60s/low 70s.
 

The hope is that playing at Williams Arena they have a sixth man. The home crowd.

They have to to figure out a way to neutralize Tiana Mangakahia. That's a tall order.
 

With Gophers win over Syracuse, they're likely to leapfrog over #17 Texas A & M, which lost at home to Lamar. Not sure, but the Gophers could also be ranked ahead of #14 Iowa, which was thumped by a very good Notre Dame team.
 

No reason to penalize Iowa for losing to a much higher-ranked team on their floor.
 

No reason to penalize Iowa for losing to a much higher-ranked team on their floor.

Seeing that they were thoroughly thumped and embarrassed on ESPN2, I would most definitely penalize them.
 


Figure they'll be ranked somewhere between 15-20 in the next poll.

But honestly, not worried about rankings at this point. Just keep taking care of business and the rankings will, as a result, take care of themselves.
 

Figure they'll be ranked somewhere between 15-20 in the next poll.

But honestly, not worried about rankings at this point. Just keep taking care of business and the rankings will, as a result, take care of themselves.

Why would their ranking stay the same after beating No. 12 Syracuse?
 


Why would their ranking stay the same after beating No. 12 Syracuse?

I don't think it will, but I'm guessing they'll be in that range come the next poll. When it comes to polls, there are so many moving parts that it's hard to predict where teams end up on a week-to-week basis.
 

Gophers have a realistic shot to start 12-0. Have to get past @ BC. Then there would be a showdown @ Michigan in game 13.

You get to 12-0, you'll be ranked appropriately.

When is Hubbard expected to return?
 

Gophers have a realistic shot to start 12-0. Have to get past @ BC. Then there would be a showdown @ Michigan in game 13.

You get to 12-0, you'll be ranked appropriately.

When is Hubbard expected to return?

A Gopher Basketball team not getting past @BC... not possible :)
 



#14 Minnesota
#15 Syracuse
#16 Iowa

That’s actual. No link yet.
Never mind. Linked above. :eek:
 





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