ESPN/USA Today: No. 4

[HoNYaSaxa]

sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3148945

The top 10 remains unchanged.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

We had that first place vote last week.

we actually lost a point 669 after being 670 last week.
texas making ground on us only 34 pts behind us after being 50 pts behind last week. lost ground on kansas by 1 pt as they recieved the same number of votes.

pitt stays at 9
louisville drops from 11th to 20th
marquette up from 15 to 13
nova up from 21st to 18th

memphis lost serious ground on UNC. I was hopping they could be up to #1 by the time we faced them, but unless UNC loses this week it's not happening. oh well, we'll have to settle for #4 vs. #2.

[krey23]

made a mistake, thought they meant we had two, but they also meant kansas

[HoNYaSaxa]

We remain at No. 5 in the AP.

sports-ak.espn.go.com/ncb/rankings

[paranoya]

Apparently there is no #24 in the AP rankings so we can assume Miami (FL) is #25

[HoNYaSaxa]

Shouldn't we actually assume that Duke is #24? The media loves them so much, they moved them up to #6 AND held the #24 spot open for them...

[jester]

If (when) we are unbeaten Dec 23rd, we may not even move in the ESPN poll, provided Texas beats Michigan State. Would we leap Kansas before they lose, with their two wins over USC and Arizona?

[HoyaSinceBirth]

um well wouldn't we move past memphis if we win? so we'd at least be up to number 3.

[joey0403p]

would you rather we lose to Memphis or one of the early BE games (against an unrespected opponent)?

[kchoya]

joey0403p said:

would you rather we lose to Memphis or one of the early BE games (against an unrespected opponent)?

c. neither - beat them all

I'd rather beat Memphis and get a "marquee" win and lost to a middling BE team that will be forgotten come March.

[strummer8526]

kchoya said:

joey0403p said:

would you rather we lose to Memphis or one of the early BE games (against an unrespected opponent)?

c. neither - beat them all

I'd rather beat Memphis and get a "marquee" win and lost to a middling BE team that will be forgotten come March.

Definitely. Every team is expected to have a stupid loss or two by the end of the year. Beating a top 5 team stays with you all season.

[jester]

"um well wouldn't we move past memphis if we win? so we'd at least be up to number 3"

I think Texas would leapfrog us with 3 quality wins vs our 1, and Kansas with 2 quality wins. So I would think we would still stay at #4. But let's see how it plays out...

[lichoya68]

if we are undeafeated after radford and hope we beat them at least one freaking point then i believe that toatally objectively if we beat memphis in their house we should be number one yup thats that go hoyas beat the radford radishes or whatever they are calle d what ARE THEY CALLED and then beat memphis at their house in our best overall game of the season and then NUMBER ONE but that dont count only the late april polls really count go hoyas beat them all one by one by at least.......... ;D

[HoyaSinceBirth]

I don't think so if they haven't jumped us yet after beating who they have vs. our no quality wins them having one more won't allow them to jump us if we finally pick up a quality win. heck it might even move us past kansas for second place.

[Hoya TMF]

i really want to beat memphis. obviously losing to a mediocre b.e. team would not be good, but memphis is by far the best team on our schedule. the big east is down this year. we need a marquee non-conference win to help our seeding in march and jacksonville ain't it. memphis is our only opportunity.

[hoyatables]

The only team I care about beating right now is Radford. That, and I hope the guys are focusing on their exams so that they can play next semester. Memphis is two weeks and one win away.

[kchoya]

hoyatables said:

The only team I care about beating right now is Radford. That, and I hope the guys are focusing on their exams so that they can play next semester. Memphis is two weeks and one win away.

Yeah, but I don't have finals and I don't have to worry about Radford, so I can ignore the depos I should be prepping for and, instead, focus on the Memphis game.

[DudeSlade]

I have held since the preseason that the winner of the GU-Memphis game should become #1. Pure and simple, imo, no other teams receiving first place votes will have played against each other at this time in the year. That makes this THE premiere game of the season up until this point. Memphis' strong wins should also be factored in as a win over them will mean even more. If Memphis won (I'm just saying if--I know it won't happen), I would not understand UNC staying above them, considering the strength of Memphis' wins. Texas is the one other team that has a truly marquee win (UCLA) and a pretty darn good win to go with it (Tennessee), but I am using preseason voting against them here. If they aren't considered #1 worthy yet with those wins, then I don't understand how they would be considered better than a first place vote receiving, 4 starters returning from the Final Four, coached by JTIII Georgetown team that just beat Memphis. So basically, I would hope that voters would award the winner their rightful place as #1 in the polls.

[jgalt]

Dudeslade is exactly right just because UNC has not lost a game the winner of memphis-gtown has bigger wins and no losses. GU, KU, memphis, UCLA, and UNC talent wise are arguably the same so to put them in an order preseason that cannot change unless one loses does not seem rational. what i mean is that the tie breaker or talent should be wins when all teams are undefeated (i know UCLA has lost) and the winner of memphis-GU will have better wins than UNC

[prhoya]

IMO, if UNC doesn't lose, whoever wins the Memphis-GU game gets #2 and a lot of votes to close gap the #1=#2 gap..