2016-17 Preseason Basketball Polls

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Blue Ribbon Yearbook released their Top 25.

1. Duke
2. Oregon
3. Kansas
4. Kentucky
5. Villanova
6. Wisconsin
7. North Carolina
8. Louisville
9. Purdue
10. Virginia
11. Michigan State
12. Xavier
13. Arizona
14. Gonzaga
15. Connecticut
16. Butler
17. Saint Mary’s
18. Indiana
19. Creighton
20. Florida State
21. West Virginia
22. UCLA
23. NC State
24. Maryland
25. Rhode Island

Yes, yes...I also think Butler at 16th is crazy. Don't worry.

Parrish updated his 25+1. Dropped Butler.

http://www.cbssports.com/college-basket ... ng-begins/

1. Duke Blue Devils (Previous ranking: 1)
2. Kentucky Wildcats (Previous ranking: 2)
3. Kansas Jayhawks (Previous ranking: 4)
4. Villanova Wildcats (Previous ranking: 3)
5. Xavier Musketeers (Previous ranking: 5)
6. North Carolina Tar Heels (Previous ranking: 7)
7. Oregon Ducks (Previous ranking: 6)
8. Michigan State Spartans (Previous ranking: 8)
9. Virginia Cavaliers (Previous ranking: 9)
10. Indiana Hoosiers (Previous ranking: 10)
11. UCLA Bruins (Previous ranking: 11)
12. Wisconsin Badgers (Previous ranking: 12)
13. Arizona Wildcats (Previous ranking: 13)
14. Saint Mary's Gaels (Previous ranking: 14)
15. Gonzaga Bulldogs (Previous ranking: 15)
16. Louisville Cardinals (Previous ranking: 20)
17. Texas Longhorns (Previous ranking: NR)
18. Rhode Island Rams (Previous ranking: 16)
19. UConn Huskies (Previous ranking: 17)
20. Purdue Boilermakers (Previous ranking: 18)
21. Syracuse Orange (Previous ranking: NR)
22. California Golden Bears (Previous ranking: 21)
23. Creighton Bluejays (Previous ranking: 22)
24. Iowa State Cyclones (Previous ranking: NR)
25. West Virginia Mountaineers (Previous ranking: 19)
(And one) Wichita State Shockers (Previous ranking: 25)

Rothstein’s Top 25: Duke tops preseason edition - Jon Rothstein - October 2, 2016

1. Duke
2. Villanova - No Omari Spellman, no problem.
3. Kansas
4. Xavier - Edmond Sumner is a volcano just waiting to erupt.
5. Kentucky
6. Wisconsin
7. Oregon
8. Virginia
9. North Carolina
10. Indiana
11. Michigan State
12. Louisville
13. Arizona
14. Gonzaga
15. UCLA
16. Syracuse
17. Purdue
18. West Virginia
19. UConn
20. Cincinnati
21. Dayton
22. Rhode Island
23. Virginia Tech
24. Cal
25. Colorado

Five on the cusp:

Saint Mary’s
Notre Dame
Creighton - Greg McDermott may have the Big East’s best back court in Maurice Watson and Kansas State transfer Marcus Foster.
Michigan
Seton Hall - Kevin Willard has the most underrated defensive team in the sport, but who steps in for Isaiah Whitehead?

[gtmoBlue]

Sorry to see CBS retrenching their poll. HOPEFULLY, the Coaches and the AP will have Butler and G'twn in their polls along with the other 3. The Beast needs at least 4 in the polls starting the season. The more the merrier in order to compensate for the inevitable loss(es) by Villanova and Xavier. I'd love to see 1 or 2 BE schools in the 15-20 range to even out perceptions.

IMO if only 3, the conference will take massive hits (due to the enormous gap perceived from the top to the middle) when 'Nova and Xavier stumble in the non-conference portion of the season. Granted they may only lose 1 or 2 games each, but will tumble from their lofty perches down to the 12-18 range. It may take a couple of weeks or more for them to recover a top 10 status.

Meanwhile the status and pedigree the Butler, G'twn, Seton Hall, and Creighton contingent of the conference will lose some cache if the perception of our leaders becomes tarnished as "overrated". The 2nd tier's work to enter or climb within the ratings becomes much harder as the poll voters begin to see the top of the conference as overrated. As such a Creighton, Butler, SH, or G'twn could/may easily fall out of the polls with a single loss.

[paulxu]

It's not necessarily "inevitable" that we'll stumble in non-conference play.
We didn't last year.

[milksteak]

Here's another. This one is from Jon Rothenstein. He now works for FanRag Sports

http://www.todaysu.com/around-the-u/rot ... n-edition/

1. Duke
2. Villanova: The Skinny: No Omari Spellman, no problem.
3. Kansas
4. Xavier: The Skinny: Edmond Sumner is a volcano just waiting to erupt.
5. Kentucky
6. Wisconsin
7. Oregon
8. Virginia
9. North Carolina
10. Indiana
11. Michigan State
12. Louisville
13. Arizona
14. Gonzaga
15. UCLA
16. Syracuse
17. Purdue
18. West Virginia
19. UConn
20. Cincinnati
21. Dayton
22. Rhode Island
23. Virginia Tech
24. Cal
25. Colorado

Five on the cusp:
Saint Mary’s
Notre Dame
Creighton: The Skinny: Greg McDermott may have the Big East’s best back court in Maurice Watson and Kansas State transfer Marcus Foster.
Michigan
Seton Hall: The Skinny: Kevin Willard has the most underrated defensive team in the sport, but who steps in for Isaiah Whitehead?

[whiteandblue77]

Sorry to see CBS retrenching their poll. HOPEFULLY, the Coaches and the AP will have Butler and G'twn in their polls along with the other 3. The Beast needs at least 4 in the polls starting the season. The more the merrier in order to compensate for the inevitable loss(es) by Villanova and Xavier. I'd love to see 1 or 2 BE schools in the 15-20 range to even out perceptions.

IMO if only 3, the conference will take massive hits (due to the enormous gap perceived from the top to the middle) when 'Nova and Xavier stumble in the non-conference portion of the season. Granted they may only lose 1 or 2 games each, but will tumble from their lofty perches down to the 12-18 range. It may take a couple of weeks or more for them to recover a top 10 status.

Meanwhile the status and pedigree the Butler, G'twn, Seton Hall, and Creighton contingent of the conference will lose some cache if the perception of our leaders becomes tarnished as "overrated". The 2nd tier's work to enter or climb within the ratings becomes much harder as the poll voters begin to see the top of the conference as overrated. As such a Creighton, Butler, SH, or G'twn could/may easily fall out of the polls with a single loss.

I know.

[David G]

Sorry to see CBS retrenching their poll. HOPEFULLY, the Coaches and the AP will have Butler and G'twn in their polls along with the other 3. The Beast needs at least 4 in the polls starting the season. The more the merrier in order to compensate for the inevitable loss(es) by Villanova and Xavier. I'd love to see 1 or 2 BE schools in the 15-20 range to even out perceptions.

IMO if only 3, the conference will take massive hits (due to the enormous gap perceived from the top to the middle) when 'Nova and Xavier stumble in the non-conference portion of the season. Granted they may only lose 1 or 2 games each, but will tumble from their lofty perches down to the 12-18 range. It may take a couple of weeks or more for them to recover a top 10 status.

Meanwhile the status and pedigree the Butler, G'twn, Seton Hall, and Creighton contingent of the conference will lose some cache if the perception of our leaders becomes tarnished as "overrated". The 2nd tier's work to enter or climb within the ratings becomes much harder as the poll voters begin to see the top of the conference as overrated. As such a Creighton, Butler, SH, or G'twn could/may easily fall out of the polls with a single loss.

I wouldn't worry too much about it or put a whole lot of stock into it. In a given year, half the teams that start off ranked don't finish ranked, and I'd say about seven or eight won't even make the NCAA Tournament. They just fall off and people forget about them. On the flip side, Xavier didn't start off ranked last year, and it didn't impact the overall impression people had of them by the time the season was over. I believe it was two years ago that the Big East had eight different teams in the top 25 at some point during the season, but only one started off in the top 25.

If you start off unranked but win in November and December, then no one will remember that you were not ranked. If you start off ranked but lose in November and December, then no one will remember that you ever were ranked. That's why i don't put too much stock into any preseason polls, including the AP or Coach's poll.

[stever20]

Just looking- last years ap/coaches preseason top 25- only 1 team from that didn't make the tournament- LSU. Also looking 9 teams in the final AP poll weren't in to start the season. But of those 9, 6 were in the top 7 of also receiving votes section. Really only Xavier, Seton Hall, Iowa came out of the blue- and Xavier and Iowa had some votes preseason.

[JohnW22]

I'm bias but I don't see much in Cincinnati same team every year.

[David G]

Just looking- last years ap/coaches preseason top 25- only 1 team from that didn't make the tournament- LSU. Also looking 9 teams in the final AP poll weren't in to start the season. But of those 9, 6 were in the top 7 of also receiving votes section. Really only Xavier, Seton Hall, Iowa came out of the blue- and Xavier and Iowa had some votes preseason.

Well, crap. I didn't realize that. Kinda shoots down what I was saying about the preseason not mattering.

I used to always compare the last poll to the preseason poll, and in a typical year between seven and nine preseason top 25 teams missed the tournament, and one of them was almost always a top ten team. On top of that, right around half finished the season outside the top 25. I haven't done that in a few years though, and if you look at last year's bookend polls at the beginning and the end of the year, they're closer to the same than what I would have guessed.

But, I still can't help but think that it doesn't matter where you start. The polls are fluid, and if you belong on the top ten then you'll end up in the top ten even if you don't receive a single preseason vote. I also think that the polls are like comets (to borrow a phrase from the Requiem of the Big East documentary). They're a big deal in the moment, but once you drop out of them no one even remembers that you were there. I'd probably have to remind people that LSU was even in the rankings last season, for instance. And, on the flip side, you'd have to remind people that Xavier wasn't ranked when the season started.

But, yeah. i can't deny that most of the preseason top 25 from last season ended up doing pretty well.

[gtmoBlue]

Well, I'm pulling for 2-3 more BE teams in the initial AP & Coaches Polls...SH, Butler, G'twn, or Creighton to join both Villanova and Xavier to begin the season...just in case. The conference may be getting more respect (from 'Nova's championship) but poll voters have short memories.

paulxu » Mon Oct 03, 2016 8:53 pm

It's not necessarily "inevitable" that we'll stumble in non-conference play.
We didn't last year.

Sure it is. You guys are overrated. Ask any Villanova, Cincy, Dayton fan. Even the "DudeAnon".