I Bleed Blue and White

I’m still mentally dealing with ‘Nova’s loss, but what better way to cope than to take out my anger on completely innocent basketball programs? With that said, here is my ballot for this week’s CBSSports BlogPoll.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Connecticut	1
2	North Carolina	2
3	Memphis	2
4	Pittsburgh	3
5	Louisville	1
6	Oklahoma	3
7	Duke	4
8	Michigan St.	4
9	Villanova	1
10	Wake Forest	3
11	Kansas	4
12	Missouri	5
13	Marquette	4
14	Gonzaga	6
15	Purdue	1
16	Florida St.	2
17	West Virginia
18	Louisiana St.	1
19	Xavier	2
20	Clemson	10
21	Arizona St.	5
22	UCLA
23	Butler
24	Washington
25	Syracuse
Last week’s ballot

Dropped Out: Utah (#24), Ohio St. (#25).

I dropped Villanova just one spot because they’ve avoided that type of loss all season. Lose again at Notre Dame Monday night, and we have a problem.

The biggest victim this week was clearly the Clemson Tigers. Now, I really don’t hate them, because afterall ‘Nova already proved last year that they are better than Clemson. And I shouldn’t be one to talk because we just lost, but they are getting punished by way of a 10 spot drop after 2 straight losses to a doormat (Virginia Tech at home) and a more understanble road loss to Florida State. Speaking of the FSU, the Fighting Tony Douglas’ are growing on me.

I’m here to admit I drank the Missouri kool-aid for 2 weeks too long. I knew in my heart their exponential rise into the Top 10 happened too quickly, and wasn’t shocked at all when they got taken to the woodshed by Kansas on Sunday. They appear to be more in the ‘Paper Tiger’ mold.

Oklahoma, I know you lost Blake Griffin for a few games and that hurt you, but you get dropped because elite teams don’t lose two straight just because they lost one guy. I know Jerome Dyson isn’t on the level of Griffin, but notice how UConn rebounded. That’s why in my mind they are a National Title contender and you aren’t. Because apparently all teams need to do to beat you is stop Blake Griffin. Easier said than done of course, but now everyone has the blueprint.

It’s killing me to continuously bump Memphis. They have played nobody and have lost to the good teams they’ve faced. I’m telling you now, I don’t think they are a Sweet 16 caliber team, and will be the first high seed to go down. Tyreke Evans is heading for a 2-14 with 7 turnovers type of game in the dance.

I just realized I lifted Duke 4 spots and back into my Top 10. I think I’m going to be sick.

An especially comical CBSSports BlogPoll write-up this week from Jerry Hinnen. A definite must read. But first let’s congratulate the bloggers from around the country for their work in putting Villanova in the Top 10. Well done sirs.

If you missed it, here’s my ballot, and as you’ll see, there isn’t a ton of difference between mine and the actual poll. Most teams I have right in the general area, except for my harsh treatment of Illinois and my apparent undying love for the Seminoles.

As for the article itself, as I mentioned before, it’s phenomenal in my opinion, and has been getting better every week. I made my weekly appearance in the Coulter/Kos Award category for being one of the most biased voters. Even better, I made my inaugrural appearance in the Mr. Manic-Depressive Category, which is given out to those whose ballots change drastically week to week, or as Jerry so eloquently put it, “people who are obsessed with shiny things.”

But I made a strong headline for the second week in a row by abusing my power. Last week, LSU were the victims, but this week it’s the Illini. As you’ll see below, I was assisted by my good buddy from Friarblog.

“Elsewhere, Friarblog says what I think just about everyone was thinking: Hey other BlogPoll voters….raise your hand if you considered dropping out Illinois completely out of your poll for the sole fact that they only scored 33 points in their loss to Penn State.
There’s your call, and I Bleed Blue and White has your response: Illinois , you are gone. Probably forever. 33 points in the entire game ? Good Lord.”

Dave, if you throw the ball up there, I’ll be damned if I’m not going to flush it with authority. Good work pal.

Back for another round of this. I’m really beginning to like it. I feel like I have power. If I don’t like you, you’re getting nothing. And that’s what I did to a couple of teams this week. So here’s my ballot. As always, when the results are tabulated I’ll post the complete poll.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Pittsburgh	3
2	Connecticut	1
3	Oklahoma	1
4	North Carolina	1
5	Memphis
6	Louisville	1
7	Missouri	2
8	Villanova	2
9	Marquette	2
10	Clemson	3
11	Duke	1
12	Michigan St.	6
13	Wake Forest	5
14	Purdue	1
15	Kansas	5
16	Arizona St.	1
17	West Virginia	4
18	Florida St.	6
19	Louisiana St.
20	Gonzaga
21	Xavier	5
22	UCLA	8
23	Butler	4
24	Utah
25	Ohio St.
Last week’s ballot

I think Pittsburgh is going to be a unanimous #1 this week (at least they should be). I know Oklahoma drew a tough hand when Blake Griffin was knocked out of the game, but a loss is a loss.

I dogged LSU pretty hard last week for playing in the SEC (it still sucks), but 8 wins in a row is impressive in any power conference, so they are back in. But that is the same line of reasoning I used in keeping Memphis at #5 even though teams in front of them lost. C-USA is even more embarrassingly bad than the SEC, and 100 straight wins in there isn’t making me flinch.

Duke won tonight, but they aren’t going back into my Top 10. Maybe for the rest of the season. Not impressed at all with them.

UCLA is in a freefall, but I’ll keep them in this week because they scored a nice win over Pac-10 leaders Washington. Gonzaga, I’m sorry about last week. Forgive me.

Oh, and Illinois, you are gone. Probably forever. 33 points in the entire game? Good Lord. And yes, I know Penn State only scored 38, but at least they won! And that’s why Ohio State sneaks in at the end. Because Illinois beat the Buckeyes today, but I’m personally spiting Cheif Illiniwek.

Jay Wright talked with Clark “great call by the refs” Kellogg following the game. I agree with Wright that the seniors and Reggie Redding really carried the team to this win.

For the record, I don’t believe in fouling at the end like Kellogg suggested. Play good defense like Corey Stokes did on Eric Devendorf and like Shane Clark did on Paul Harris and they’ll have a tough time getting a good look. Although, good thing Jonny Flynn choked.

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I didn’t even look at who else was playing last night, because when ‘Nova is on the floor, that is the only game that matters. If Villanova doesn’t win, everything else is a moot point. They did beat Rutgers last night, however, and they have a big date with Syracuse on Sunday afternoon at The Carrier Dome.

Gary Parrish of CBSSports and the ESPN staff each have articles up detailing what to watch this weekend. Hard to really argue with either of their columns, although ESPN barely mentions the Villanova-Syracuse game, while Parrish calls the matchup the “game worth watching on TV.”

“Further proof the Big East is ridiculous comes Sunday when one of the only two matchups of Top 25 teams features the schools that are currently fifth (No. 12 Villanova) and seventh (No.24 Syracuse) in the Big East standings. Meanwhile, the top four in the Big East — Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Marquette — are all ranked in the Top 10.”

Parrish also continues his insistence that Duke is a Top 10 team in his column.

…Gary, as you say yourself, they’ve lost 4 of their last 6…I don’t care who you are, that alone takes you out of the Top 10…

As for what I think you should be watching, 2 games strike me as games to watch. Clemson travels to Georgia Tech on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., but that conflicts directly with watching the Villanova game, so that’s out.

#11 Marquette at Georgetown (Saturday, 2:00 p.m. ET on ESPN) – If the Hoyas want to make a late push for a Tourney bid, winning on Saturday would be a good way to start. They can be tough to play at home if the crowd is behind them. Rumors have been abound that there has been a lot of trouble in the locker room for Georgetown, so they’ll need to put that behind them if they want to beat a senior-laden Marquette team. For Marquette, this is the beginning of their brutal stretch to close the season. They don’t want to start on the wrong note.

#8 Wake Forest at #9 Duke (Sunday, 7:45 p.m. ET on FSN) – Both teams are fighting for a stronghold on the #2 spot in the ACC, and whoever wins this will have put themselves in very strong position for that honor. Wake is athletically superior to the Blue Devils, but have struggled with consistency all year. Duke will have the Cameron Crazies behind them for the primetime tip in what should be a pretty electric atmosphere.

…I think Georgetown has the style of play to knock off Marquette…if they get a big game from Greg Monroe it is possible for them…as for the 2nd game, it doesn’t really matter who loses, because Villanova will need to jump one or the other by the end of the year if they want to play in Philadelphia…

It’s time for the inaugural BlogPoll Roundtable, which is a discussion of sorts between all the blogs that are participating in the CBSSports BlogPoll. This week’s roundtable is being hosted by A Sea of Blue, a Kentucky blog. They pose a set of questions to all of us, and we all answer the questions.

If you head to A Sea of Blue, you can see the questions, as well as his answers. If you look in the comment section, you can see links to all the other blog’s answers. My answers are below.

1. Who really looks like the best team in college basketball this season?

I think right now, there are really only 4 teams that can even be mentioned in the elite category (UConn, North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Oklahoma), and if I had to say who the “best” is it would be Pittsburgh. They have a dominant low post player in DeJuan Blair, an matchup nightmare in Sam Young, and a steady, seasoned point guard in Levance Fields.

North Carolina is great on offense, but they aren’t anything special on the defensive end. We still don’t know about Oklahoma because the Big 12 is down this year, and the loss of Jerome Dyson is really going to hurt UConn. Pittsburgh is undoubtedly the most complete team in the country.

2. Is Blake Griffin the Player of the Year already, or can somebody catch him?

There are two others I would consider for this honor, and that is Luke Harangody and DeJuan Blair. I think you can kiss Harangody’s hopes goodbye because of how awful Notre Dame has been this season. Blair is an interesting case thought. Griffin hasn’t had a matchup like Blair had with Thabeet yet. And Blair treated Thabeet like he was a nobody on national TV, in a game that most of the country was watching. People are going to remember that. If Oklahoma loses a couple down the stretch and Pittsburgh can get to #1 and win the Big East, I think Blair can pull into the lead.

3. What currently ranked team is the biggest disappointment so far this year?

Since Texas got shut out of the polls this week, I think it has to be UCLA. You’re talking about a team that was a consensus Top 5 pick at the beginning of the year and just hasn’t seem to put it together. I think the Pac-10 has some underrated teams, but UCLA should have been breezing through that conference, especially with Collison and Shipp running the show. But it has been a struggle for them in conference play, and they really are nowhere near the team we thought they were going to be.

4. Predict the next team to beat Oklahoma.

This Saturday, at Texas. The popular pick here is going to be in their 2nd to last game at Missouri, but I’m just not totally impressed by the Sooners. Blake Griffin is a man-child, and they have some nice guards in Warren, Crocker and Johnson, but something about them doesn’t scream ‘elite’ to me. Texas is struggling, but they remain dangerous and there is a good chance that AJ Abrams have the best game of anyone on Saturday.

If they can get reasonable contributions from Damion James, Justin Mason and Dexter Pittman, I think the Longhorns could pull the upset. Never underestimate a rivalry game, especially when the underdog is at home.

…These will be fun as the season heads down the final stretch…thanks to A Sea of Blue and Jerry Hinnen for putting this together this time around…

Late last night I revealed my Week 2 ballot, and now the final results are up for this week’s CBSSports BlogPoll. Jerry Hinnen and Brian Cook have fixed the formula this week, and the new edition is very user-friendly and readable, so thanks guys.

Much to my surprise, the blogger’s DID take notice of Villanova’s strong performance against Marquette, moving them up to #11, while moving Marquette down to #14. The media whore Dukies are still in the Top 10. I’m not sure what’s going on there, but I was pretty sure we all had an unspoken agreement to rank them as low as possible because we hate them. Maybe next week.

The voters weren’t as harsh as I was to the Zags, leaving them in the Top 25. Now I don’t feel so bad. On the other hand they were VERY harsh to Utah State, dropping them from the rankings into the back-handed compliment “Also Receiving Votes” category.

As for awards, don’t sweat it because yours truly made it onto the list of shameless homers again (The Coulter/Kos Award). Love that, but don’t understand it because I ranked ‘Nova 10th, while the bloggers averaged them out to 11th. But hey, I’ll take it!

Jerry Hinnen also gave me some mention for my bluntness on LSU’s ranking. I dropped them from my ballot because the SEC is plain awful this year (and maybe because I hate hearing about them all through football season).

Take a look at the write-up because Jerry put in a lot of work as always and it’s an enjoyable read. Well done again this week by all the bloggers involved. I can’t help but think that we the fans should be getting the votes for the real polls. I mean, all you have to do to get one is be an idiot. And who are biggers idiots than guys who write blogs?

Fresh off another crazy week in the Top 25 and I get to do another ballot. Horray for me! Seriously though, it feels like 3/4 of the Top 25 teams lost at least once this week. Why now? Why can’t it be like the good old days when it took teams weeks to significantly move up. As we have it, Mizzou went from unranked to Top 10 in 2 weeks. Sheesh. Here’s my ballot, with some notes below.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Connecticut
2	Oklahoma
3	North Carolina
4	Pittsburgh
5	Memphis	5
6	Michigan St.	10
7	Louisville	1
8	Wake Forest	4
9	Missouri	15
10	Villanova	1
11	Marquette	3
12	Duke	5
13	Clemson	4
14	UCLA	9
15	Purdue	4
16	Xavier	2
17	Arizona St.	6
18	Illinois	3
19	Butler	6
20	Kansas	3
21	West Virginia
22	Washington
23	Utah St.	8
24	Florida St.
25	Syracuse	3
Last week’s ballot

Lots of movement in my ballot compared to my poll last week I realize. But there’s been a lot of action all across the country. Everyone it seems is losing (besides those Top 4 teams of course). I’ll make sure and post the link to the final CBSSports BlogPoll when it goes online.

If you don’t know what this is, then go back and read my post about the newly created BlogPoll. If you remember what is going on here, then hopefully you saw my ballot for this week’s poll.

The results from bloggers all across the country have been calculated and the first edition of the poll has been released. Just a note though, CBSSports is having a few technical problems (it’s the first edition, I’m letting it slide) with the formatting of the page. So right now as I post this, it looks a little choppy. But we’ve been promised that the glitches will be sorted out soon, and when they are I’ll post the actual poll here.

If you are having trouble viewing it, know that Villanova came in ranked 14th. I’m actually a little surprised that they were ranked that high, but hell, as I’m about to explain to you, I’m an unabashed homer!

I placed 3rd for the Coulter/Kos Award (a category which I’ll have a seat at the entire year hopefully), which is given to the blogger with the highest bias rating. Bias rating is calculated by subtracting the blogger’s vote for his own team from the poll-wide average. Naturally, my ranking of Villanova at #11 secured me a spot at the table.

I really enjoyed reading the article that was put together by Jerry Hinnen and Brian Cook, and am looking forward to continuing this project they’ve put together. So thanks to them for doing this.

Last week I wrote about how I had been invited to take part in a new poll put on by CBSSports. The time has come for us to submit our first ballots, and the results will be polled tomorrow and released to the public. When they are, I’ll post it here. For now, here is my first ballot for the new poll.

As you can see I moved our Wildcats up to #11. That may end up be a little higher than others, but they are one of the hottest teams in the country right now, and I’m going to reward them. I did complete this ballot before the Sunday evening games, but looking at the scores it doesn’t seem those games will have much impact on my rankings.

Rank	Team
1	Connecticut
2	Oklahoma
3	North Carolina
4	Pittsburgh
5	UCLA
6	Louisville
7	Duke
8	Marquette
9	Clemson
10	Memphis
11	Villanova
12	Wake Forest
13	Butler
14	Xavier
15	Utah St.
16	Michigan St.
17	Kansas
18	Gonzaga
19	Purdue
20	Texas
21	Illinois
22	Syracuse
23	Arizona St.
24	Missouri
25	Louisiana St.

A couple of notes:

• There were a lot of losses for the Top 25 teams this week. Nearly everyone lost at least once. What does that mean in terms of ranking them? I have no idea, and I’m nervous to see how everyone else votes considering the amount of losses.
• Missouri and LSU are two teams I moved into the Top 25. They had strong weeks and basically didn’t lose. Of course, I’ve never seen them play, so I have no idea if they are Top 25 worthy, but they did receive some votes in the AP/Coaches Polls last week.
• I’m excited about being a part of this poll. It’s a great idea and I’m surprised that this is the first year for it. Thanks to all the people for putting this on.

Feel free to leave any comments for me, and hopefully the ‘Cats keep winning and we can move them into the Top 10 next week.