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Top 25 Polls: UNC Drops to 3rd, While Pitt is #1
January 5th, 2009
by Matthew Ryter
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The Story: After North Carolina and Connecticut both lost this week, unbeaten Pittsburgh has jumped up to No. 1 in both polls. The Panthers are ranked No. 1 for the first time in 101 seasons. Pitt received 30 out of 31 first place votes in the Coaches’ Top 25 poll. The Tarheels, who received the only other first place vote this week, fell to No. 3 in both polls after being upset by Boston College in Chapel Hill. UNC had previously been the unanimous selection at the top spot every week this season. Connecticut fell to No. 5 after losing to Georgetown earlier in the week. Duke moved up to No. 2 and unbeaten Wake Forest is No. 4 this week. Wake will play host to UNC this Sunday. Ohio State, Michigan, and Gonzaga all dropped from the rankings this week. The Zags have dropped their last 3 including a New Year’s Eve loss to Utah. Replacing those teams are Marquette, West Virginia, and Boston College.
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AP Top 25
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ESPN/USA Today Poll
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Ryter’s Block: Pittsburgh definitely deserves the No. 1 spot in the Top 25 polls. The only other unbeaten teams are Wake Forest, Clemson, and Illinois State. The ACC is stating its case that they may be the best conference in all of college basketball. They have 5 teams ranked in the Top 25, 3 of which are in the top 5, and two of those teams are unbeaten. Boston College made a statement by beating UNC at Chapel Hill. No one outside of Chestnut Hill saw this coming. BC showed a lot of heart and determination winning on the road like that. I don’t understand how they are No. 24 in the Coaches’ poll. Once again the Coaches’ poll continues to not be on the same page as the AP poll. The AP is more accurate with the No. 17 ranking that was given to BC; good for the Eagles, they deserve it. After the top 7 teams, both polls seem to go their separate ways. Wake Forest should be ranked No. 2. Wake beat BYU on the road which ended the nation’s longest home winning streak at 53. I think No. 13 Notre Dame should have fallen a few more spots after losing to St. John’s this week.
Here is a look at some games this week that will be sure to shake up next week’s rankings…
Monday, January 5: No. 10 Georgetown at No. 13 Notre Dame
Tuesday, January 6: No. 5 Connecticut at No. 22 West Virginia
Wednesday, January 7: Gonzaga at No. 25 Tennessee
Saturday, January 10: No. 21 Louisville at No. 17 Villanova
Miami (Fl) at No. 24 Boston College
Kansas at No. 12 Michigan State
Sunday, January 11: No. 3 North Carolina at No. 4 Wake Forest
No. 7 UCLA at USC
Comments
Not sure I agree with you on
Submitted by Evan Dorey on Mon, 2009-01-05 18:03.
Not sure I agree with you on BC, I see them right between where the two polls have them, around where Butler is.
Each poll has a 'other vote' team that just blows me away with the poor ranking. Illinois St. at 36th in the AP is just silly to me. Below UNLV, Davidson, St. Mary's? Don't see it. Maybe the Redbirds will end up crashing and burning, but they certainly deserve better.
I'll say the same for Cal in the coaches poll. Convincingly sweeping the Arizona schools, even at home, is big, and they should be in or at the edge of the top 25 at least, not 34th.
Illinois St.-Cal
Submitted by Matthew Ryter on Tue, 2009-01-06 10:19.
I agree that Cal should definitely be higher...beating both Arizona schools is impressive. UNLV is getting some love for beating Louisville on the road. I do think that Illinois St should be ahead of St. Mary's and Davidson...although Davidson has played a tough schedule
Reactionary
Submitted by Shawn Siegel on Mon, 2009-01-05 18:19.
I love how reactionary the voters are.. BC goes from no votes, ie below Top 40, to suddenly 17th? When they start losing every other conference game or more, they'll settle further down on the fringes of the poll, 35th or so where they should probably be anyways.
BC=Bobeness Central
Submitted by McKnight (not verified) on Mon, 2009-01-05 21:40.
U said that "No one saw this coming outside of chestnut hill" Correction: No one saw this HAPPEN in Chestnut Hill. Ghetto ass NESN lost the feed and all of Boston had to watch Infomercials for the last 5 mins of game.
That my friend is why BC is truly bobe and no one in Boston cares about them. Boston is more concerned about Matty Cassel gettin franchised.
NESN
Submitted by Matthew Ryter on Tue, 2009-01-06 10:22.
Unbelievable! I cannot believe that. I hope the infomercial was atleast the ShamWow
ShamWow guy
Submitted by Shawn Siegel on Tue, 2009-01-06 10:25.
I'd like to see that dude announce games, joining Vitale on the sidelines for ESPN telecasts. That would be entertaining.
BC = Boston College Eagles NOT Golden Eagles Fool
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2009-01-06 03:29.
Get the name right... its not Golden Eagles, just Eagles, you should know this by now its your f*ucking job
Can you explain....
Submitted by scott (not verified) on Tue, 2009-01-06 11:10.
Why Wake is so high? At least Clemson has played someone. They beat Indiana. I can round up 6 friends and beat Indiana.
Wake
Submitted by Matthew Ryter on Tue, 2009-01-06 11:36.
Beat BYU on the road and beat Baylor...true test comes this week against UNC. They are unbeaten thus far and as of right now are deserving of a high spot
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About Matthew Ryter
Contact
matthew.ryter@gmail.com
Background
Matt Ryter is a graduate of Providence College. He is a life long college basketball junkie. Although his Friars may not be atop the Big East, he follows the conference religiously. When Matt worked at ESPN he was a part of the Stats and Analysis team where he mainly covered college basketball. Matt wears black Nike socks whenever he can to honor the Fab Five.
Location
New Jersey
Completely unacceptable loss
Completely unacceptable loss by UNC at home in the conference opener. The fact that it was the conference opener should have been reason enough to not take BC, picked 11 in the ACC in preseason, lightly. I expect statement games this week, especially against Wake Forest to put the country back on notice that they're the best team in the country. A let down game is to be expected during the season, but having it happen on your home floor in the conference opener is unacceptable.