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Mods feel free to move to the WCC thread. I thought it would be interesting to see comments regarding Gary Parrish's reasoning why he can't rank SMC in his Top 25:
There are lots of schools that could reasonably be ranked in the 20s on an AP ballot.
But Saint Mary's is not one of those schools.
I'll explain why in this week's Poll Attacks.
Associated Press poll: If you glanced at Sunday night's update of the Top 25 (and one) you know I believe there are about 15-to-20 schools that could reasonably be ranked anywhere in the 20s, point being that I'm mostly uninterested in debating the bottom of the rankings.
The last three teams in my rankings are Georgia, Butler and Miami.
But they could just as easily be Providence, SMU and Stanford.
Or Arkansas, George Washington and Ohio State.
Whatever.
Again, there are 15-to-20 teams that could be reasonably ranked in the 20s on anybody's ballot, which is among the reasons 43 schools received votes this week. But at least one of those 43 schools so clearly doesn't belong, and that school is Saint Mary's.
Daniel Shirley ranked SMC 25th on his ballot.
I can't begin to understand why unless it was just a toss-away vote.
Saint Mary's wasn't ranked in the preseason. So it's not like the Gaels are living off of preseason expectations the way Oklahoma might be -- although I can argue for Oklahoma's inclusion pretty easily despite a 12-7 record, and I will in the comments below if somebody asks. (I dare you to ask.) But, for now, let's get back to Saint Mary's.
What has Saint Mary's done to garner a Top 25 vote?
The Gaels are 16-4 with losses to unranked Northern Arizona at home, unranked Boise State at home and unranked St. John's on the road. They have zero wins over ranked opponents, zero wins against top-50 RPI opponents, and their best win is a win over a seven-loss BYU team that's also lost to San Diego and Pepperdine. No matter how you look at it -- via RPI, KenPom, Sagarin or your own eyeballs -- there's just no way to intelligently conclude that Saint Mary's is a Top 25 team or a school that should be even at the very bottom of anybody's AP ballot.
And yet Saint Mary's is on Daniel Shirley's ballot.
So who isn't on Daniel's ballot?
Indiana.
Daniel went with Saint Mary's but not Indiana even though IU has two wins over currently ranked teams (Maryland, Butler), four top-50 RPI wins (Maryland, Butler, SMU, Ohio State) and zero losses outside of the top 65 of the RPI. Again, Saint Mary's has zero wins over currently ranked teams, zero top-50 RPI wins and a loss to a Northern Arizona team that's 221st in the RPI. In terms of bodies of work, there's just no comparison and thus no reason for SMC to be included on a ballot that excludes Tom Crean's Hoosiers.
Link: http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...your-ap-ballot
There are lots of schools that could reasonably be ranked in the 20s on an AP ballot.
But Saint Mary's is not one of those schools.
I'll explain why in this week's Poll Attacks.
Associated Press poll: If you glanced at Sunday night's update of the Top 25 (and one) you know I believe there are about 15-to-20 schools that could reasonably be ranked anywhere in the 20s, point being that I'm mostly uninterested in debating the bottom of the rankings.
The last three teams in my rankings are Georgia, Butler and Miami.
But they could just as easily be Providence, SMU and Stanford.
Or Arkansas, George Washington and Ohio State.
Whatever.
Again, there are 15-to-20 teams that could be reasonably ranked in the 20s on anybody's ballot, which is among the reasons 43 schools received votes this week. But at least one of those 43 schools so clearly doesn't belong, and that school is Saint Mary's.
Daniel Shirley ranked SMC 25th on his ballot.
I can't begin to understand why unless it was just a toss-away vote.
Saint Mary's wasn't ranked in the preseason. So it's not like the Gaels are living off of preseason expectations the way Oklahoma might be -- although I can argue for Oklahoma's inclusion pretty easily despite a 12-7 record, and I will in the comments below if somebody asks. (I dare you to ask.) But, for now, let's get back to Saint Mary's.
What has Saint Mary's done to garner a Top 25 vote?
The Gaels are 16-4 with losses to unranked Northern Arizona at home, unranked Boise State at home and unranked St. John's on the road. They have zero wins over ranked opponents, zero wins against top-50 RPI opponents, and their best win is a win over a seven-loss BYU team that's also lost to San Diego and Pepperdine. No matter how you look at it -- via RPI, KenPom, Sagarin or your own eyeballs -- there's just no way to intelligently conclude that Saint Mary's is a Top 25 team or a school that should be even at the very bottom of anybody's AP ballot.
And yet Saint Mary's is on Daniel Shirley's ballot.
So who isn't on Daniel's ballot?
Indiana.
Daniel went with Saint Mary's but not Indiana even though IU has two wins over currently ranked teams (Maryland, Butler), four top-50 RPI wins (Maryland, Butler, SMU, Ohio State) and zero losses outside of the top 65 of the RPI. Again, Saint Mary's has zero wins over currently ranked teams, zero top-50 RPI wins and a loss to a Northern Arizona team that's 221st in the RPI. In terms of bodies of work, there's just no comparison and thus no reason for SMC to be included on a ballot that excludes Tom Crean's Hoosiers.
Link: http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...your-ap-ballot