The latest AP poll has Kentucky ranked #3, as does the coach's poll. Despite being well-beaten by Kansas, but absent Jarred Sullinger due to back spasms, both the coaches and AP ignored the KU loss as if it didn't happen and placed the Ohio St. Buckeyes #2, and elevated the Syracuse Orange to #1.
Indiana was elevated from unranked to #18 in the AP poll, a prodigious jump by any standard, but you have to think they deserved a big jump after upsetting the #1 team in the land. There are several poll anomalies which we'll talk about after the jump.
Here is the poll with some additional information:
| Chng | Rank | Prev | Team | Wins | Losses | Votes | 1st | SOS | SOS Proj | SOS Rank | SOS Proj Rnk | Conference |
| 2 | 1 | 3 | Syracuse | 10 | 0 | 1607 | 51 | 0.5806 | 0.641 | 39 | 4 | Big East |
| 0 | 2 | 2 | Ohio State | 8 | 1 | 1478 | 7 | 0.5318 | 0.6268 | 105 | 15 | Big Ten |
| -2 | 3 | 1 | Kentucky | 8 | 1 | 1468 | 4 | 0.5586 | 0.5643 | 70 | 80 | SEC |
| 1 | 4 | 5 | Louisville | 9 | 0 | 1374 | 2 | 0.5024 | 0.6205 | 175 | 19 | Big East |
| -1 | 5 | 4 | North Carolina | 8 | 2 | 1373 | 1 | 0.5689 | 0.5833 | 52 | 47 | ACC |
| 0 | 6 | 6 | Baylor | 7 | 0 | 1284 | 0 | 0.4615 | 0.6178 | 235 | 22 | Big 12 |
| 0 | 7 | 7 | Duke | 9 | 1 | 1273 | 0 | 0.6498 | 0.5998 | 9 | 35 | ACC |
| 0 | 8 | 8 | Xavier | 8 | 0 | 1122 | 0 | 0.5057 | 0.575 | 170 | 62 | A-10 |
| 0 | 9 | 9 | Connecticut | 8 | 1 | 1087 | 0 | 0.5846 | 0.625 | 37 | 16 | Big East |
| 0 | 10 | 10 | Missouri | 9 | 0 | 1030 | 0 | 0.4542 | 0.5866 | 251 | 46 | Big 12 |
| 0 | 11 | 11 | Marquette | 9 | 0 | 988 | 0 | 0.5722 | 0.6157 | 48 | 24 | Big East |
| 1 | 12 | 13 | Kansas | 7 | 2 | 945 | 0 | 0.5936 | 0.6291 | 29 | 11 | Big 12 |
| -1 | 13 | 12 | Florida | 7 | 2 | 891 | 0 | 0.5178 | 0.564 | 144 | 82 | SEC |
| 0 | 14 | 14 | Wisconsin | 8 | 2 | 728 | 0 | 0.5921 | 0.633 | 30 | 7 | Big Ten |
| 0 | 15 | 15 | Pittsburgh | 9 | 1 | 696 | 0 | 0.5069 | 0.5921 | 167 | 39 | Big East |
| 2 | 16 | 18 | Georgetown | 8 | 1 | 602 | 0 | 0.4642 | 0.6049 | 231 | 33 | Big East |
| 0 | 17 | 17 | Mississippi Sta | 9 | 1 | 574 | 0 | 0.488 | 0.5672 | 195 | 75 | SEC |
| New | 18 | - | Indiana | 9 | 0 | 462 | 0 | 0.4792 | 0.5829 | 209 | 50 | Big Ten |
| 5 | 19 | 24 | Illinois | 10 | 0 | 375 | 0 | 0.4586 | 0.6269 | 243 | 14 | Big Ten |
| 0 | 20 | 20 | Michigan | 7 | 2 | 354 | 0 | 0.6012 | 0.6427 | 20 | 3 | Big Ten |
| New | 21 | - | Michigan State | 8 | 2 | 310 | 0 | 0.5792 | 0.6598 | 42 | 1 | Big Ten |
| 0 | 22 | 22 | Texas A&M | 8 | 1 | 270 | 0 | 0.3423 | 0.5795 | 341 | 55 | Big 12 |
| -7 | 23 | 16 | Alabama | 8 | 2 | 204 | 0 | 0.5875 | 0.6158 | 34 | 23 | SEC |
| New | 24 | - | Murray State | 10 | 0 | 93 | 0 | 0.5351 | 0.4157 | 98 | 291 | Ohio Valley |
| -6 | 25 | 19 | Creighton | 7 | 1 | 88 | 0 | 0.535 | 0.5599 | 101 | 88 | Missouri Valley |
| New | 25 | - | Vanderbilt | 6 | 3 | 88 | 0 | 0.6802 | 0.6103 | 5 | 29 | SEC |
My observations:
- Indiana jumps all the way up to 18th after beating #1, but Kansas gets only a 1-point bump for beating Ohio St. I know they didn't have Sullinger, but did that really reduce OSU to the level of a mid-major?
- Murray St. is looking strong. They beat Memphis on the road and could well go undefeated the rest of the year.
- I guess the weak performance against Long Beach St. cost the North Carolina Tar Heels a spot.
- Somebody explain to my why Connecticut should be ranked above Missouri. I can only think of one reason.
- Not sure how a victory over 6-3 Davidson gets Vanderbilt back in the top 25 at 6-3 themselves.
- At least Louisville didn't get moved from their already vastly overstated position.
- How is it that the Saint Louis Billikens are still unranked? They have wins over Washington and Oklahoma, two decent teams, and only 1 loss.
What would you like to ask the AP voters, or observe about the poll?