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College Basketball 2011-12 Rankings: Poll Analysis

By Glenn Logan
Still #1.
Still #1.

The polls are out and showing Kentucky once again at the head of the class. Syracuse moves up to second, and third belongs to the Ohio St. Buckeyes.

Despite some losses near the top, there was very little overall movement. Missouri dropped a couple of places due to a loss to the Oklahoma St. on the road. North Carolina has recovered nicely after a beat-down on the road at Florida St., and have won their last three by convincing margins.

Kansas takes the biggest drop of the top 5 to #8 after dropping a game to unranked Iowa St. The biggest drop in the poll was the Georgetown after becoming lowly Pittsburgh's second Big East win.

The conference distribution in this week's polls looks like this (note - both polls are considered together):

Conference #
Big Ten 5
ACC 4
Big East 4
SEC 4
Big 12 3
Mountain West 2
West Coast 2
Ivy League 1
Missouri Valley 1
Ohio Valley 1

Here's the polls, with some commentary afterwards:

AP Coaches
Rank Prev Delta Rnk Prv Team Wins Losses Votes 1st SOS SOS Projected SOS Rank SOS Proj. Rnk Conference
1 1 0 1 1 Kentucky 21 1 1623 63 0.5399 0.5697 82 55 SEC
2 3 1 2 4 Syracuse 22 1 1550 2 0.5905 0.6003 9 15 Big East
3 4 1 3 3 Ohio State 19 3 1498 0 0.563 0.6004 46 14 Big Ten
4 2 -2 4 2 Missouri 19 2 1363 0 0.5259 0.5579 105 75 Big 12
5 7 2 6* 8 North Carolina 18 3 1331 0 0.5644 0.5966 40 16 ACC
6 6 0 6* 7 Baylor 19 2 1310 0 0.5819 0.595 14 17 Big 12
7 8 1 5 6 Duke 18 3 1250 0 0.6069 0.6113 1 3 ACC
8 5 -3 8 5 Kansas 17 4 1178 0 0.5928 0.6076 8 5 Big 12
9 10 1 10 11 Michigan State 17 4 1098 0 0.6032 0.6279 2 1 Big Ten
10 11 1 9 9 Murray State 21 0 979 0 0.4622 0.4563 265 257 Ohio Valley
11 12 1 13 15 UNLV 20 3 946 0 0.5529 0.5793 58 40 Mountain West
12 14 2 11 13 Florida 17 4 861 0 0.5426 0.577 73 41 SEC
13 15 2 12 14 Creighton 20 2 803 0 0.5229 0.5277 110 112 Missouri Valley
14 9 -5 14 10 Georgetown 16 4 762 0 0.5673 0.5907 33 24 Big East
15 17 2 15 18 Marquette 18 4 682 0 0.5759 0.5892 22 27 Big East
16 19 3 18 21 Virginia 17 3 578 0 0.5087 0.5448 131 89 ACC
17 13 -4 17 12 San Diego State 18 3 566 0 0.541 0.564 79 65 Mountain West
18 21 3 16 20 Saint Mary's 21 2 472 0 0.5132 0.5082 122 140 West Coast
19 25 6 20* 25 Wisconsin 17 5 415 0 0.577 0.595 20 17 Big Ten
20 16 -4 20* 17 Indiana 17 5 395 0 0.5623 0.5808 48 37 Big Ten
21 23 2 24 - Florida State 14 6 375 0 0.5948 0.6012 6 13 ACC
22 18 -4 19 16 Mississippi Sta 17 5 329 0 0.5487 0.5645 62 63 SEC
23 20 -3 22 22 Michigan 16 6 305 0 0.5793 0.6042 15 10 Big Ten
24 - - Gonzaga 17 3 141 0 0.5415 0.5369 78 99 West Coast
25 - - Vanderbilt 16 5 102 0 0.5857 0.607 11 6 SEC
- - 23 23 Harvard 18 2 - 0 0.4686 0.4787 250 191 Ivy League
25 25 Louisville 17 5 - 0 0.5825 0.5922 47 21 Big East

Remarks:

  1. I still think Duke is over-ranked in this poll. Their defensive efficiency is about 93rd in Division I according to Kenpom.com. That's lower than I can ever remember a Mike Kryzewski team.

  2. Wichita St. lost a triple-overtime game at Drake, and they got dropped out. They should be in over either Louisville or Michigan.

  3. How good is Florida St.? They beat Duke at Duke and UNC by 30 at home, and they still languish below the top 20.

  4. Good to see Vanderbilt back in the poll.

  5. Not sure why Gonzaga belongs here. I'd take Vandy over them 100% of the time. Heck, I'd even take Louisville over them.

Comments? Observations?

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