We need new voters for The Associated Press Top 25. Because the current ones just ain't getting it done.
How else can you explain the fact that the first-place team in the Big East, Pittsburgh (21-4, 9-3) was not ranked last week while Syracuse (18-7, 7-4) sat at No. 23?
The AP voters -- a collection of 71 print and electronic media members -- are either too lazy to watch enough games to make an educated opinion, too scared to cast votes based on this season instead of long-standing reputations or are just not interested in ranking teams in the right order.
Which stinks.
Take Georgia, for instance. The Bulldogs aren't the first team that comes to mind when considering the powerhouse teams of the SEC. But Jim Harrick's team (18-6, 7-4) has defeated both Florida (18-4, 7-4) and Kentucky (16-6, 6-4) on the road.
Georgia received 557 points from the AP voters last week, good for a No. 17 ranking. Kentucky and Florida received 1,331 and 1,136 points, respectively, and were ranked No. 7 and No. 8.
The night before the Feb. 4 AP poll was released, Virginia lost its third consecutive game. The Cavaliers fell to 4-4 and in fifth place in the ACC behind Duke, Maryland, Wake Forest and N.C. State.
When the poll was released, Virginia was ranked 10th.
Tenth?!
Wake Forest was No. 19 and N.C. State wasn't even ranked.
Finally, in that same poll, three consecutive losses and a 4-5 conference record weren't enough to keep Illinois from coming in 21st. Meanwhile, first-place Big Ten team Indiana -- 7-2 in league play at that time -- went unranked.
If we can't replace the voters, maybe the answer is making public all 71 ballots -- with the voter's names. Maybe then the voters wouldn't be so scared to rank these teams based on this year's performance alone. After all, just because Pittsburgh isn't a perennial power doesn't mean it's not one of the top 25 teams this season.
Unsportsmanlike conduct
ACC commissioner John Swofford had seen enough. Enough trash-talking, enough confrontations between opposing players and coaches and enough dirty play. For a conference regarded by many as the class of college basketball, the ACC was having a rough stretch. Let's recap:
Virginia assistant coach Walt Fuller left the bench to verbally confront a Maryland player on Jan. 31.
Clemson head coach Larry Shyatt had to be restrained after Duke's Dahntay Jones taunted the Tigers' bench on Feb. 2
N.C. State's Julius Hodge elbowed Maryland's Steve Blake in the back of the head on Feb. 3.
Swofford got all nine ACC coaches on a conference call the subsequent Tuesday and discussed the problem. "This is intended to send a loud and clear message that college basketball in the Atlantic Coast Conference is not going to be played in the way exhibited by these behaviors," said Swofford, who suspended Hodge for one game and reprimanded Fuller and Shyatt. League officials got the message to clean things up, too: There were 25 fouls called in the first half of Duke's 95-63 victory against Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Postseason NIT tournament expanding
This year, every Division I basketball team failing to qualify for the NCAA tournament will be invited to play in the NIT. Introducing the field of 259. Nah, we're just kidding. But the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association, which runs the NIT tournament, did decide to expand this year's field to 40 teams, up from 32 in previous years. There will be eight opening-round games at campus sites on March 12. The winners advance to the "first round," which ends March 15.
The second round runs from March 18-19, the third from March 20-22 and the semifinals, played at Madison Square Garden, are March 26. The championship game is March 28.
DUNK:
Casey Jacobsen Making a late charge for All-American honors, Jacobsen hit for 40-plus for the second time in the three games when he scored 41 in Stanford's 90-87 overtime victory against Oregon on Thursday.
AIR BALL: Virginia
You can't help but feel for the Wahoos. They lost four straight from Jan. 27 to Feb. 6, but all four losses came against quality teams: Duke, Maryland, Missouri and N.C. State.
DUNK:
Kareem Rush We've been tough on Missouri all year, but Rush is finally playing up to his preseason billing. The smooth-shooting junior has averaged 27.3 points in the Tigers' past three games (despite missing the potential game-winning shot in an unfortunate loss to Baylor).
AIR BALL: Fans storming the court We've gotten a little carried away with this postgame celebration. In just one example, UCLA fans rushed the court after the Bruins defeated Kansas in L.A. on Jan. 12. Isn't UCLA supposed to be a national power? Court storming should be saved for the biggest (i.e., once a year) upsets.
DUNK: Mike Dunleavy Dunleavy's one-handed, tomahawk dunk in the second half against Florida State on Thursday was just plain filthy.
Kansas at Texas, Monday, 9 p.m., ESPN If you think Kansas is going to strut into Austin and blow out the Longhorns like they did Texas Tech, think again. Texas needs this game much worse than Kansas -- for Big 12 and NCAA tournament seeding purposes -- and the Longhorns have enough size and athleticism to match up with the Jayhawks.
Florida at Georgia, Tuesday, 9 p.m. ESPN Huge game for both teams. It's not a lock that the winner here will walk away with the SEC East crown, but it's a good bet. The Gators have rebounded from three consecutive losses with three straight wins and Billy Donovan would love to exact revenge on Jim Harrick and the Dawgs for Georgia's 84-79 road victory on Jan. 19.
Pepperdine at Gonzaga, Saturday, 10 p.m., ESPN2 Two of the best teams on the West Coast. Gonzaga gets all the love from the national media for its tough non-conference schedule, but Pepperdine is the WCC's top team, defeating Gonzaga 88-79 in the first meeting.
Duke at Maryland, Sunday, 1 p.m., CBS (regional) How the heck is this only getting regional coverage? If you can watch this one, do it. There might not be a better game all year.
"I received letters when I first got in the accident ... some that said, 'I wish you would have died." -- Iowa's Luke Recker, upon his return trip to Bloomington, recalling some of the hate mail he received from Indiana fans after his near-fatal car wreck in 1999.
"These are the kind of games I hope I remember when I'm 40 or 50 and playing golf." -- Stanford's Casey Jacobsen on the Cardinal's 90-87 overtime victory against Oregon on Thursday. Jacobsen scored 41 points.
"I was a bum at the line. I guess the crowd rattled me or something." -- Washington's Doug Wrenn on his 5-of-11 free-throw shooting performance against Arizona on Thursday. Wrenn came off the bench to score a career-high 35 points, but Washington lost to Arizona 91-82.
"I think it went in the basket from the bottom." -- Baylor coach Dave Bliss on the first of two Matt Sayman free throws with 11 seconds to play against Missouri on Saturday. Sayman hit both shots -- the first one rattled all the way around the rim before falling -- and Baylor won the game 81-80.
Hampton's David Johnson has taken 113 shots from the field this season. He's missed only 28 of them. The 6-foot-7 junior forward leads the nation in field-goal percentage.
Don't just sit there. Get in the game. Each week we'll ask for your
thoughts on a specific topic and publish a sample of those opinions the
following week.
Last week, we asked you which conference will have the most success in the NCAA tournament. Here's what you said:
I say the SEC. The title contenders will come from elsewhere, but the SEC has a lot of very good middle-of-the-pack teams that will cause a lot of trouble: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Bama, maybe even Tennessee and Mississippi State. Mike Peters, Minneapolis
The Big 12, hands down, is the best confrence in the nation. From Kansas to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, then Texas Tech, Texas and then Missouri. Possibly three teams in the Sweet 16. Scott Mayo, Overland Park, Kan.
The ACC will show its strength once again in this year's NCAA tournament. They'll probably get five teams in the tournament; four should make the Sweet 16 and two will make the Final Four. No other conference will come close. John Robbins, Olney, Md.
I think that the WAC will surprise the field of 64. Can you think of any team that wants to play Hawaii or Tulsa? Tulsa is known for knocking out top seeds, while Hawaii might be the best-kept secret in the tournament.
Michael Penix, Norman, Okla.
The Pac-10 will have the best tournament again this year. With Oregon playing like they have, they could beat anyone (yes, even Duke) when they are on. All four California teams will do well, and Arizona, who knows what they will do? The 'Cats could be down by 15 points at halftime and win.
Casey Page, Tucson, Ariz.
This week's topic: Should the college 3-point arc be moved back? Why or why not?
Mark Button covers college basketball for CNNSI.com. "Week at a
Glance" appears each Monday during the season.
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