Polls Breakdown: Michigan Enters Both Polls For The First Time
Half of those in the poll moved up, the other half moved down.
By Sean Nash Nov 22, 2016, 3:24pm CST
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Every team in the country now has three to five game under its' belt in the early college basketball season. I think this is a reasonable sample to work from when forming polls, but still think there is a little bit of bias from the preseason polls that holds some weight.
I ranted enough about that topic last week though, so let's dive right into this week's rankings.
Week Three AP Poll
#3 Indiana Hoosiers (2 first place votes)
#16 Wisconsin Badgers
#17 Purdue Boilermakers
#24 Michigan State Spartans
#25 Michigan Wolverines
Receiving Votes: Maryland Terrapins; Ohio State Buckeyes; Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Week Three Coaches Poll
#5 - Indiana (2 first place votes)
#14 - Wisconsin Badgers
#19 - Purdue Boilermakers
#20 - Michigan State Spartans
#23 - Maryland Terrapins
#24 - Michigan Wolverines
Receiving Votes: None
The clear takeaways from this week are that Indiana, Maryland, and Michigan are trending up, while Michigan State, Wisconsin and Purdue are all trending down this week following their losses.
Michigan State was kicked down the hardest, which shouldn't be surprising based on how the Spartans' early season has gone. The blowout loss was only backed up by a win over Mississippi Valley State and the narrow one-point escape at home against Florida Gulf Coast, hence Michigan State being kicked down as many as 11 spots in the AP Poll.
Last week, I mentioned how the AP Poll is typically more prone to knee-jerk reactions. Not that this is necessarily one, but Wisconsin did drop seven spots in the AP compared to just three in the Coaches Poll. The Badgers suffered their first loss to a ranked Creighton team on the road. The bounce-back-win over Chicago State, was not enough to maintain their spot in either poll, nor should it have been.
Purdue's spot isn't surprising; losing at home to Villanova in a one possession game followed up by a win versus Georgia State that some pollsters likely felt should have been more than an 8 point win.
The Hoosiers are now a top-3 team in the AP Poll, but saw no movement in the Coaches'. The Coaches poll appears to be giving Duke the benefit of the doubt following the two point loss to Kansas this week.
The Hoosiers were actually leap-frogged by North Carolina, because the Tar Heels two schedule-fillers were stronger opponents than IU's schedule-fillers, I suppose.
Michigan broke through in both polls following a solid week, beating both Marquette and SMU on the way to the 2K Classic title. The Wolverines are 4-0 but do have a lot of ground to wake up to catch up to the rest of the field in the top-25. Interestingly enough, there are 26 teams in the AP poll this week as the Wolverines are tied with Florida State.
Some sick individual in the AP Poll thought Rutgers deserved a Top-25 vote. I hope this person has his or her voting privileges revoked. Yes, Rutgers is currently 4-0, but calling them a top-40 team is a bit of a stretch.
I'll cut myself off there.
Check back next week as Feast Week is sure to mix things up in both polls.