Checking the Polls & Brackets
Well, after the great win by the Tar Heels over the Blue Devils and UConn losing to Pitt again, it is now time to check out how the main stream media polls (AP & ESPN/USA Today) rearranged the Top 25. I am also going to check out CHN’s poll as well as the one I am now in, the Blog Poll. Will all the polls agree on who is the top team, the Top 5, the Top 10? Or will this week’s polls be a mess with all of the polls thinking that they all know best? I have to say, having had a sneak peek at the four, it’s going to be interesting to say the least.
The AP has North Carolina as the best team in the land. UNC is followed by Pitt, then UConn, with Memphis coming in fourth and Louisville closing out the Top 5. Meaning that three of the top teams are from the Big East. The ESPN/USA Today poll has the same five teams, with the only difference being that Memphis and UConn are flip flopped. In the CHN poll it’s a bit different, with UNC, Pitt and UConn still being one, two and three. However Fourth is Memphis, like the AP, but in fifth place is Michigan State. And in the Blog Poll it’s UConn, then UNC, third is Pitt, followed by Memphis, with the fifth team is Oklahoma. So, while most of the teams are the same, there is a bit of difference in each poll.
Besides the Heels there are other four other teams from the ACC in all the three polls (one only has three teams from the conference). Duke is ranked 9th in the AP and CHN poll, 8th in the ESPN/USA Today and 10th in the Blog Poll. Wake has been slotted this way: 6th in the CHN, 8th AP, 9th ESPN/USA Today and 10th Blog Poll. Clemson is 12th in CHN, 17th in both the AP and Blog Poll and 18th in the ESPN/USA Today. Florida State is ranked 22nd in both main stream polls, 24th in the Blog Poll and unranked in CHN’s poll.
And of course, if we checked the rankings it is also time to check the brackets. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and his bracketology has the following four teams as the top seeds: UNC, UConn, Pitt and Louisville. While CHN’s Shawn Siegel in his brackets has: UNC, Pitt, Louisville and Michigan State. I usually do not comment on anything when I do this post, but I have to say that I doubt that the committee could put three teams from the same conference. The ACC, who last week had eight teams in Lunardi’s bracket, took a major hit in this one, going down to six teams (3rd most). The Big Ten has eight and the Big East has seven. CHN’s brackets also only have six teams in all, but they have been putting a lot less teams than Lunardi since I been doing this weekly post.
Here is the other breakdown for the ACC teams under ESPN’s bracketology:
Duke: 3rd seed – Pittsburgh bracket
Wake: 3rd seed – Connecticut bracket
Clemson: 4th seed – Connecticut bracket
FSU: 5th seed – Pittsburgh bracket
BC: 9th seed – Louisville brakcet
Meanwhile this is how CHN’s brackets put the ACC squads:
Duke: 2nd seed
Wake: 3rd seed
Clemson: 4th seed
FSU: 4th seed
BC: 9th seed
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