http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-...ay-coaches

First poll of the 2017-18 Season

All P6 conferences have a team in top 6

AAC newcomer Wichita State in at #8

Top 25 by conference:

ACC - 5
B1G - 4
Big 12 - 3
Big East - 3
Pac 12 - 3
SEC - 3
AAC - 2
WCC - 2

Single Teams receiving votes from:

A-10 (URI)
Horizon (Oakland)
Ivy (Harvard)
MWC (Nevada)

Never thought I'd see the day of Northwestern hoops in preseason top 20.

Good news for the Rosemont Horizon.

Have a top 6-school from each of the ACC, B1G, XII, SEC, PAC, and Big East is pretty neat.

The conference count is also understandable with the AAC and WCC being the clear next level of basketball (I would also include the A10, even though they're absent from the Top 25; I have the MWC currently not in that group but they have the potential):

ACC - 5
B1G - 4
XII - 3
Big East - 3
PAC - 3
SEC - 3
AAC - 2
WCC - 2

I am skeptical about including Alabama at #25. I get they have made positive strides with Avery Johnson, but they were 19-15 last year. He's been with the program for 2 seasons, so he is playing with many of his recruits. Alabama just is not a basketball school. They will be on their way up, but they shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch.

(10-19-2017 02:59 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Have a top 6-school from each of the ACC, B1G, XII, SEC, PAC, and Big East is pretty neat.

The conference count is also understandable with the AAC and WCC being the clear next level of basketball (I would also include the A10, even though they're absent from the Top 25; I have the MWC currently not in that group but they have the potential):

ACC - 5
B1G - 4
XII - 3
Big East - 3
PAC - 3
SEC - 3
AAC - 2
WCC - 2

I am skeptical about including Alabama at #25. I get they have made positive strides with Avery Johnson, but they were 19-15 last year. He's been with the program for 2 seasons, so he is playing with many of his recruits. Alabama just is not a basketball school. They will be on their way up, but they shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch.

The A10 has really slipped the last few years. You look at most preseason stuff, and they're barely getting 3 teams in. The AAC will get more of a benefit of the unbalanced schedule this year and that's going to make a difference getting teams in for them I think.

The MWC has totally fallen. They aren't close to the AAC right now at all. Far closer to the rest of the conferences than they are the AAC. It's really almost a clean split- top 7 conferences(sorry, while WCC has 2 teams in top 25, they aren't close as a whole)- and then everyone else.

(10-19-2017 03:05 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 02:59 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Have a top 6-school from each of the ACC, B1G, XII, SEC, PAC, and Big East is pretty neat.

The conference count is also understandable with the AAC and WCC being the clear next level of basketball (I would also include the A10, even though they're absent from the Top 25; I have the MWC currently not in that group but they have the potential):

ACC - 5
B1G - 4
XII - 3
Big East - 3
PAC - 3
SEC - 3
AAC - 2
WCC - 2

I am skeptical about including Alabama at #25. I get they have made positive strides with Avery Johnson, but they were 19-15 last year. He's been with the program for 2 seasons, so he is playing with many of his recruits. Alabama just is not a basketball school. They will be on their way up, but they shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch.

The A10 has really slipped the last few years. You look at most preseason stuff, and they're barely getting 3 teams in. The AAC will get more of a benefit of the unbalanced schedule this year and that's going to make a difference getting teams in for them I think.

The MWC has totally fallen. They aren't close to the AAC right now at all. Far closer to the rest of the conferences than they are the AAC. It's really almost a clean split- top 7 conferences(sorry, while WCC has 2 teams in top 25, they aren't close as a whole)- and then everyone else.

The AAC is actually pretty solid at the top with Wichita State, Cincinnati, SMU and UCF (yes they will be good)... hopefully UConn, Memphis and Temple can rebound to their old form soon.

(10-19-2017 03:09 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 03:05 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 02:59 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Have a top 6-school from each of the ACC, B1G, XII, SEC, PAC, and Big East is pretty neat.

The conference count is also understandable with the AAC and WCC being the clear next level of basketball (I would also include the A10, even though they're absent from the Top 25; I have the MWC currently not in that group but they have the potential):

ACC - 5
B1G - 4
XII - 3
Big East - 3
PAC - 3
SEC - 3
AAC - 2
WCC - 2

I am skeptical about including Alabama at #25. I get they have made positive strides with Avery Johnson, but they were 19-15 last year. He's been with the program for 2 seasons, so he is playing with many of his recruits. Alabama just is not a basketball school. They will be on their way up, but they shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch.

The A10 has really slipped the last few years. You look at most preseason stuff, and they're barely getting 3 teams in. The AAC will get more of a benefit of the unbalanced schedule this year and that's going to make a difference getting teams in for them I think.

The MWC has totally fallen. They aren't close to the AAC right now at all. Far closer to the rest of the conferences than they are the AAC. It's really almost a clean split- top 7 conferences(sorry, while WCC has 2 teams in top 25, they aren't close as a whole)- and then everyone else.

The AAC is actually pretty solid at the top with Wichita State, Cincinnati, SMU and UCF (yes they will be good)... hopefully UConn, Memphis and Temple can rebound to their old form soon.

Yeah, and wouldn't sleep on Houston.

I wonder if voters took into account the possibility that some teams may hold back on playing some kids whose eligibility might get called into question due to the FBI investigation. Many schools implicated so far are ranked on this list.

(10-19-2017 03:20 PM)ken d Wrote:  I wonder if voters took into account the possibility that some teams may hold back on playing some kids whose eligibility might get called into question due to the FBI investigation. Many schools implicated so far are ranked on this list.

except for 1 voter- he didn't vote for any team in question. No Arizona, Louisville, Auburn, etc. Think it was the coach from Idaho St.

(10-19-2017 03:22 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 03:20 PM)ken d Wrote:  I wonder if voters took into account the possibility that some teams may hold back on playing some kids whose eligibility might get called into question due to the FBI investigation. Many schools implicated so far are ranked on this list.

except for 1 voter- he didn't vote for any team in question. No Arizona, Louisville, Auburn, etc. Think it was the coach from Idaho St.

Good for him.

(10-19-2017 03:05 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 02:59 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Have a top 6-school from each of the ACC, B1G, XII, SEC, PAC, and Big East is pretty neat.

The conference count is also understandable with the AAC and WCC being the clear next level of basketball (I would also include the A10, even though they're absent from the Top 25; I have the MWC currently not in that group but they have the potential):

ACC - 5
B1G - 4
XII - 3
Big East - 3
PAC - 3
SEC - 3
AAC - 2
WCC - 2

I am skeptical about including Alabama at #25. I get they have made positive strides with Avery Johnson, but they were 19-15 last year. He's been with the program for 2 seasons, so he is playing with many of his recruits. Alabama just is not a basketball school. They will be on their way up, but they shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch.

The A10 has really slipped the last few years. You look at most preseason stuff, and they're barely getting 3 teams in. The AAC will get more of a benefit of the unbalanced schedule this year and that's going to make a difference getting teams in for them I think.

The MWC has totally fallen. They aren't close to the AAC right now at all. Far closer to the rest of the conferences than they are the AAC. It's really almost a clean split- top 7 conferences(sorry, while WCC has 2 teams in top 25, they aren't close as a whole)- and then everyone else.

The A-10 will get its historical average in the dance this year, which will be 3 teams. There will be an A-10 team in the Top 25 this year. Always happens. Someone always steps up. And they'll get an upset in the dance. Again, always happens. The A-10 is 12-13 in Tournament games the last 5 years. And there's a remarkable number of teams that have participated in that period. Twelve teams since 2011 have been to the dance.

Where the A-10 doesn't stack up that well is with producing a lot of deep NCAA teams. In the last 10 years, the current members of the A-10 only have 1 final four, 3 elite eight appearances, 5 sweet 16 appearances, and a record of 31-33. So basically, we get a team to the sweet 16 every other year (were 1 year over due), a team to the Elite 8 every 3 or 4 years, and once a decade we get a team to the Final 4. So we went 2-6 the last 2 years. Not the end of the world. Our average is 3 wins a tournament, so the A-10 has underperformed, slightly, in the last 2 years.

(10-20-2017 11:36 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 03:05 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 02:59 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Have a top 6-school from each of the ACC, B1G, XII, SEC, PAC, and Big East is pretty neat.

The conference count is also understandable with the AAC and WCC being the clear next level of basketball (I would also include the A10, even though they're absent from the Top 25; I have the MWC currently not in that group but they have the potential):

ACC - 5
B1G - 4
XII - 3
Big East - 3
PAC - 3
SEC - 3
AAC - 2
WCC - 2

I am skeptical about including Alabama at #25. I get they have made positive strides with Avery Johnson, but they were 19-15 last year. He's been with the program for 2 seasons, so he is playing with many of his recruits. Alabama just is not a basketball school. They will be on their way up, but they shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch.

The A10 has really slipped the last few years. You look at most preseason stuff, and they're barely getting 3 teams in. The AAC will get more of a benefit of the unbalanced schedule this year and that's going to make a difference getting teams in for them I think.

The MWC has totally fallen. They aren't close to the AAC right now at all. Far closer to the rest of the conferences than they are the AAC. It's really almost a clean split- top 7 conferences(sorry, while WCC has 2 teams in top 25, they aren't close as a whole)- and then everyone else.

The A-10 will get its historical average in the dance this year, which will be 3 teams. There will be an A-10 team in the Top 25 this year. Always happens.

It's not a lock. I mean there's projections with their 3rd team being one of the last 2-3 teams in the tourney. Things like that can go south in a hurry. VCU and Dayton have new coaches. SLU should be improved, but that's always precarious. RI is the only known quantity.

(10-20-2017 11:40 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-20-2017 11:36 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 03:05 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 02:59 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Have a top 6-school from each of the ACC, B1G, XII, SEC, PAC, and Big East is pretty neat.

The conference count is also understandable with the AAC and WCC being the clear next level of basketball (I would also include the A10, even though they're absent from the Top 25; I have the MWC currently not in that group but they have the potential):

ACC - 5
B1G - 4
XII - 3
Big East - 3
PAC - 3
SEC - 3
AAC - 2
WCC - 2

I am skeptical about including Alabama at #25. I get they have made positive strides with Avery Johnson, but they were 19-15 last year. He's been with the program for 2 seasons, so he is playing with many of his recruits. Alabama just is not a basketball school. They will be on their way up, but they shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch.

The A10 has really slipped the last few years. You look at most preseason stuff, and they're barely getting 3 teams in. The AAC will get more of a benefit of the unbalanced schedule this year and that's going to make a difference getting teams in for them I think.

The MWC has totally fallen. They aren't close to the AAC right now at all. Far closer to the rest of the conferences than they are the AAC. It's really almost a clean split- top 7 conferences(sorry, while WCC has 2 teams in top 25, they aren't close as a whole)- and then everyone else.

The A-10 will get its historical average in the dance this year, which will be 3 teams. There will be an A-10 team in the Top 25 this year. Always happens.

It's not a lock. I mean there's projections with their 3rd team being one of the last 2-3 teams in the tourney. Things like that can go south in a hurry. VCU and Dayton have new coaches. SLU should be improved, but that's always precarious. RI is the only known quantity.

Again, with basically 10 teams that are sitting in the 40-110 range, its reasonably likely that 3 will get hot. It might not be VCU or Dayton, but St Josephs or even -gasp- George Mason this year. Or Richmond

(10-20-2017 02:35 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(10-20-2017 11:40 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-20-2017 11:36 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 03:05 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-19-2017 02:59 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Have a top 6-school from each of the ACC, B1G, XII, SEC, PAC, and Big East is pretty neat.

The conference count is also understandable with the AAC and WCC being the clear next level of basketball (I would also include the A10, even though they're absent from the Top 25; I have the MWC currently not in that group but they have the potential):

ACC - 5
B1G - 4
XII - 3
Big East - 3
PAC - 3
SEC - 3
AAC - 2
WCC - 2

I am skeptical about including Alabama at #25. I get they have made positive strides with Avery Johnson, but they were 19-15 last year. He's been with the program for 2 seasons, so he is playing with many of his recruits. Alabama just is not a basketball school. They will be on their way up, but they shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch.

The A10 has really slipped the last few years. You look at most preseason stuff, and they're barely getting 3 teams in. The AAC will get more of a benefit of the unbalanced schedule this year and that's going to make a difference getting teams in for them I think.

The MWC has totally fallen. They aren't close to the AAC right now at all. Far closer to the rest of the conferences than they are the AAC. It's really almost a clean split- top 7 conferences(sorry, while WCC has 2 teams in top 25, they aren't close as a whole)- and then everyone else.

The A-10 will get its historical average in the dance this year, which will be 3 teams. There will be an A-10 team in the Top 25 this year. Always happens.

It's not a lock. I mean there's projections with their 3rd team being one of the last 2-3 teams in the tourney. Things like that can go south in a hurry. VCU and Dayton have new coaches. SLU should be improved, but that's always precarious. RI is the only known quantity.

Again, with basically 10 teams that are sitting in the 40-110 range, its reasonably likely that 3 will get hot. It might not be VCU or Dayton, but St Josephs or even -gasp- George Mason this year. Or Richmond

Um, no. The college sports madness previews have GMU at #8 for the conference and at #108.

And the problem for the A10 is while they might have a lot of teams in that 40-110 range- they have only URI in the 1-39 range.

And I was wrong- the college sports madness previews have URI in safely but then St Bonaventure as 1 of the last 4 teams in. And that's it. Lunardi has URI in- but then SB as the next to last team in. And no one in the 1st 8 teams out.

The A10 going back to what I said- has slipped in recent years. With the Wichita move, it's clearly behind the AAC now. It's closer to the WCC and MWC than it is the AAC.