1. UCLA
2. Tennessee
3. Memphis
4. North Carolina
5. Stanford
6. Texas
7. Kansas
8. Xavier
9. Duke
10. Louisville
11. Georgetown
12. Notre Dame
13. Vanderbilt
14. UConn
15. Purdue
16. Wisconsin
17. Butler
18. Michigan St.
19. Gonzaga
20. Drake
21. Indiana
22. Marquette
23. Washington State
24. Southern Cal.
25. South Alabama
Save your angry e-mails, Memphis fans. I’m not going to debate this point. Given the recency of a home loss to Tennessee, there is simply no way I can justify moving the Tigers ahead of Tennessee. The Vols lost at Vandy, but everybody loses at Vandy, and Vandy is a top 15 team. Had they lost at, say, Auburn or Ole Miss, I could have justified dropping UT further. At the same time, I could not justify keeping UT at No. 1. So I moved up the team that is playing better than anyone right now, and that’s UCLA. The Bruins’ road sweep over two NCAA Tournament teams justifies being No. 1 on my ballot.
in Tiger Basketball
Responses to “AP top 25 ballot”
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Get real Dan you might as well kept Tennessee #1 over UCLA. Beating Arizona St. and Washington St. is not saying much. You are getting desparate now.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Good reasoning there chief. Thank God you’re not on the selection committee; I would be worried that we may not make it in, unless we won the conference tournament. What a joke. Writers like this are the reasons that polls mean absolutely nothing. No worries though. We will still get a number one seed, and we will be in San Antonio, despite our beat writer’s utter inability to produce a decent poll(or article for that matter). Now that David Williams is coming back to the sports page, maybe we will not have to listen to this clown much longer.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
You’ve lost your freakin” mind. Don’t bother emailing me either. Nothing you could say could justify the stupidity of your reasoning for voting the way you did in this poll except “I lost my thorzine”.
Arizona is 17-12 and 7-9 in conference.Not a NCAA tourny team.
Arizona St is 18-8 and 8-8 in conference. Probably not a NCAA team either.
You lost any credibility you had left.
Good night.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
By saying you will not debate your rankings is the only thoughtful thing in your column. There is no way anyone much less you could defend such a poor decision.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 am
Dan- Let’s see. Tennessee loses and has 3 total losses, but since they beat Memphis the week before, they are still ranked higher. So, total losses is irrelevant? Okay, then why haven’t you ranked Vandy and Texas above UT? That makes just as much sense.
Oh well, I’m not mad any more. You have made it clear this is no longer about honest opinion, it’s a vendetta pure and simple. Sad.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:17 am
This is perfect. We have a new Seth Davis brewing in our hometown. I think this in line with the new anti-Tigers sports editor that the CA just hired.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:36 am
Dan, I’m sure you’re loving the posts. Keep on reporting, giving your opinions, I’m as big a Tiger fan as anyone else on here and appreciate your columns and blogs. We’re gonna be a 1 seed if we handle our business and no polls matter in the least after selection sunday… all that matters is what happens on the floor. And I’m sure you resent the Seth Davis comment and would never want to be in his shoes, I hear being a national sports writer has just terrible pay.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:46 am
Or maybe he looks at the way you guys played Saturday at USM and realizes that if you had been playing almost any major conference team, you would’ve lost this week.
Memphis is a very good basketball team, but if you played in any major conference, even the SEC which is down this year, you’d have at least 2 conference losses, maybe more. That is because unlike your non-conference schedule, you don’t get to set up a schedule without a single difficult road test.
And that’s why I don’t disagree when people don’t put the Tigers at No. 1. Based on the way you played against Rice, UTEP, USM, etc., I see a team that would’ve definitely lost more games had you been forced to make some difficult road trips.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:05 am
HI,Dan,
I am not sending you email as an angry U of M fan. I AM a U of M fan, but not angry.
Now, for your rationale. Do you put much weight on the “computer” ratings? Say, RPI. UT is still #1, and Mempis is still #2. Or, say, KENPOM.com, where Kansas is #1, UCLA is #2, and Memphis #3. UT is #15. Or Jeff Sagarin, which has UNC #1, Memphis #2, and UT #7.
Sure, Memphis lost a one possession game. But then we have beaten many top quality opponents as well. I understand the poll is an opinion poll, and you certainly are due your own opinion. I am just wondering what information you considered before making your opinion final. The “UT beat Memphis, therefore they are better” does not hold water. They simply made a play at the end, and we did not.
Thanks for making your vote public.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:21 am
Honestly, if the resumes of UCLA and Memphis were reversed would you place Memphis over UCLA?
A one loss team with the #2 RPI and #19 SOS below a three loss team with the #7 RPI/#34 SOS including a loss to an RPI #101 Washington team?
That’s voter malpractice.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
I thought weekly rankings were based on merit and a body of work rather than who you think is playing the best ball. UCLA? You have to be joking! They barely beat Arizona yesterday. Bias? How does a #2 seed, as UCLA is projected to be, get to stay in the west coast region when everyone else has to travel?
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:47 am
So we’re 28-1 and our only loss is to the then #2 team. You have really teetered over the edge recently. Are you still upset because they won’t talk to you there skeeter…. Good luck on your next interview attempt.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
Love the logic, let’s see utk loses to Vandy and yet Vandy is not rated higher then utk. utk beats a Kentucky team by three at home, the same Kentucky team that lost it’s best player before they played. You would have voted for Texas #1 but they lost, so you bring UCLA into the mix. I love the logic, can’t understand it,but oh well, I guess Joey has really gotten under your skin.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Dan-
Seriously, man. I know you’re trying to get noticed on your way to a higher profile gig in a bigger market, but making ridiculous statements like this is not what you want to be known for.
Your logic is bass ackwards. Speaking of bass, someone tell Brian Brasher that posting twice as much about hunting and crappie tournamments than Memphis Tiger hoops is almost as asinine as your latest blog!
All the best.
JC
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Dan,
I seem to find myself agreeing with most of your columns and analysis, until this week.
UCLA seems no better than a #2 seed and AZ almost had them with a last second three that did not fall, but AZ passed had on a 6 foot shot to tie for OT. UCLA should not be in the Top 4 (maybe 5-7). At this point I would love for the Tigers to play them because they do not have the same type of athletes they have had in previous years (who always gave us problems); they really are not that athletic any more, more grind it out type of guys.
I could see you moving UNC up but not UCLA. I seem to remember Memphis as number two last week with you and they do not lose but drop to 3? UT losing to Vandy was expected (by national media outlets), Jimmy Dykes said UT could not match Vandy’s energy or intensity level that they had at Memphis; sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Ultimately I would guess that prior to selection Sunday your entire top 7 could lose another game except for the Tigers and that would then have the polls take care of themselves.
Keep up the good work and keep reporting on details that other miss on the Tigers
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Dan, We don’t have time for angry e-mails. We just read your blog these days for a hearty laugh. Nice to see that your peers around the country think Memphis is a better team than you do. I hope you’re banned from the locker room. How ya like dem apples?
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Ha.
“I’m not going to debate this point”.
After the fact, it seems like a silly thing to say, seeing how you were DEAD WRONG about nearly every spot in the top 5.
You shouldn’t overthink it so much, you might hurt yourself.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Hey Dan, I’ve been trying to get the RAH RAH BOYS, who give comment on the basketball blogs to answer this question but they are so busy trading sugar they refuse. It is legitimate and rational, here it is: At the current level the three big guys(DDT) are playing, is it a reasonable expectation to believe that the Tigers will advance to the Elite Eight?
March 8th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Do you get your hair cut at the same salon as Gary Parrish?
Nice half court seat today at the UAB game.
LOL
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