Indiana, Louisville, and Tennessee all lost this week, so we should definitely be in the top ten in both polls, assuming we beat E. Kentucky. Yeah!
Do you think that Duke is a top-ten team or is this a question to ask in a few months?
Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana
In my opinion ranking isn't too much to get excited about no matter what month it is.
I would personally still have us outside the top 10, behind teams like Butler, Texas A&M, and Southern Illinois.
I think Duke deserves to be in the top ten given their recent play.
Now for those of you who don't think ranking are important: whatever.
You think ESPN and CBS would continue to show Duke games if we were always a top 50 team? You think recruits would be less or more interested.
So it's better to ranked higher than lower... even in November.
The original idea of the rankings was to help the wire services determine which teams to cover on a national basis. For years, national roundups from the Associated Press and/or United Press International would focus on the top 20 or top 25 teams in the rankings. If you weren't ranked, you rarely got mentioned -- maybe when your coach won his 500th game or when you played a ranked team.
Now, we have so many sources of info, that we get a lot of coverage of unranked teams, so it's not as big a deal. I understand Catsfive's concern -- and a long-term departure from the top 10 would represent a serious blow to Duke's national appeal and presitige. But I think what some others have suggested is that it would be nice to fly under the radar a little bit longer.
But I don't think that's possible after Maui and the exposure ESPN gave that championship. The polls are what they are -- and wishing for higher or lower rankings don't mean much.
How much will Duke move up (assuming a win today)?
Duke is No. 13 in the AP -- amazingly, six of the seven teams ahead of Duke lost this week No. 12 Oregon; No. 11 Marquette; No. 10 Michigan State; No. 8 Indiana; No. 7 Tennessee and No. 6 Louisville. Only No. 9 Washington State survived (and they didn't play anybody).
Duke is 10 in the USA Today/ESPN Poll -- No. 9 Washington State won, but No. 8 Indaian, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 6 Louisville all won.
With a win today, I'd expect Duke to move up to about 7 or 8 in both polls. We'll see.
PS Duke is now 9 in the RPI. Of course, Sam Houston State is No. 1, followed by Bucknell, UCLA and Miami of Florida. So take it for what it's worth.
what he actually stated makes no sense:
following his highly useful "whatever" comment, he then proceeded to ask if espn/cbs would continue to show duke games if we were always a top 50 team. um, me thinks so.I think Duke deserves to be in the top ten given their recent play.
Now for those of you who don't think ranking are important: whatever.
You think ESPN and CBS would continue to show Duke games if we were always a top 50 team? You think recruits would be less or more interested.
So it's better to ranked higher than lower... even in November.
he then followed that up claiming that "it's better to ranked [sic] higher than lower... even in November." that, i disagree with, as do other posters. it's not where you are ranked in november that matters. that comes in march.
I like rankings. Sports are a form of entertainment, and rankings add to the entertainment value for me.
I also think it is ridiculous to judge an entire season by what happens in a single-elimination tournament in March. For me, the enjoyment is in the entire journey.
Don't ever think that TV programmers consider anything other than ratings. These weasels won't schedule "Little Sisters of the Poor" If they don't have an appeal to the viewers related to either rankings or a mass appeal. Not on the major channel of their network anyway.
Rankings are important for exposure sake, if nothing else. The rankings determine when your highlights are shown in Sportscenter, what games are televised, etc.
If Duke was no. 20, then Duke would not recieve as much positive attention as they will at no. 10.
In addition, beating a highly-ranked team in November will still help your quality wins total for tourney seed consideration come March - even if that team is no longer considered world beaters.
So rankings do matter in November.
Rankings from year-to-year matter in TV exposure only in terms of the ratings that a certain team draws, but November rankings mean absolutely nothing with regards to what games are televised later in the year. ESPN's (and ABC and CBS) schedule has been set for quite awhile now. If we have a huge losing streak and drop out of the rankings they are still going to show our games in February. Conversely, if Clemson is 20-2 and ranked #3 come February their games aren't going to be shown more frequently.
I also disagree with your second point. How a team played in November means nothing compared to its overall profile in the RPI (a "quality win" metric) come March.
You are correct about the appearances on TV. Those are contracts from before the season starts, mostly. On the other point, I would add that a quality win in November will still carry weight if the losing team maintains its standings through the season. For example, if Marquette holds on near to it's #10 position into March, we will benefit from that, I would guess.
no. it has value if marquette is ranked 10 when the seeding committee meets. the fact that marquette was 1 or 10 or 100 when you beat them in november is irrelevant. all those first few defeats of uconn last year when uconn was still ranked were meaningless with respect to seedings.
Rankings are very popular, which is one reason we have so many of them. They serve the fans interest and, if favorable, the economics of the ranked school.
The web sports sites, the news services and the newspapers seem to cover mostly just the ranked teams, although for a national program like Duke, we may get coverage anyway. I'd just as soon stay in the top 25 (or higher) and forget the experiment.
My view is, I want to be one of the top teams (ergo, have a high ranking) even though the rankings per se are meaningless.
sagegrouse