Usa-espn Coaches Poll

[NYC Duke Fan]

I for one thought that Duke had a very good season, albeit a fairly poor tournament. In todays USA-ESPN Coaches poll they are ranked 16th...probably a correct ranking.

That said how many of you at the beginning of the basketball season ever thought that at the end of season Duke would be ranked number 16.? I know that I certainly did not.

[eddiehaskell]

If by beginning you mean preseaon-first few games, 16th sounds about right. After the Marq, Wisc and Pitt games, I was thinking top 6 or 7. By the last 1/3 of the season I was thinking top-20.

[SilkyJ]

^pretty much agree with the above. I woulda put us a few spots higher, say, 12-14.

[dukie8]

I for one thought that Duke had a very good season, albeit a fairly poor tournament. In todays USA-ESPN Coaches poll they are ranked 16th...probably a correct ranking.

That said how many of you at the beginning of the basketball season ever thought that at the end of season Duke would be ranked number 16.? I know that I certainly did not.

what were you expecting? duke started at #11 so finishing at #16 shouldn't have been that much of a shock.

[Lotus000]

what were you expecting? duke started at #11 so finishing at #16 shouldn't have been that much of a shock.

If you go by the late-year 'slide' then we were playing like the 16th best team or so. Not a horrible slot at all. I dunno if a top-3 slot was ever really deserved.

All in all it was still a good season.

[soccerstud2210]

16th is a great ranking for us seeing how we finished off the year 6-5

[ice-9]

I realize I am sounding like a pessimist, but #16 in the post-season does not appear positive to me. In the preaseason this year we were ranked #11; in short, we performed below the coaches' consensus expectations. Maybe that's because the coaches have a lot of respect for Duke -- more than we deserve this year at least -- but nevertheless a #16 final ranking does not fill me with glee.

Personally though, the team ended up where I thought we would end up in the preseason. I thought we were a #15-ish team who would reach the Sweet 16 and then lose out to a team we didn't match up well with.

Next season I expect us to be a #7-10-ish team and again reach the Sweet 16, and perhaps even Elite 8 if we get a decent draw. But if we can't get past the first weekend again I would be disappointed (assuming no major injuries of course).

[Duke79UNLV77]

based on the tournament. if we had lost to west virginia in the regular season, we wouldn't have dropped nearly this much, even disregarding the fact that nelson, singler, and scheyer were sick and henderson, thomas, and zoubek were in need of surgery. if we had defeated west virginia, we probably still would be ranked in the top 10.

viewing the year as a whole, we were clearly a top 10 team. 6 losses all year, solid wins over unc, wisconsin, clemson, marquette, davidson, and miami. top 10 final ranking in all the computer rankings.

in reality, we had a top 10 year, which is a little better than our preseason ranking of 13.

[rthomas]

Nice to see Davidson in Top 10.

And WVU ranked in top 20 after being picked to finish 10th in BE.

[dukebdx12]

yea i like davidson there, especially with the schedule they had with a team like that. I was pulling for them but knew if they beat kansas I could see north carolina as the national champs now. So I'm glad at the way it worked out and they still got the national attention. With duke's ranking I would say that is fair the way we ended the season which is how they will judge.

[Olympic Fan]

This is a good reason that the final AP poll -- which comes out BEFORE the NCAA Tournament is a better gauge of season-long success than the USA Today poll, which is always skewed -- good and bad -- by NCAA Tournament performance.

To my mind, Duke finished ninth (its AP finish), not 16th, on the season. That's a truer picture of the team's season long performance. Yes, the team fizzled in the NCAA Tournament, which is a different measure of success.

Take the Duke-Davidson comparison.

Duke ended up 28-6 and No. 7 in the RPI
Davidson ended up 28-7 and No. 35 in the RPI

Duke ended the season with seven top 50 wins and 14 top 100 wins
Davidson ended the regular season with zero top 100 wins ... ZERO. Their only top 100 wins came in the NCAA Tournament. They were 0-4 against top 100 teams going into the event, so they finished 3-5 against the top 100.

Duke beat Davidson head-to-head at Davidson (actually at Charlotte, but that was officially a Davidson home game).

Davidson deserves credit for a great NCAA run ... but does a great three-game stretch (okay, four if you give them the close game against Kansas) determine a season-long ranking?

Anyway, that's why I've always believed there are two ways to measure a season's accomplishment. The NCAA Tournament is the most important and by that measure, Duke didn't perform well. But it's not so important that it overshadows everything (as it does in the USA Today poll). That's why the final AP poll is a better way to look at the entire season.

Duke finished ninth in 2008!

[whereinthehellami]

Below is a list of the final ESPN/USAA mens Top 25 teams with the players that they are losing, either to senior attrition, the draft, or to transfer.

1. Kansas (4) – Rush 6-6, Jackson 6-8, Robinson 6-1, Kaun 6-11
2. Memphis (1) – Dorsey 6-9
3. UNC (1) – Thomas 6-1
4. UCLA (1) – Mata-Real 6-9
5. Texas – None.
6. Louisville (5) – Palacious 6-8, Padgett 6-11, Caracter 6-8,Williams 6-6, Clark 6-9
7. Tennessee (3) – Lofton 6-2, JaJuan Smith 6-2, Howell 6-3
8. Xavier (3) – Lavender 5-7, Burrell 6-3, Duncan 6-9
9. Davidson (3) – Richards 6-2, Sander 6-8, Meno 6-8
10. Wisconsin (3) – Flowers 6-2, Butch 6-11, Stiemsma 6-8
11. Stanford (4) – B Lopez 7-0, R Lopez 7-0, Washington 6-5, Finger 6-8,
12. Georgetown (2) – Hibbert 7-0, Wallace 6-1, Ewing 6-8
13. Michigan State (2) – Neitzel 6-0, Naymick 6-10
14. Butler (5) – Graves 6-1 , Green 6-1, Campbell 6-7, Steicher 6-8, Betko 6-6,
15. Washington State (3) – Low 6-2, Weaver 6-6, Cowgill 6-10
16. Duke (2) – Nelson 6-2, King 6-6
17. WVU (2) – Nichols 6-3, Smalligan 7-0
18. Pitt (2) – Cook 6-4, Ramon 6-1
19. Notre Dame (1) – Kurz 6-9
20. Purdue (1) – Crump 6-1
21. Marquette (2) – Barro 6-10, Fitzgerald 6-9
22. WKU (5) – Lee 6-5, Brazelton 6-0, Rogers 6-3, Siakam 6-7, Walker 6-7
23. Drake (3) – Houston 6-3, Korver 6-5, Emmenecker 6-1,
24. NOVA – None.
25. Vandy (4) – Foster 6-6, Gordon 6-0, Neltner 6-9, Metcalfe 6-9,

UCONN – None.
Gonzaga (2) – Pendergraft 6-6, Kuso 6-9
Florida – Speights 6-10.
Oklahoma (2) – Longar 6-11, Godbold 6-5
Ohio state (3) – Butler 6-1, Terwillger 6-9, Hunter 6-8

Kansas, Louisville, Stanford, Butler, WKU, and Vandy all lost 4 or more players. Ouch. Buh-bye top 25, 35, 50?

On the other hand Texas (if Augustin stays), NOVA, and UCONN don't lose anybody and our looking to dance up the top 25 next year.

[Classof06]

Any final poll that has Duke ranked ahead of WVU doesn't carry much weight in my book...

[Karl Beem]

Any final poll that has Duke ranked ahead of WVU doesn't carry much weight in my book...

You're expecting Duke to have the flu all next year?

[rsvman]

Any final poll that has Duke ranked ahead of WVU doesn't carry much weight in my book...

Why not? Our season was better than their season. Our better is better than their better, to coin a phrase. So what if we lost to them? By your logic, why Kansas State ranked ahead of Kansas? They beat them, you know.

[Scorp4me]

Any final poll that has Duke ranked ahead of WVU doesn't carry much weight in my book...

You put together a poll of everyone in Div 1 basketball based soley on who beat who then. First off you can't do it. And secondly if you ever thought you could you couldn't, transitive property doesn't apply in basketball.

[Jumbo]

Any final poll that has Duke ranked ahead of WVU doesn't carry much weight in my book...

Duke should be ahead of Davidson too, right? It is amazing how much stock people put in one NCAA game. If WVU and Duke played 10 times, how many games do you think Duke would win?

[freedevil]

Duke should be ahead of Davidson too, right? It is amazing how much stock people put in one NCAA game. If WVU and Duke played 10 times, how many games do you think Duke would win?

I'll answer. If Duke's healthy, I say 9. I strongly dislike that team. Duke should be ranked ahead of them.

[6th Man]

Duke should be ahead of Davidson too, right? It is amazing how much stock people put in one NCAA game. If WVU and Duke played 10 times, how many games do you think Duke would win?

Beginning of the season Duke....9 times. End of the season Duke, maybe 3.

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

Duke should be ahead of Davidson too, right? It is amazing how much stock people put in one NCAA game. If WVU and Duke played 10 times, how many games do you think Duke would win?

I think that Duke would win 3-4 of the 10 games if they played late in the season. Unlike like the late '80s-early 90s and the late 90s-early 00s, recent Duke teams peak in February and disappoint in March.