Official JustBBall.Com Poll (Week 1)

<font color="DarkRed">NCAA Division I:
Official JustBBall.Com Poll
(Week 1)</font>

This is the Official JustBBall.Com Top 25 college basketball poll which comes out every Monday, with the number of first-place votes in parentheses and total points outside the parentheses. Team records are through the date the poll was released:

1) Duke <font size=""1"">(5-0)</font> ? 171 (5)
2) Connecticut <font size=""1"">(4-0)</font> - 169 (2)
3) Villanova <font size=""1"">(2-0)</font> ? 159
4) Texas <font size=""1"">(5-0)</font> ? 156
5) Oklahoma <font size=""1"">(3-0)</font> ? 147
6) Gonzaga <font size=""1"">(3-1)</font> ? 145
7) Boston College <font size=""1"">(5-0)</font> ? 131
8) Michigan State <font size=""1"">(3-2)</font> - 115
9) Iowa <font size=""1"">(4-1)</font> - 111
10) Louisville <font size=""1"">(1-0)</font> - 110
10) Memphis <font size=""1"">(3-1)</font> - 110
12) Indiana <font size=""1"">(3-0)</font> ? 95
13) Illinois <font size=""1"">(5-0)</font> ? 85
14) Kentucky <font size=""1"">(4-1)</font> ? 81
15) George Washington <font size=""1"">(2-0)</font> - 71
16) Arizona <font size=""1"">(2-2)</font> - 68
17) Washington <font size=""1"">(6-0)</font> ? 57
18) Florida <font size=""1"">(5-0)</font> ? 55
19) Michigan <font size=""1"">(3-0)</font> ? 40
20) Maryland <font size=""1"">(4-1)</font> - 32
21) Oregon <font size=""1"">(4-0)</font> - 31
22) UCLA <font size=""1"">(4-1)</font> ? 25
23) LSU <font size=""1"">(3-0)</font> - 24
24) Nevada <font size=""1"">(3-0)</font> - 16
25) Wisconsin <font size=""1"">(4-0)</font> - 15

Others Receiving Votes:
Alabama - 11, North Carolina St. - 10, West Virginia - 5, Wake Forest - 3, Ohio State - 1

The Board of Selected Members is made up of 7 quality college basketball writers at JustBBall.Com. All are respected and credible members. The 2005-06 voters: 44Thrilla, C.K., Schaddy, Shapecity, Shard, UKOwnstheSEC, and Voodoo Child.

Dropped From Rankings -
N/A

 

Pretty nice poll. Personally I don't buy BC as high as all polls are putting them but it's early so who knows? The biggest surprise here I guess is Oregon as I don't think they're ranked anywhere else and they're 21 here. They're 4-0 but frankly I don't know anything about them.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Fast Luck:</div><div class="quote_post">Pretty nice poll. Personally I don't buy BC as high as all polls are putting them but it's early so who knows? The biggest surprise here I guess is Oregon as I don't think they're ranked anywhere else and they're 21 here. They're 4-0 but frankly I don't know anything about them.</div>

Oregon is a very young team, and they have the potential to be very good if they can stay healthy. They're led by 6'6" wing Malik Hairston, who figures to average 15-17 points this year, as well as point guard Aaron Brooks. They return their entire starting five from a year ago and are a major sleeper in the Pac 10. They haven't given us a reason not to rank them, and as young and talented as they are, we'll look smart later on when everyone else hops on the bandwagon

 

Poll looks good guys. Nice to see Iowa getting some appreciation from you guys. They look like they could have a Big Ten contending team this year (although it seems like I've been saying that almost every year for the past 4 or 5 years), and maybe even a team that could go pretty deep come tourney time. I just hope they don't encounter anymore legal problems (Pierre Pierce anyone?) or don't get hit with any costly injuries (Luke Recker and Jared Reiner ring a bell?). As long as neither of those happen, they should be in the top 3 or so in the Big Ten this year.

The only problem I really do have with it is the low ranking of Arizona. I think it's kind of odd that they're ranked so low at 16th with two losses, yet you keep MSU in the top 10 despite their two losses. I'm not really sure if that's right. And if you look at the two teams 'Zona has lost to, which would be UConn and Michigan State, they're two teams a lot of people see as Final Four quality. Plus, they were competitive in each of those games as well, and could probably just as easily be 3-1 or 4-0 as they are 2-2. So, that's really the only discrepency I have with this poll, and even it is an understandable rating. Outside of that however, it looks good.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Moo2K4:</div><div class="quote_post">The only problem I really do have with it is the low ranking of Arizona. I think it's kind of odd that they're ranked so low at 16th with two losses, yet you keep MSU in the top 10 despite their two losses. I'm not really sure if that's right. And if you look at the two teams 'Zona has lost to, which would be UConn and Michigan State, they're two teams a lot of people see as Final Four quality. Plus, they were competitive in each of those games as well, and could probably just as easily be 3-1 or 4-0 as they are 2-2. So, that's really the only discrepency I have with this poll, and even it is an understandable rating. Outside of that however, it looks good.</div>

I personally didn't rank Michigan State in my top ten, but I don't disagree with them being ranked that many spots higher than Arizona. For a team with a 2-2 record and no top 25 wins, the #16 spot was more than generous. Obviously you can't think Arizona is better than Michigan State, because the Spartans just beat them at Maui, so pick me a team between Michigan State and Arizona in our rankings, and I'll tell you why Arizona wasn't ranked over them.

 

How about Louisville? They're a mere 1-0, and it's not like that win was over an impressive team. Beyond that, they're a team loaded with youth, have only one senior (Taquan Dean), and lost their best player to the draft (Francisco Garcia). I realize that they have a ton good, young talent on that team, but what have they shown you to rank them in the top 10 with only one game under their belt?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Moo2K4:</div><div class="quote_post">How about Louisville? They're a mere 1-0, and it's not like that win was over an impressive team. Beyond that, they're a team loaded with youth, have only one senior (Taquan Dean), and lost their best player to the draft (Francisco Garcia). I realize that they have a ton good, young talent on that team, but what have they shown you to rank them in the top 10 with only one game under their belt?</div>

You're penalizing them for being undefeated at 1-0? Since when does that count against you? I could understand if they were 0-1, but they haven't done anything that would make us want to drop them in our rankings yet. Let's say Duke, Connecticut, and Texas were all 1-0. Would you want them dropped too?

While I personally don't think they're a top ten team, I can see the logic in mostly everyone else having them in their top ten. So what if they lose Francisco Garcia? They still return enough core players from last year's Final Four team to make another run this season. Juan Palacios is on the verge of a breakout year. He probably doesn't have the athleticism to make a long career for himself in the NBA, but on the college level he'll be a star. Yes, Taquan Dean is the only returning senior, but I'd take one returning senior of Dean's caliber over four or five mediocre seniors any day. He's one of the top guards in the entire NCAA, especially on the defensive end. I can see why you don't trust a team with this much youth, but why not pick on the Memphis Tigers then as well? Eight of their top nine scorers this season are either freshmen or sophomores, yet they've already knocked off two ranked teams and played #1 Duke to the wire; their freshmen class isn't even as good as Louisville's either.