Syracuse and Arizona kept winning, but apparently that means Syracuse is worse than they were last week.
Another week of polls, another week with Syracuse sitting at No. 2 overall in both of the latest rankings -- Coaches and AP. At this point, we're not surprised that Arizona is still in front of the Orange. After all, they are undefeated as well. But one thing did irk me (and will you) about this week's AP rankings in particular:
Wait, we LOST a first-place vote?! We're just as undefeated as we were last week (maybe more so, since we also have two more wins -- both blowouts). So why on earth have we been downgraded in the eyes of a voter?
I'd be remiss not to point out that Syracuse ended up gaining in the aggregate vote count (up from 1,550 last week in the AP, and up to 766 from 761 last week in the Coaches). So at least our outliers are finally coming around thanks to Ohio State losing twice. But losing one of those first-place votes is still puzzling and annoying just the same.
The AP Voter(s) You Arbitrarily Love This Week: Four non-"disloyal idiots" kept the Orange at No. 1 for another week. Mark Berman (Roanoke Times), Rick Bozich (WDRB-TV, Louisville), Chuck McGill (Charleston WV Daily Mail), Mark McCarter (AL.com), we appreciate your continued faith in Syracuse basketball.Jon Wilner dropped us to No .2 after being one of the first voters on the "SU is No. 1" bandwagon this season.
The AP Voter(s) You Arbitrarily Hate This Week: Even Ron Morris managed to course-correct his previous mistakes (almost, anyway), moving Syracuse up to No. 3. He was this week's low voter, along with Ed Graney (Las Vegas Review-Journal), Cecil Hurt (Tuscaloosa News) and Jason Franchuk (Provo Daily Herald), who all had us third as well.
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Curious where the rest of the ACC teams were slotted in this week's polls? Pittsburgh finally broke through at 21st in the AP and 22nd in the Coaches Poll, respectively. Despite losing to Clemson (ugh), Duke found themselves at 23rd in the AP and 20th in the Coaches Poll -- unsure how that second one came about. Virginia received votes in both polls, solidifying the fact that the TNIAAM staff knows nothing about ACC basketball (/sarcasm font).
So what do you think? Happy we've turned some voters around? Pissed we lost a first-place vote? Weigh in below.
