This week’s award goes to Scott Johnson of the Daily Herald in Everett, Washington. The screencap below is taken from Pollspeak.
1. Missouri. 61 of 65 (93.8%) 1st place votes went to Kentucky. Two went to Missouri, and Mr Johnson cast one of those two votes. Missouri currently has the #1 rated offense in the nation (efficiency ratings) and the 55th best defense. They have one win against a top-25 team in the Johnsons (Baylor, #6) and one loss (K-State, #24). Meanwhile Kentucky has played three team’s in Johnson’s top-25, with wins over #4 Kansas and #12 North Carolina, and a loss to #16 Indiana. His vote for Mizzou makes perfect sense.
3. Kentucky. See above. Johnson is the only voter in the nation not to have Kentucky 1st or 2nd.
7. Creighton. Every voter had the Blue Jays in their top-25. Two had them in their top-10. No one had them as high as Scott Johnson. Creighton is a solid team. They beat Wichita State (who Johnson did not vote for). Their losses are to St Joes and Missouri State. And they beat San Diego State….
9. San Diego State. San Diego State is an interesting team. Every voter had them in their top-25 but only Dick Vitale had them higher than Scott Johnson. In the Pomeroys the Aztecs are 55th. Their offense is ranked 84th and their defense is ranked 45th. They lost to Baylor and Creighton, but have wins over UNLV, New Mexico, Cal, Long Beach State and Arizona. Luckily they only face four more teams in Pomeroys top-100, so there’s a chance they could skate through the regular season without having their weaknesses (ability to extend possessions through offensive boards, ability to get to the line, forcing turnovers) exposed.
11 and 12. Duke and North Carolina. Clearly Scott Johnson isn’t a Tobacco Road enthusiast. Only John Feinstein (a Duke grad) has Duke ranked lower (even though he has FSU, who beat Duke, ranked 6th, so clearly he thinks the Noles are elite), and only Bill Cole (from Winston-Salem) has UNC ranked lower.
15. Vanderbilt. 84.6% of voters left Vanderbilt off their ballot. Of the 10 who didn’t, 9 had them ranked between 18th and 25th. Scott Johnson thinks they’re 15th. Nevermind their loss to Louisville (unranked in the Johnsons). Nevermind their HOME losses to Cleveland State, Xavier, Indiana State and Mississippi State. Nevermind that Johnson had Vanderbilt ranked 19th in last week’s poll and that during the week they beat Alabama and lost to Mississippi State. Johnson says they’re 15th, and he’s sticking with it.
