When the AP poll is released later today, Arizona will be No. 1. The reason they're No. 1 is that they were No. 2 last week, and No. 1 lost. It doesn't matter how they played (they struggled at home against a meh UNLV team), all it matters is that they won, thereby confirming how smart everyone was who had them at No. 2. So everyone slides them up.
The reason this is a problem is that it puts more weight on how good voters THOUGHT a team was going to be prior to anyone playing any games. Rankings should be about resumes, but very few voters will move teams down (or keep them in the same slot) when they struggle, but win. And very few voters will jump a team which they had undervalued in the preseason over a bunch of other teams after several good wins.
Anyway, here's my vote for this week.
1. Syracuse (9-0). Next: Sun at St. John's
2. Villanova (9-0). Sun vs La Salle
3. Wisconsin (10-0). Next: Wed. vs Milwaukee
4. Arizona (9-0). Next: Wed vs New Mexico State
5. Ohio State (8-0). Next: Wed vs Bryant
6. Wichita State (9-0). Next: Sat vs Tennessee
7. Michigan State (7-1). Next: Sat vs Oakland
8. Louisville (8-1). Next: Sat vs Western Kentucky
9. Connecticut (8-0). Next: Wed vs Stanford
10. Kansas (6-2). Next: Tue at No. 22 Florida
11. Pittsburgh (9-0). Next: Sat vs Youngstown State
12. Oklahoma State (8-1). Next: Sat vs LA Tech
13. Massachussetts (8-0). Next: Sat vs Northern Illinois
14. Baylor (8-1). Next: Wed vs Northwestern State
15. Iowa State (7-0). Next: Fri vs No. 18 Iowa
16. Kentucky (7-2). Next.: Tue vs Boise State
17. Memphis (6-1). Next: Fri vs Arkansas Little Rock
18. Iowa (9-1). Next: Mon vs Farleigh Dickinson
19. Duke (7-2). Next: Mon vs Gardner Webb
20. Oregon (8-0). Next: Sat vs Illinois
21. North Carolina (6-2). Next: Sat vs No. 16 Kentucky
22. Florida (6-2). Next: Tue vs No. 10 Kansas
23. Gonzaga (8-1). Next: Tue at West Virginia
24. New Mexico (7-1). Next: Sat vs No. 10 Kansas
25. Colorado (9-1). Next: Fri vs Elon
Dropped out: Dayton, San Diego State
