ESPN Coaches Poll is Out! - Feb. 1

[Zoukmaster]

ESPN/USA Today Poll
1. Kansas (26) 20-1 769
2. Villanova (4) 19-1 735
3. Kentucky (1) 20-1 705
4. Syracuse 21-1 703
5. Michigan State 19-3 652
6. West Virginia 17-3 596
7. Purdue 18-3 552
8. Georgetown 16-4 550
9. Duke 17-4 503
10. Texas 18-3 495
11. Kansas State 17-4 433
12. Brigham Young 21-2 432
13. Gonzaga 17-4 351
14. Tennessee 16-4 330
15. Butler 18-4 297
16. Wisconsin 16-5 277
17. Temple 18-4 253
18. Ohio State 16-6 245
19. Georgia Tech 16-5 211
20. Vanderbilt 16-4 160
21. Pittsburgh 16-5 133
22. Northern Iowa 19-2 129
23. New Mexico 20-3 125
24. Baylor 16-4 109
25. Cornell 18-3 53
Others Receiving Votes
Mississippi 52, Clemson 49, Florida State 34, Missouri 32, UAB 21, Saint Mary's 18, Xavier 15, Rhode Island 11, UNLV 11, Siena 8, Connecticut 6, Maryland 5, Louisiana Tech 4, Virginia Tech 4, Tulsa 3, California 2, Oklahoma State 2.
Dropped From Rankings
Connecticut 19, Mississippi 20, Clemson 21.

[BYF]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/rankings

[NMFANINOKC]

23 is a little low.. We should of atleast cracked the top 20.

[LaVidaLobo]

That's ridiculous. BYU at 12 and we are way down at 23. The one good thing is that the coaching staff can use this as a chip on their should type tool. Time to prove we belong in the top 15 as the other poll has them.

[dbkirkp]

ESPN must Hate the Lobos. This is good, they will play with a chip on their shoulder.

[txlobo95]

Funny how there is such a large discrepancy between the two polls.

One is driven by broadcasting pressure and $'s (ESPN) and one is not (AP)

I was thoughoughly disappointed when ESPN did not have any of our TCU highlights on Saturday, especially since we had an early game.

BTW, if you haven't seen Inside College Basketball on CBCS, it's on tonight at 9:00 CST and has Lappas and Greg Anthony. Hopefully, they will provide us a little coverage and mention?

[Dr.M]

Gonzaga at #13? What's that about?

[feez]

Only other team with anywhere near that discrepancy is Ohio State, 13 AP, 18 ESPN.

8 places different? Hmm. We are 11 places behind a BYU team we beat, are equal on wins with (granted one more loss), and have a better RPI and SOS. Make sense much?

[ArkansasLobo]

At least we are not Baylor who beat Texas at the Erving Center and is still ranked 14 spots behind them. I am actually OK with our rankings. I would rather have a slow steady climb up the ladder verses a quick jump to the top. Lets peak in March/April and be playing our best ball during the tournament...that is the quickest and best way to gain respect!!!

[1EYE]

ESPN is pathetic!!!!!

[burquesid]

Funny how there is such a large discrepancy between the two polls.

One is driven by broadcasting pressure and $'s (ESPN) and one is not (AP)

I was thoughoughly disappointed when ESPN did not have any of our TCU highlights on Saturday, especially since we had an early game.

BTW, if you haven't seen Inside College Basketball on CBCS, it's on tonight at 9:00 CST and has Lappas and Greg Anthony. Hopefully, they will provide us a little coverage and mention?

Very tough for anyteam not ranked in their poll to get any highlights on at anytime, let alone a Saturday, unless their is a brawl or something.

Lappas should give us some love though, he's really high on the Lobos.

[badger77]

It's the ESPN/Coaches' Assistants Poll. No reason to be upset, what did you expect?

[Garishwolf]

Ah heck, it's working so far.............................lol

[COLOLOBO]

Our RPI is high, we have beaten 4 ranked opponets, there are only 4 others in the top 25 with 20 wins KU, KY, Orange men, BYU,and we are only ranked at 23? Go figure!

[Walkon]

I feel the only time rankings have any real importance is just prior to the NCAA selections. In fact ,right now, I would like to see the Lobos under the radar so teams do not get too up for them- and thus have a chance to beat a ranked opponent especially on their court.
The real goal is to first get to the NCAA tourney. I think this is pretrty much a given at this point. Then, there is the matter of seeding and the location of first round games.
Location may be more important than seeding. Oklahoma City sure looks appealing to Lobo fans.
In some cases a #6 seed may be better than a #5. If you want to advance further in the bracket, a #6 seed if they can get past #3 stays away from a #1 seed longer and the 5-12 matchup seems to produce more upsets than the 6-11 game.

[agrundst]

The guys voting in the ESPN poll are morons. #23 vs. #15 in the AP. What a ridiculous disparity! Despite going 4-0 and beating a top 10 team in the last two weeks, the Lobos have only moved up a grand total of 4 spots in the ESPN (the were essentially #27 two weeks ago).

It's also pretty annoying that BYU is still ranked higher than New Mexico. They have one of the easiest schedules in the country and haven't beaten anyone good and their record is only 1 game better than New Mexico's (21-2 vs 20-3). That, AND UNM just beat them 5 days ago. Give me one reason why BYU should be ranked higher. They shouldn't. Don't get me wrong, they are a good team and deserve to be ranked, but they get way too much credit just because they are a recognizable name and it's really lame. I hope the Lobos can go and beat them on their home court and then there will be no debate.

[EastMtnLobo]

ESPN MAFIA business as usual.

[NewMexPoke]

BYU barely drops after a loss in The Pit. I can understand the initial outrage at this but if you think deeper its a compliment to UNM. Pollsters know that if a team takes a loss in The Pit it shouldn't be help too tightly against them because very few teams win in The Pit. If anything its showing The Pit and Lobo fans some respect because no one wins in The Pit easily.

[Burro lobo]

I think you have to go back no farther than our first ranking in the week previous to the start of the MWC season, SDSU coach Fisher I'm sure ranked us as high as possible then as the only ranked MWC team in the Polls, now we are one of two teams and he wants to keep BYU at least as high as possible, and his coming to the Pit gives him less of a loss and a good win either way. Some of the other teams who vote are satisfied with us in the top 25 and are not going to waste their vote on us and will vote for teams in their conference or who they face in the near future. Hey it's all about how the rank too.

[chupacabra]

In all fair respect the coaches poll did bump us up 5 spots from 28 last week to 23. As far as the AP poll is concerned how can BYU lose a game and maintain the same ranking?

[nmfann]

At least we are not Baylor who beat Texas at the Erving Center and is still ranked 14 spots behind them. I am actually OK with our rankings. I would rather have a slow steady climb up the ladder verses a quick jump to the top. Lets peak in March/April and be playing our best ball during the tournament...that is the quickest and best way to gain respect!!!

OR Kansas State who beat Texas and took Kansas to OT

[wallyhopp]

18 and 19 just won normal type games. Lobos beat a top 12 team and get LESS respect.

goes to show that big10/ACC biases are even more evident than before.

gonzaga loses to SAN FRAN and drops only 5.. thats good for 10 where we're from