A sneak preview at my next BlogPoll Top 25 vote

There will be another BlogPoll Top 25 vote tomorrow. In preparation for that vote, I'm thinking blogging aloud on how I will be voting. There are 24 hours left before the vote is cast, and things can change with more games played and the wind adjusting my opinion :)

So, who's #1?. Based on how UCLA Gonzaga'ed their win over Michigan State, I will be giving him the #1 spot. North Carolina surprised me by being able to lock down BYU on defense towards the end of the second half, but I get the feeling there's something missing from this Carolana team. Memphis and UNC are a toss up for the #2 spot, I'll do a coin flip if it remains too-close.

Rushing into the top 25 will be BYU after two impressive performances against UNC and Louisville. If they continue at this pace, BYU may be looking for a new head coach in April (now that's what I call jumping on the bandwagon!)

Barely sneaking into the top 25 will be Michigan State (I had my doubts, still do, still think Drew Neitzel is over-rated) and Illinois. Despite their loss to Puke, they have shown versatility, depth and promise.

USC will remain in the top 25, partially because of the potential contributions of Davon Jefferson, and the blending and mending of this new team.

I haven't seen Kansas play this year, but that will change in a few minutes when I start time-shifting the Arizona vs Kansas game. Depending on what I see, their position will be adjusted.

Needless to say the run and gun Austin Torreros (Rick Barnes's Texas) will jump up, while the struggling Bruce Pearl Vols will take a tumble in the teens. Their game against West Virginia did not impress me much.

Unless Southern Illinois shows offensive skills in their game against USC, I will continue not to include them in the Top 25. The Top 25 is the best 25 basketball teams in my opinion, not the best 25 football/wrestling/slugfestball teams :)

Gone gone will be Kansas State, perhaps Michael Beasley should ask for a trade to West Virginia? :)

Davidson will remain in the top 25. Road losses should not necessarily cause knee-jerk reaction and have a team drop out. Remember, the vote is the best 25 teams, not the Billboard Charts where things go up and down in predictable patterns. The AP/Coaches polls are behaving more like the Billboard Charts.

I'm glad I kept Xavier in the Top 25, especially now that they beat Indiana ;-) Poor Xavier was robbed in two of the last four NCAA tourneys. Thad Matta's Xavier should have advanced to the Final Four over Duke (bad zebras bad!), and the Greg Oden call kept Miller's Xavier from advancing in the 2007 tourney.

Clemson will remain out of the top 25 until I am convinced they are actually one of the best 25 teams. Remember 2006-2007? :) Pitt is another glorified Clemson-type team. They have to earn the top 25 based on how they play and who they play, not by cupcaking :)

If I don't have 25 teams in the Top 25, Syracuse might find itself in there! Another team that might find itself in the Top 25 is George Mason, and Mike Anderson's 40 minutes of H*ck!

While this is theoretically a west-coast bias blog, it's hard to miss the fact that the Pac-10 and west coast teams are collapsing like a house of cards. Granted a number of those are because of injuries or other reasons, and some will point out that the projections look towards teh end of the season, not necessarily how teams do in their first five or ten games. But those first ten games can play a significant factor in setting up the RPI/SOS.

Is it too early to talk RPI/SOS? Based on my early tea-leaf Bracketology Syracuse is out, but they do earn the #1 seed in the new College Basketball Invitational! Just kidding Orange fans) :-)

If you are wondering what is the Blog Poll Top 25, see the intro to some of the blogs participating, and all my posts on the Blog Poll Top 25 so far. There is also a BlogHype group discussing the Blog Poll Top 25!

I have been behind on a lot of posts this week: Week 2 of the Blog Poll Top 25 was published on Tuesday, but I'm mentioning it just now. There are some paper caught in my typewriter so I couldn't publish it earlier on. Here is the Week 2 Top 25 (Google spreadsheet), along with the votes of each participant-blogger.

Coming on Tuesday: I will create a poll, and you, the readers, will decide which team I will vote in the #1 spot in next week's Blog Poll. The list of teams to vote on will be teams that I consider worthy of #1 consideration, it won't be a have-a-field-day vote :) This is to thank readers like you for reading and supporting this blog through the centuries.