Okay, latest polls are out. Pitt is treated very well. The Panthers are #9 in the AP and #10 in the Coaches. The Coaches poll continues to baffle as they stubbornly keep Florida in at #9. I am starting to harden on my theory about many voters wanting to keep the #1 team from each BCS conference ahead of the #3 team in another no matter what.

If there is a team that can complain about being disrespected, it is Marquette. Not only did they not make the top 25s, the Writers put them at about #28 while the Coaches buried them at #32. A very good record, back-to-back wins against top-25 teams in 48 hours, and tied for 5th in the Big East. My feeling is that Marquette got screwed in a numbers game of not wanting more than 5 teams from the Big East in the top-25.

On top of that insult, in the latest Big East Power Poll, the voters inexplicably put them 5th — barely ahead of Georgetown but easily behind Pitt. Aside from Villanova, no team had a better week than Marquette. Again, I call on the other voters to make your vote known. Only fellow Pitt blogger, Keith Wehmeyer does this — despite his fundamental character flaw of being a BoSox fan.

Anyhow, this is my ballot.

1. Villanova — Beat #1, become #1. Keep winning to stay #1.
2. UConn — Still think they are the best team, though.
3. WVU — I nearly dropped them lower, but they did bounce back well against G-town. UConn was just too good.
4. Marquette — They do need Novak to be “on” in games against top teams to win. If he’s off, they can lose to anyone.
5. Pitt — Can’t put them ahead of the team they lost to in the past week.
6. Georgetown — Need to stop the slide soon.
7. Cinci — Andy Kennedy deserves so much credit. I admire this team.
8. Seton Hall — I can’t help it, the phrase “smoke and mirrors” is the only thought whenever I read about another Pirate victory.
9. Syracuse — There’s some amusement in watching Syracuse games, just to hear announcers puzzling over what’s wrong with this team.
10. ND — Finally beating the soft-underbelly opponents.
11. Louisville — Never thought I’d see a team coached by Pitino just look like they want to give-up.
12. Rutgers — Douby do, but no one else does.
13. Providence — Their players probably improve the graduation rates for the Big East.
14. St. John’s — Just so tired. No depth. Playing tough, physical defense every game has them wiped at this point.
15. DePaul — Not even one year in and there are already whispers that DePaul doesn’t have the commitment to compete in a major conference.
16. USF — Looking to become the first BE team to go 0 for the conference since Miami went 0-18 for the 1993-94 season.

I’m glad Pitt isn’t playing USF this season. The pressure for any team facing them has to be huge. Who wants to be the one to give them their first win in conference?

Just because I had to dig a little on whether a team had gone 0 for the conference, I’ll share a little more. The only other time it happened was in the BE’s first season when each team only played once. Providence went 0-6. Seven times a team has only won a single game in conference: WVU (01-02), St. John’s (03-04), BC (89-90 and 90-91), Seton Hall (82-83 and 84-85) , and Miami (91-92).