Seriously, I’m beginning to wish that it was only a top-10 poll. It’s just a jumbled mess of teams that all seem ridiculously overrated but nothing else is in front of them.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	—
2	LSU	—
3	Oklahoma	—
4	Florida	—
5	West Virginia	—
6	California	—
7	Texas	—
8	Rutgers	1
9	Ohio State	1
10	Boston College	2
11	Wisconsin	3
12	Georgia	1
13	South Florida	1
14	Oregon	3
15	Clemson	1
16	Hawaii	4
17	Missouri	4
18	Kentucky	8
19	Nebraska	4
20	Penn State	9
21	Cincinnati	4
22	South Carolina	4
23	Arizona State	3
24	Virginia Tech	2
25	Miami (Florida)	1

Under Consideration/Wait Listed: Purdue, Michigan State, Kansas, Michigan and (god help me) UConn.

Here’s the draft ballot. Dennis did the heavy lifting. I tweaked initially. Feedback will be considered for the final ballot due Wednesday morning.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	—
2	LSU	—
3	Oklahoma	—
4	Florida	3
5	West Virginia	1
6	California	—
7	Texas	2
8	Wisconsin	1
9	Rutgers	1
10	Ohio State	1
11	Penn State	1
12	Boston College	6
13	Georgia	1
14	South Florida	2
15	Texas A&M	5
16	Clemson	3
17	Oregon	6
18	South Carolina	3
19	Louisville	11
20	Hawaii	2
21	Missouri	3
22	Georgia Tech	5
23	Nebraska	8
24	Alabama	2
25	Cincinnati	1

Considered/Waiting for an opening: Kentucky, Purdue, Texas Tech, Air Force
I can already tell you that Texas A&M will have to go down. Again, the problem isn’t finding teams that are too high. It’s finding teams that are better/should/deserve to be ranked ahead of them. Clemson is a team I can’t buy into, but don’t know what to do with them.
WVU ended up dropping a spot on the strength of a dominating Florida team that looks damn impressive. Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that more than a few ND fans are wondering “what if” with Urban Meyer.

Have to admit, that BC looks damn good this season with a more opened up offense.

Can’t help but think that Kentucky should be ranked.

Okay, here’s how the Pitt Blather ballot finally went.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	—
2	LSU	—
3	Oklahoma	2
4	West Virginia	1
5	Texas	5
6	California	1
7	Florida	1
8	Louisville	4
9	Wisconsin	3
10	Rutgers	3
11	Ohio State	1
12	Penn State	3
13	UCLA	1
14	Georgia	5
15	Nebraska	1
16	South Florida	9
17	Georgia Tech	6
18	Boston College	4
19	Clemson	5
20	Texas A&M	—
21	South Carolina	5
22	Hawaii	5
23	Oregon	3
24	Missouri	2
25	Auburn	7

On the Cusp/Watching: Washington, Cinci, Alabama, Tennessee, VT

Washington and Cinci just missed making my poll. I did move Missouri in, while dropping VT from the draft ballot.

You can see what the full ballot results look like, here. Every blogpoller’s ballot can be viewed here.
There are plenty of teams that I wanted to rank lower, but the problem was that there was a lack of teams that I could justify putting ahead of them without thinking how overrated that would make those teams. That was the one factor that mitigated against fully embracing some of the comments.
Keep in mind that several teams still moved up simply by virtue of other teams being knocked way down or out of the poll.
Did teams like Cal, Florida, Ohio State and UCLA really deserve to rise in the polls even one spot after this past week? Not really but Louisville, Wisconsin, VT and Georgia all deserved to fall further — which is how the others moved up.

Here’s what the draft of the ballot this week looks like. It’s a little different this season with Dennis putting a draft version and then I come in and tweak a little. After that, it’s open for comments and I have time to change it a little more before the due time.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	—
2	LSU	—
3	Oklahoma	2
4	West Virginia	1
5	Texas	5
6	California	1
7	Florida	1
8	Louisville	4
9	Wisconsin	3
10	Ohio State	2
11	Rutgers	2
12	UCLA	2
13	Penn State	2
14	Georgia	5
15	Nebraska	1
16	South Florida	9
17	Georgia Tech	6
18	Boston College	4
19	Texas A&M	1
20	Hawaii	3
21	Clemson	3
22	Oregon	4
23	South Carolina	3
24	Virginia Tech	13
25	Auburn	7

Considered/getting close: Cinci, Missouri, Tennessee, Washington, Alabama

Dennis dropped USC down to #3 on their bye week, but as good as LSU has looked, I’m not totally convinced on them yet. They have faced two teams that are offensively challenged, with horrible QBs. I am very impressed by their defense and this time they came out fired up on offense. I just want to see a little more — that and Les Miles doesn’t scare me as a coach.Oklahoma looked fantastic to move past WVU and the concerns about the ‘Eers defense appear legit.

Texas moved up more than maybe they should, but a couple other teams slipped to give them a bigger boost then I actually feel about them.

Like Louisville (again no defense) and Wisconsin (no offense). By all rights Cal shouldn’t have moved up a spot for their weak win, but really there feels like a huge gap in who to put in the second half of the top-ten and where.

That gap is what kept Georgia from slipping further, though I’m still considering putting them lower.

Right now Rutgers and USF look like legit BE contenders because they can play defense. Of course, USF is going to have to hold open tryouts for a kicker.
The last 8 or 9 spots on the poll are just a mess.

GT shouldn’t have moved that high, but no place else seemed quite right either. Texas A&M even moving up a spot is inexplicable even as I look at the blogpoll. Expect them to drop when I think about it a little more.

Dennis completely dropped the Hokies from the poll, but I had to leave them back in. If beating the Hokies that badly was such a statement by LSU that they deserve #1 consideration, then there has to be a belief that VT is at least a top-25 team.

Auburn hangs in by a thread because their defense is excellent, as are special teams and even their running game — yet another reason why Tuberville is so conservative. That will get them some quality wins in the SEC even when they shouldn’t. The QB, on the other hand…

I know, I skipped the preseason (week 1) ballot.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	25
2	LSU	24
3	West Virginia	23
4	Louisville	22
5	Oklahoma	21
6	Wisconsin	20
7	California	19
8	Florida	18
9	Georgia	17
10	Texas	16
11	Virginia Tech	15
12	Ohio State	14
13	Rutgers	13
14	UCLA	12
15	Penn State	11
16	Nebraska	10
17	Hawaii	9
18	Auburn	8
19	TCU	7
20	Texas A&M	6
21	Boise State	5
22	Boston College	4
23	Georgia Tech	3
24	Clemson	2
25	South Florida	1

Considered/Keeping in Mind (no particular order): Tennessee, Miami (FL), South Carolina, Missouri, Kent St. (no, not really), Oregon, Arkansas, Oregon St., BYU, Alabama.

The poll is due by 10 am tomorrow. Go ahead and explain with some logic why I’m an idiot (for this) and I still have time to revise. Hopefully in the future, the draft ballot will be up sooner for more debate.

If you care, the ESPN/USA Today Coaches preseason poll is out. Nothing that really stuns me. What I wanted to see was the coaches voting breakdown.

The Big East has 4 coaches in the voting pool of 60.

• Randy Edsall, UConn
• Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville
• Rich Rodriguez, WVU
• Greg Schiano, Rutgers

Here’s how the rest of the number of voting coaches looks by conference:

• ACC — 6
• Big 11 — 7
• Big 12 — 6
• Pac-10 — 5
• SEC — 7
• Notre Dame — 1

—————–

• MAC — 6
• C-USA — 6
• MWC — 4
• WAC — 4
• Sun Belt — 4

Some more from the basketball camps as Coach Dixon shuttled from Akron to Philly for the camps. On Monday he was at the Rbk U camp watching Ashton Gibbs. Not to mention Travon Woodall and Eloy Vargas. Vargas finished the camp strong.

Ashton Gibbs was also the subject of a lead story out of New Jersey.

“I think I fit in well there,” Gibbs said in between games at the elite Reebok University showcase. “They told me I would be a Ronald Ramon-type player — play the one and two, play tough defense and try to get some buckets on the offensive end. I think I can run up and down, but Pitt slows it down and they’re physical. That’s definitely my style of play.”

Like the gritty Ramon, Gibbs is a quintessential combo guard. He is neither a true point nor a pure scorer, but he can fill either roll on any given possession.

At the three-day Reebok Camp, which features 120 of the best players in the county, Gibbs ran the point in scrimmages and was one of the few guards who made an effort to set up a half-court offense.

With Pitt coach Jamie Dixon watching from the front row of bleachers, he also buried jumpers when the defense sagged.

“He’s very steady and he knows how to make his teammates better,” NJ Hoops publisher Jay Gomes said. “It’s funny because earlier in his career he was more of a ball-handler than a shooter, but he’s become a very good shooter.”

Nice.

Dealing with the present, Darnell Dodson is indeed qualified this year and is already taking summer classes at Pitt. ‘

Another incoming player this season, Bradley Wanamaker, did not qualify for the US Men’s Under-19 team.

I suppose, part of why I’m still a bit more focused on basketball is that the I’ve been putting a way too early FanHouse BlogPoll  together and posting the teams this week. Pitt came in at #18, and I had to give objectivity a shot in discussing them today.

As lame as Pitt’s home schedule is this fall, the road schedule receives recognition as being a challenge. Really, it’s on the strength — or brutality — of playing the expected best three teams on the road. Plus playing two other BCS conference schools in Michigan St. and Virginia on the road.

Rivals.com listed Pitt’s schedule as the 23d toughest in the country, and the 2d toughest in the Big East. That’s with Grambling and Eastern Michigan on the schedule. It’s either a bit of a reflection of the perception of the top three teams in the Big East now, or just how bad other schools schedule that Pitt’s sched. would make the top 25 in schedule difficulty.
Ideally, 2-3 on the road this season would be amazing progress. 1-4 would be tolerable.

It’s just lists and quick hitter stuff. Rivals.com revises its top-25, post NBA Draft withdrawal deadline. Pitt fell two spots from #21 to #23.

Even with the losses of frontcourt starters Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall, the Panthers still should fashion a winner. One reason to believe is Jamie Dixon, who has coached Pitt to four consecutive 20-win seasons. He’ll lean on guards Mike Cook (10.5 ppg), Levance Fields (9.2 ppg, 4.6 apg) and Ronald Ramon (8.8 ppg) early and hope five-star freshman power forward DeJuan Blair develops quickly.

Pitt was the lowest ranked of 6 Big East schools listed. Louisville #5, Georgetown #10, Marquette #15, Syracuse #19, UConn #21.

Jay Bilas at ESPN.com does good news/bad news capsules for the Big East teams:

Good news: Pittsburgh is always good because the Panthers have a program, not just individual teams. Losing good players will not affect the way that Pitt plays and the way that Pitt wins. Coach Jamie Dixon brought in a top-10 recruiting class, including hotshot DeJuan Blair, and Pitt will be in the NCAA Tournament again.

Bad news: Losing center Aaron Gray will be big, but a team can break through after losing its big anchor in the middle. In 1984, Virginia went to the Final Four the year after Ralph Sampson graduated.

I’m just completely confused. There isn’t even a hint of being able to play the “disrespected” card or write about Pitt being underestimated. This just messes with my head.

According to Rivals.com, the Big East as a whole, scored best in basketball recruiting for the class of 2007. In their top-30 signing classes, the Big East had 7 schools ranked. Arguably, the PAC-10 with its 5 teams (USC, Ariz., UCLA, ASU, UW) from a 10 team conference was at least as impressive. Especially since all 5 schools were ranked in the top-20.

Still, they decided to declare it was the Big East that came out ahead.

1. Syracuse (4)
2. Villanova (12)
3. Cincinnati (15)
4. DePaul (16)
5. Georgetown (23)
6. Pittsburgh (26)
7. St. John’s (30)
8. Seton Hall
9. Rutgers
10. Marquette
11. Louisville
12. Providence
13. South Florida
14. West Virginia
15. Notre Dame
16. UConn

In the conference breakdowns, the Big 11 also placed 5 teams (OSU, Purdue, Indiana MSU, Illinois); the SEC (Fla, UK, Ala, LSU) and Big 12 (K-State, Tex, OU, OSU) had 4 teams each, the ACC (Duke, NC St., VT) had 3 teams. Memphis and Gonzaga also made the list.

They didn’t have much to say about Pitt’s class other then DeJuan Blair is expected to be the man inside.

Well, Rivals has it’s initial basketball Rivals 150 list for the 2008 recruiting class. Keep in mind, that these rankings will change (see also, Blair, DeJuan). The power forwards and centers dominate the list as this seems to be a strong class for that. Present verbals Nasir Robinson and Travon Woodall are at #86 and #121 respectively. Robinson is considered the 15th best small forward in the country. Woodall is the 21st best point guard according to their rankings.

Considering Pitt’s needs were not pressing at the power forward and center position for this recruiting class, it’s not surprising that, they won’t be highly ranked right now.

One of Pitt’s main targets for the 3d scholarship, Eloy Vargas, is a power forward and ranked 46th. PF Samardo Samuels (St. Benedicts where Dan Hurley coaches), who Pitt may still have a shot at (despite competition from UConn, Florida, Louisville and UNC) is the #6 prospect overall.

This article from Gary Parrish at CBS Sportsline was somewhat amusing about the fans and message boarders obsession about the next great recruiting class and players.

Fans are similar to the rest of us, really.

They enjoy talking about the future more than the present.

Just like we enjoy talking about the future more than the present.

The only difference is fans spend their time talking about recruiting and the next wave of prospects, and we spend our time talking about our next car, our next house, our next job, our next anything. Either way, it’s the same principle at work, lesson being it’s better to dream than live, better to imagine than enjoy.

…

“Recruiting gives fans an opportunity to brag and say ‘Look what our program is able to do,'” said Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel. “Fans are able to brag and get on message boards and pick on other fans. It’s very, very odd. It really is. But I’d rather have a top 10 team than a top 10 recruiting class.”

Yeah. I’ll give him that about looking to the future. He loses major points, though, for falling back on what has become the latest sportswriter convention: quoting from message boards as anecdotal evidence to make his point. That point, when it comes to using fan message boards is to “prove” fan expectations/beliefs/views or simply the fans are insane. It’s there, someone posted it, the point is made by their own words.

Such a lazy act. When a sportswriter does it, it’s like he’s announcing that he’s either mailing it in or just needs to fill out column space.

ESPN.com has a list of the top-10 most underrated basketball programs. Pitt makes the list at #7.

Maybe several of these programs are more “underappreciated” than underrated, but all 10 stay true to one central theme: Regardless of size, budget, league or absolute performance, all of them have delivered on the court in a fashion that surpasses the general perception of the programs.

…

Jay Bilas’ description of the Panthers is fairly apt — they are one of college hoops’ equivalents to the “best golfer never to win a major.” Under Ben Howland and now Jamie Dixon, though, this program has had a lot of recent success in a very tough and deep conference. This season marked Pitt’s sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, during which the Panthers made the Sweet 16 four different times (2002-04, 2007). The Panthers also claimed at least a piece of three Big East titles from 2002-04 and won the Big East Tournament title in 2004.

The individual ballots are here.

It’s fair to say that, despite the large number of wins, tournament appearances and runs in the Big East Tournament, Pitt is still not going to be a name at the top of most people’s list when it comes to top programs in the country. That’s fine for now.

You don’t change that general perception in one year or even just one decade. Especially when you consider the number of years (decades?) Pitt basketball has been a virtual non-entity. Even when Pitt eventually breaks through to the Elite Eight and Final Four, that still doesn’t make change the perception. It takes sustained success, achievement — and more people burned in their brackets for believing Pitt will go deep, not be the early upset victim.

As expected Pitt took a tumble in the power rankings that come along. Pitt fell to the 3 seed line on ESPN.com.

Sort of Kansas Lite in the sense that Pitt looks good for awhile and then does something inexplicable, like getting smoked at home by Louisville. I expected more consistent scoring punch from Mike Cook. They need someone to help Aaron Gray.

Range of the votes from 6 to 14.

Luke Winn at SI.com drops Pitt to #14 from 8. I wouldn’t mind so much if it weren’t for the fact that he still keeps Marquette ahead of Pitt — despite what would appear from his comments to be greater concern and questions about the Golden Eagles.

Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News tries to make sense of a week of upsets and closer than expected calls for a slew of teams this week.

Is it possible it’s something like that for the guys who play the game? In the past week, we saw Pittsburgh, Texas A&M and North Carolina — three of this season’s elite teams — lose at home. And though they lost to capable opponents, they did not lose to elite opponents. Florida fell in a deep hole against an Alabama team that previously treated the road as if it were radioactive. Ohio State nearly blew a 21-point halftime lead at lowly Penn State.

It seems there is a tendency at this time of the year for the best teams to lose focus, because they know how long the year has been and because they know what’s up ahead. Texas Tech at home on a Tuesday night in February does not seem to be as big a deal as the Big 12 tournament and the NCAAs. But on that Tuesday in February, it’s bigger.

It’s comforting, but probably a little too easy.

They seemed to be a bit late this week. Luke Winn at SI.com has Pitt at #8 behind Marquette, but seems almost prescient:

Smart scheduling by the Big East for putting the Panthers’ visit to Marquette on the regular season’s final Saturday, in the hopes that the league title will be on the line in a nationally televised game. But there are also decent odds that Pitt could finish first in the Big East, with Marquette second, even if the Eagles sweep the teams’ regular-season series. The Panthers only have one league loss (to Marquette at home on Jan. 21) and a much easier schedule leading up to March 3. Aside from a trip to Georgetown, every other game — home dates with Providence, Louisville and West Virginia, plus a trip to Seton Hall — is an expected W. The Eagles, on the other hand, have two Big East losses and visits to Georgetown, DePaul and Notre Dame remaining.

Of course, Pitt has to still get those Ws.

ESPN.com has Pitt up to #7 and a semi-mea culpa/backhander.

This space has been a bit rough on the Panthers, who are a quality outfit in a slightly lesser league this season. Any win in Morgantown is good, but in the Backyard Brawl, it’s even better.

For the record in this power 16, there are 3 Big East teams, 3 PAC-10s,  2 from the ACC, Big 11, SEC and Big 12. The individual votes all have Pitt between 6 and 9.

Finally this article on Senior prospects for the NBA says this about Gray (insider subs).

Gray shocked scouts last year with his emergence from the shadow of Chris Taft’s ruined sophomore season. And he was the anti-Taft in so many ways. While he didn’t have Taft’s physical gifts, he played hard, was consistent and produced for Pittsburgh when they needed him.

Gray declared for the 2006 draft but didn’t get a first-round guarantee, so he returned for his senior year at Pittsburgh.

Gray is a 7-footer with the girth to handle the middle full-time. He’s a good rebounder, especially on the offensive boards.

The knock on Gray is that he’s not athletic, and with the NBA moving toward an up-tempo style, Gray’s type of game is less valued than it’s been in the past.

Still, for a second straight season, Gray continues to prove he’s a legit NBA center prospect, despite scouts’ misgivings.

Right now, he’s moved from the first-round bubble into the first round.

[Emphasis added.]

I think that will hurt Gray in the draft more than anything else. The change in style of play. He’ll be a solid player, and should have a decent career. His offense, though, won’t be enough to put him among the better centers.

Let’s see, Pitt comes in at #8 on ESPN.com. In the voting this week for ESPN.com Pitt ranged from #3 (Fran Fraschilla) to #16 (Doug Gottlieb). Mostly Pitt was in the 6-9 range.
Luke Winn for SI.com moved Pitt to #9 and focused on the Gray puff piece from the Allentown paper. Seth Davis has Pitt as a #2 seed for the NCAA.

Jay Bilas writes about various teams that could get to the Final Four beyond Wisconsin, UCLA, UNC and Florida. He leads with Pitt (Insider subs.)

Why? You have heard the Panthers talked about in this rarefied air before, but Pitt has always seemed to sputter earlier in the NCAA Tournament than we expected. This Pitt team is different. No Pitt team in the past six years has scored with the ease of this team, and no Pitt team has had the quality depth on the perimeter. This Pitt team guards well like most Pitt teams have, but Pitt ’07 is one of the most efficient offensive teams in the nation — and a very good 3-point shooting team with multiple threats. The ball is not dominated by any one guard, and the Panthers are an outstanding passing team whose big men pass it almost as well as their guards. Most good shooting teams are good passing teams, and this team’s shooting opportunities are set up by very good passing and unselfishness.Why Not? Pitt does not shoot free throws well at all as a team, and down the stretch in tough games, the free-throw issues could make the difference.

Most Indispensable Player: Aaron Gray. The big man is a walking double-double who plays angles well and is an outstanding post passer who commands double-teams and opens things up on the perimeter.

Other teams he lists are Kansas, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas A&M and Marquette (“Why Not? The Golden Eagles are not consistent shooters, and in a tournament setting, the percentages suggest that will catch up with them. This is an outstanding offensive rebounding team, but in a one-game scenario, Marquette is held hostage by how it shoots the ball more than any other team on this list.”). Air Force and Notre Dame (???) are listed as “dark horses.”