This week’s Media Poll votes were done by yours truly, and not some half-imagined political figure, and they are fully based on the upcoming NCAA Tourney. Selection Sunday was last night, so now I rank the teams in my Top 20 according to their tournament selection, and little else. This will be my wackiest poll of the year.
NCAA Tourney Based Media Poll Votes
Top Tier – Seeded Teams
1) Yale – The Bulldogs put it together nicely to win a tough IVY AQ. I would have loved to see them play Brown in the finals, but that didn’t happen. I won’t penalize Yale for Brown losing though.
2) Maryland – Maryland has a better RPI, TSI, and QWF than Yale, so it’s fair for them to get the #1 seed in the tourney, but I still like Yale a little better on paper, and head to head. It’s nothing personal, just preference. Pretty cool that the women’s team at Maryland also got the #1 seed. I believe that’s the first time that men’s and women’s #1 seeds have come from the same school. Neat! MD has really come alive over the last month.
3) Denver – Pretty impressive to lose your AQ and still pull in a high seed. Well deserved to boot.
4) Brown – Losing in your conference semis means you needed to have a stellar overall season, and Brown sure did. This loss could be the best thing to happen to them, and only makes them more dangerous.
5) Syracuse – How does the ACC winner fall to fifth in my poll and EIGTH in the NCAA seeding? 5th I can see (since I voted that way) but 8th? Seems far too low.
6) Marquette – Don’t sleep on Marquette for even one second. That would be a mistake.
7) Loyola – Battle tested, and seemingly coming together at the right time. Hard to seed/place correctly.
8) Notre Dame – I dropped ND down a lot. They are seeded at #3, ABOVE their conference winner, but are also 1-2 in their last 3 games. Due to their recent struggles with UNC and Duke, I think 8 is a much more fair slot for ND. How good is Notre Dame RIGHT NOW? Honestly, I’m not sure. I still think they’re pretty darn good, but for the poll’s sake, they had to drop.
Second Tier – Non-Seeded Teams
9) Albany – If Albany wins their AQ, or if Denver or ND had won their AQ, Albany could have hosted a game and been seeded. Their loss to Hartford killed that chance, and gives them a game in the Dome with Cuse. Hopefully we get an epic game! Don’t forget, Syracuse (the ACC winner) is an EIGHT seed in the NCAA tourney.
10) Air Force – With a weaker SOS, AFA is hard to seed, but they were 15-2, with their two losses coming in their first two games to eventual NCAA tourney teams Navy and Denver (DU game went to OT). The committee has them as the #14 seed, which is far too low.
11) Towson – Another team with a great record, who won their conference AQ, who gets little to no love from the selection committee. They are the #15 seed in essence. Really? 15th? Ok.
12) Duke – With 7 losses, you can question how Duke is a Top 10 team, especially when two were to unranked teams, but they do have 3 top 10 wins. That means something.
13) UNC – Again, 3 top 10 wins seems to have pushed UNC into the dance. It kept them seeded pretty high, and washed away their two losses to unranked teams.
14) Hopkins – Hop played a TON of Top 20 games… 9 in total. Going 4-5 with a loss to unranked Virginia got them in. However, they were 1-2 against Top 10 teams, and Hopkins fans need be incredibly thankful for this bid, especially with all the upsets and “stolen” AQs.
15) Navy – Navy, like Hop, was 1-2 against Top 10 teams, but didn’t play nearly as hard of a schedule. They also have losses to two unranked teams on their resume. I still LOVE Navy, I’m just really surprised the NCAA tourney selection committee did as well.
16) Hartford – The Hawks were a ton of fun to watch in the America East tournament. I can see why the committee put them in a play-in game, but they could still surprise some people. Fun to watch, passionate, and they have a chip on their shoulder.
17) Quinnipiac – Quinnipiac has been building under Coach Fekete for YEARS now, and it is finally paying off. They played solid ball all year, are dancing, and deserve a spot in anyone’s top 20 poll vote right now.
18) Hobart – Hey there total shocker! Hobart has to the biggest surprise of this NCAA tourney. They lost to St. Joseph’s by EIGHT goals in the regular season. They lost to Bryant by THIRTEEN! Then, in the NEAC playoffs, they beat both of those teams to garner their AQ. Something is clicking at HWS.
Third Tier – Biggest Snubs
19) Rutgers – Beat Hop twice (regular season and playoffs), finished at 11-5, beat Penn State, and played Maryland pretty tight in two games. They could have overcome a weaker SOS, but their losses to Princeton and Ohio State (teams with losing records) did not help Rutgers’ case.
20) Villanova – Villanova’s biggest win was over… Penn State. They did not really deserve to make the NCAA tourney, good losses to Denver and Marquette aside. They are still my 20th best team.
The “Others”
Harvard – An 8-8 record just won’t cut it for me. Great program, seemingly very much on the rise nationally.
Stony Brook – Not a lot of love for SBU this year overall. Two close losses to top 5 teams made me a believer, but losses to Marist and Vermont didn’t help their case.
Army – A solid season, but a win over Navy isn’t enough to get you in on its own. Too many Top 20 losses for West Point to dance.
Penn State – Their win over Denver was HUGE, and ONE MORE win over a Top 20 team could have made a big difference. Losses to Penn and UMass did not help.
