10-01-07 AVCA POLL

[shouts]

Only 4 Big Ten teams in the top 25. When was the last time that happened?

[Deleted]

lovedemspandex said:

I am of the opinion, Stanford is a clear 2, NU clear one, who are the 10 coaches that voted for Stanford??? PAC-10 coaches? j/k......I don't see how Stanford could have any 1st place votes ...

Because people feel the need to reward them for beating USC and UCLA, understandably so.

[johnbar]

lovedemspandex said:

... because i think at a neutral site, it would be one great GAME!!!!!! I wouldn't even think of predicting a winner

So, you think they are pretty evenly matched. They are both undefeated. So why shouldn't they split the first place votes?

[Keystonekid]

I understand that winning against top 10 teams is impressive, but Nebraska has as well so I see it more or less as a wash. If the #2 team has done something the #1 team hasn't, that is another matter. Stanford beat two teams they are much better than on their home court. Good wins for sure, but not herculean accomplishments. You will probably see the gap between votes shrink, but not flip-flop.

[ADIDAVB]

Split vote would be like saying we have 1A and 1B....IMO i think until the #1 team does something like lose or so a huge glaring weakness then how do the lose votes?? all year stanford has only been getting 4 or 5 votes, accept in the preseason poll, what has NU not done or stanford done to get those 5-6 votes, I'm just saying i don't see it, of course the voters have their own opinion, but i just haven't related actions to consequences in this situation. however i do think it will continue to happen as the Pac-10 is hands down by far the toughest conference and the Big 12 is well.....not at the PAC-10 leve, but then again who is:)?!?!

[OverAndUnder]

shouts said:

Only 4 Big Ten teams in the top 25. When was the last time that happened?

Same thing for the Big 12 with 3.

And KSU's next two matches are Nebraska (Oct. 3) and Texas (Oct. 6). They will almost certainly lose both, which won't hurt them too much. But with all the other Big 12 teams being unranked, two losses, especially if they occur in the same week, could easily drop them from the top 25.

If that were to happen -- has there EVER been a season when the Big 12 only had two teams ranked?

[Keystonekid]

Big 12 is down,no doubt.

[bigfan]

stanford78 said:

USC and UCLA are still too high. Washington deserves better, for now at least.

USC and UCLA are still too high.......but so is Washington.

[bigfan]

lovedemspandex said:

If UCLA and USC are too high, then it would make no sense for Stanford to have gained votes on Nebraska

Makes all the sense in the world.............the Pac-10 is a brutal conference......Nebraska is on cruise control until the 2nd week-end of the NCAA playoffs.

[Deleted]

keystonekid said:

Big 12 is down,no doubt.

Plus, you get penalized if you have a bunch of teams around the same level. When they knock each other off, they just trade would be votes and no one ever moves in to the top 25. If KSU loses to a couple of teams other than UT and NU, they could slide out, too.

[bigfan]

keystonekid said:

Could you provide us for the basis of your statement that USC and UCLA have been improving steadily? I am assuming that means they have improved week by week. What is the measuring stick?

Kicking the c--p out of great teams week in and week out in the Pac-10.....their are really no complete week-ends off..........the pre-eminent conf in the country......it makes all these teams so much tougher.....Nebraska may be the most talented team in the country.......but come play-off time they will not be the most mentally tough.

[Keystonekid]

yeah, sure Bigfan, put it on cruise control against Texas in Austin. Pac 10 is certainly better, having said that, Stanford does not have a team in their conference that is nearly as good as them either. I think Texas at Texas will be as tough as any road match Stanford will face this season. Stanford certainly has more matches against good opponents, but no stiffer test.

[Deleted]

Although USC-UCLA back-to-back in LA has to be comparable to playing Texas, if not tougher.

I also disagree about Nebraska having more talent. No program has more talent than Stanford. That's a copout. Stanford wins this year or they have not reached their potential. Simple as that.

[ersatzhusker]

bigfan said:

(snip) Nebraska is on cruise control until the 2nd week-end of the NCAA playoffs.

That statement as no basis in reality.

A team cannot be "on cruise control" and get by the likes of #7 Texas at Texas, #12 Hawaii, #17 Kansas State in the month of October.

[OverAndUnder]

bigfan said:

lovedemspandex said:

If UCLA and USC are too high, then it would make no sense for Stanford to have gained votes on Nebraska

Makes all the sense in the world.............the Pac-10 is a brutal conference......Nebraska is on cruise control until the 2nd week-end of the NCAA playoffs.

Circles and circles again.
Part of the ongoing problem is that some people view the #1 slot in the poll as predictive, i.e. you should vote for the team you think most likely to win the title this year, and others think the poll is descriptive, i.e. vote for the team you think is currently playing the best of all the teams, considering the matches that we have seen so far.

Unlike recent years, there's no doubt this year's Pac 10 conference is stronger than the other two major conferences. But even coming out of the PAC undefeated wouldn't give us enough information to say Stanford is better than Nebraska, because Nebraska simply doesn't have the opportunity to prove it. Many of the teams that make the sweet 16 get there by beating teams with better records. To draw from another sport, Euro soccer in general is much much better than CONCACAF and CONMEBOL (western hemisphere) soccer, but that doesn't tell us whether Brasil is better than France or Italy.

In my mind Nebraska is the clear #1 right now, no question.
If they lose to Texas, and Stanford goes undefeated, then Stanford would become the clear #1 (and Texas should also move back into #3 or #4 if they have no other losses).