WHAT IS THE CRITERIA?
by Kermit
Davis, Middle Tennessee and chairman of the Mid-Major Top
25 voting panel
December
3, 2008
It was quite an
interesting week in college basketball. There were a
number of eye-catching results and there was a lot of
movement in the Mid-Major Top 25.
The panel voted in six new teams, which the most in any
week in the four-plus years that I have cast a weekly
vote. Some teams went from few if any votes to being
ranked in just one week’s time. I think it says a lot for
the coaches on the panel. There is no gradual progression
either way. There were teams that were ranked just a
couple of weeks ago that did not receive a single vote
this week.
I do believe we will get a clearer picture in the coming
weeks. Movement at this time of the year is not all that
uncommon. Teams will create a little separation, as we
turn the corner to January. But there is no doubt will see
more eye-openers before then.
Now let’s get to the mailbag…
I was wondering what are the main priorities for a
team to make the Mid-Major Top 25? I noticed that teams at
2-2 and 1-2 are eligible to make the list. I would have to
think that means they lost to top teams.
Of course the team I broadcast for, UNCW I believe should
be on that list. We have hard fought victories against
Appalachian State (who went on to defeat Charlotte), and
Troy. We then lost to No. 20 Wake Forest (only down 69-60
with 15:00 to go). Then we lost to a team high on your
list Kent State (down 65-60 with 8:00 to go). So at 2-2 we
don't even get honorable mention points, yet other teams
have the same or worse records and yet are on the list.
So, what does it take to make the list so I know when I
reference the list during broadcasts? Thank you for your
help.
- Joe (Wilmington, NC)
Well Joe there is no specific criteria. Like most polls
it’s subjective. We try to gather as much information as
possible to determine the 25 best for that given week. As
you noted, UNC-Wilmington was within striking distance
early to midway through the second half against Wake and
Kent. But that happens with regularity.
Take Savannah State for example. They dominated Michigan,
leading by 20 for most of the game, but a late run
propelled Michigan to a win in overtime. As a result the
Tigers picked up 5 votes this past week. Had they won it’s
likely they would have been close to joining the Top 25.
But they barley lost and only received 5 votes.
The point is that in the end it does come down to wins and
losses. UNC-Wilmington played well, but Wake Forest did
win by 32 points. The win over Appalachian State was nice,
but their win over Charlotte is not as overly impressive
as it was at the time. Charlotte is currently 1-6.
We have to keep mind that unlike the AP or the ESPN/USA
Today polls, there will be a number of teams with less
than stellar records through November and December. Those
polls are dominated by undefeated teams and one and
two-loss teams. That simply is not the case with the
Mid-Major Top 25. While there are a handful at the top
with impressive records, 11-25 are ordinarily one bad week
away from being out of the rankings all together.
I have noticed a few teams with losing records are
still ranked in the Mid-Major Top 25? I seem to recall
this being the case numerous times last season. Are
coaches on the panel not aware that these teams have
losing records?
- Steve (Fairfax, VA)
Steve that’s a great question. One of the things that we
have demanded from the voters is that they NOT vote for
teams with losing records, but only as of January 1. As I
noted in my response to Joe’s question above, teams play
difficult schedules early in the season and so there will
be cases where teams are at or a game under the .500 mark.
Let’s take a look back to December 2007. There was a team
from the Southern Conference that continued to be ranked,
despite a losing record. I can tell you that
CollegeInsider.com received an a lot of emails wondering
why this team was ranked and the majority of the emails
claimed the voters had no clue as to what they were doing.
Well that team was Davidson, which due to injuries and a
tough early-season schedule, struggled out of the gate. I
remember one coach telling me, when Davidson was 3-5, that
he believed they were a top five mid-major team. In the
end he was correct, as was the panel that continued to
vote them in.
Gonzaga is ranked in the Top 10 in the national
polls so why is that they continue to qualify for the
Mid-Major Top 25. They are not even close to being a
mid-major so why not just remove them once and for all?
Nick (Spokane, WA)
This is the question that never seems to go away.
Nick, it’s all about conference affiliation. The West
Coast Conference is a mid-major league. Two of its’ member
coaches, Randy Bennett (St. Mary’s) and Kerry Keating
(Santa Clara) are current members of the voting panel.
While Gonzaga has elevated its program to a higher level,
the fact remains that they are affiliated with a mid-major
conference.
A few years Pacific climbed as high as No. 2 in the
Mid-Major Top 25. At that time head coach Bob Thomason,
who was a member of the voting panel at the time, also had
the Gonzaga-question posed to him. He responded by saying,
“I would rather being ranked No. 2 in a poll with Gonzaga
then No. 1 in a poll without them.”
How is that a team can been ranked pretty high one
week and then barely receive any votes at all the
following week? South Alabama was ranked in the preseason
poll, and was still ranked in the Top 25 after one week,
but now has only a handful of votes?
- David (Mobile, AL)
South Alabama is not the only team that falls into that
category. Cal State Northridge, Oral Roberts, Western
Michigan and Wright State all began the season among the
ranked. Two weeks ago Western Michigan did not receive a
single vote. This past week Northridge, ORU and Wright
State all failed to get a single vote as well.
As I noted above, a team like Western Kentucky can go from
no votes to ranked, but they can just as quickly receive
just a handful of votes the following week.
Another important fact is that WKU received 193 votes this
past week, which was good enough to get them ranked No. 20
this week. That’s 193 votes that had to come at another
team’s expense.
College of Charleston, which just barely missed being
ranked last week, picked up over 250 additional votes this
week (305) and checked in at No. 14.
Murray State, which beat Western Kentucky, racked up 231
votes, which moved them from unranked to No. 17.
Lamar had only a handful of votes last week, but this week
they managed 72, which ranked them No. 23.
One week ago the College of Charleston, Lamar, Murray
State and Western Kentucky combined for less than 100
total votes. This week that foursome totaled 801 votes.
Now those 801 votes had to come from somewhere, which
meant other teams would inevitably lose votes.
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