Recently in CBS Sports BlogPoll Category

CBS Sports Blog Poll, Week of 3/09/09

By
Max Univers
on March 9, 2009 12:08 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Starting last week, the BlogPoll is now prominently featured on the same page as the AP and Coaches Polls on CBSSports.com -- giving the same amount of space and billing to the BlogPoll as they do to the "mainstream" polls. So that's cool.

In this week's poll summary and recap, an ominous note appears near the bottom of author Brian Cook's breakdown:

Is it possible to jinx a jinx? Last week in this space I touted the dire power of the CK Award and boldy warned of a bad week on the court for I Bleed Blue and White -affiliated Villanova, only for the Wildcats to curb-stomp Notre Dame in South Bend and coast to a double-digit victory over Providence. Maybe by presuming to be so confident in the CKA's cursing abilities, the curse cursed me by cursing the "runner-up" team in last week's poll, Inside Creighton Hoops's Bluejays, instead?

Gulp. Sorry about that, guys.

Big change this week: Creighton drops out, Northern Iowa is in. I made a deal with my brother last week that if UNI won the MVC Tournament, I'd take Creighton out and put UNI in. I'm likely the only voter with UNI in my poll. I'm also likely the only voter with a free case of Bud Light in my fridge after his brother felt bad for having done this to me. Before you ask, this is not untoward, shady or illegal -- this is two brothers who went to two schools in the same conference talking smack. His team won, and my punishment is getting pummeled by you, my humble readers, for putting UNI in my poll.

Blast away. I can take it.

In other poll news, Louisville is my new number one because they didn't lose last week, and I had them at number two previously. Seems logical enough. The rest of the poll is pretty self-explanatory, so explain it to yourself after the jump. You bet.
Continue reading CBS Sports Blog Poll, Week of 3/09/09.

CBS Sports Blog Poll, Week of 3/02/09

By
Max Univers
on March 2, 2009 12:15 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
For years I've looked on with bemused wonderment at the goofy nature of polls and ballots in college basketball. How can people be so stupid, I wondered. No way team XYZ is that good, I said. It'll be a cold day in Omaha before, oh wait, it is cold and I am in Omaha. Never mind. What I'm getting at is voting in these things is harder than I figured. For instance, in the four weeks of the poll I've had three different number one teams because they keep losing. Same deal with most of the Top Ten. There's a lot of things I hate about my poll.

For example, I hate that Michigan State is so high, because from what I've seen of the Big Ten the conference is riding the rep of their non-conference -- when in reality the conference is just not that good. News flash, guys: just because you play games in the 50s doesn't mean you're playing great defense. Sure, it might, but I've seen plenty of games around the country with great defense and scores in the 70s. Sometimes when you score 55 points, it means your offense sucks. Period. But back to Michigan State, specifically: they keep winning, so they keep moving up. This is how polls work; once you're in, if you keep winning, you move up as everyone else loses.

Additionally, I don't really believe there's any way UCONN is number one. I just don't see it. But Pittsburgh lost, Oklahoma needs to show that Blake Griffin has no ill effects after his concussion, Louisville isn't that impressive either, Memphis is tough to gauge because of the relative weakness of C-USA, et-cetera et-cetera. So UCONN it is.

And that's just the Top Ten! The middle of the poll was really difficult this week. Gonzaga is tenth, but again, I don't know that they're the tenth best team -- they just had a good week while everyone in front of them lost. Same deal with LSU. They're steamrolling through the SEC, but the SEC is the worst of the so-called Big Six conferences, so is that really as impressive as people believe it to be? Yet they keep winning, so they keep rising.

Missouri is a fraud, as Kansas showed, so they drop. Marquette is playing like the bottom of a taxi cab, so they drop. Arizona State had two losses in a row so they drop big time.

And then there's the last five in. I took some heat from you guys last week for leaving Creighton out of the poll just as they were receiving votes from the "mainstream" guys. On the one hand, I didn't want to come across as a homer by being the only one voting for the Jays. On the other hand, I didn't want a target on their back as they entered the final week. Both hands said to leave them out, so I left them out.

This week? Screw it. They're #23, because dammit, they're 25-6 and co-champions of a top ten conference. If that isn't a Top 25 team, come to Omaha, prove it to me and I'll buy you a beer at the bar of my choice, which will always be the Homy Inn because the beer is cheap there. And yes, they're ahead of Dayton because the Jays beat Dayton earlier this year. I actually dropped Dayton down one spot further than I had intended to because of that fact. Sorry, Flyers.

As always, my full poll is after the jump, and the actual BlogPoll will be live on CBS Sports.com this afternoon.
Continue reading CBS Sports Blog Poll, Week of 3/02/09.

CBS Sports Blog Poll, Week of 2/23/09

By
Max Univers
on February 23, 2009 12:19 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
It made me very sad to turn in my ballot on Monday morning to the folks at CBS, because this wasn't a good week for Mid-Majors. All of them in my poll dropped save for Siena. Utah State fell out entirely. Of course, that meant I had to place such marginal teams as Texas and Washington at the bottom of my Top 25, something I really hated to do because I just don't think either team is worthy...but at the same time, if I put teams like Utah, Utah State or Creighton into my vote, I'd get my ass kicked.

Someone did vote for the Jays in their poll, believe it or not, but it wasn't me. In fact, I got called out in the weekly "Transparency" article for not being biased ENOUGH. Call me the anti-ESPN, I guess. Of course, my rankings also have the fourth-highest deviation from the actual poll, which just confirms what you already knew about me -- that I march to my own beat.

That said, my promise on the Bluejay Cafe of putting Robert Morris into my poll just because some D-Bag keeps voting for them in the AP Poll didn't come true. In the end, my quest for honest voting outruled my significant temptation for humor. Besides, it would have been one week too late, as the D-Bag stopped voting for Bob Morris this week anyway. Alas.

Complete Top 25 after the jump, including a new number one -- proving that at least in some things, I agree with the crowd. The rest of my top ten shoots that theory to tiny shards of truthiness.
Continue reading CBS Sports Blog Poll, Week of 2/23/09.

CBS Sports Blog Poll, Week of 2/16/09

By
Max Univers
on February 16, 2009 5:11 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
I've often looked at the Top 25 polls and thought any lab rat could come up with a better poll. I mean, if my poll from last week was less of a mess than either the AP or the Coaches poll, clearly that's the case! I know, I know. Small sample size. Dr. Fong, or as I affectionately referred to him in Statistics class my sophomore year at CU, "Fong Dogg", would sternly lecture me about the imminent danger of small sample sizes.

Well, Fong Dogg, look at my Top 4 from a week ago, and I look like some kind of one-week wonder. I'm the Spandau Ballet of poll voters. A ha ha, ha ha ha...I know this...much is...TRUE!
Continue reading CBS Sports Blog Poll, Week of 2/16/09.

CBS Sports Blog Poll, Week of 2/9/09

By
Max Univers
on February 9, 2009 12:09 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Polls in college basketball, unlike those in football, don't amount to a hill of beans at the end of day -- the champion is crowned on the court at the apex of a tournament where a majority of the best teams battle it out over three weeks. And its never really been apparent that the selection committee uses the AP and/or Coaches Poll to determine seeding.

As near as I can tell, polls in basketball are merely a popularity poll to help fans develop a pecking order for the 314 teams in Division 1. With that many teams, polls are theoretically a handy tool to determine where teams "slot in" -- how good is Team A as opposed to Team B? Well, Team A is rated #8 and Team B is rated #15, so Team A is probably better.

There's a lot of flaws to that general line of thought, although for a large segment of the population the AP and Coaches Polls are still the bible of how good a team is prior to March. Of course, there's a lot of problems with the voting methods, and the voters, in those two mainstream polls. I've always believed the media tends to vote for the brand name teams over more qualified teams with generic names, and that the coaches tend to vote for teams with which they're familiar. Both polls invariably wind up being similar week-to-week.

Why is that? Media and coaches alike watch a lot of ESPN and CBS, the entities with the most skin in the game, and the coverage on those two entities skews towards the teams that will garner them the best ratings. You can't blame them; that's Business 101 stuff. Of course Duke/North Carolina is going to get better ratings than Indiana State/Illinois State. I'd rather watch the latter, but I'm in the minority.

That "human" element was supposed to be eliminated with the RPI, or Ratings Percentage Index, but the cold calculations of the computer programming used to create it have been derisively ripped by the old guard who vote in the AP and Coaches Polls. The RPI essentially died the night Billy Packer and Jim Nantz mocked the Missouri Valley for earning four bids to the NCAA Tournament on CBS's Selection Sunday show, dealing a blow to those of us who prefer cold hard numbers to old men with big conference bias.

So it is that this week CBS, of all places, has launched a BlogPoll with bloggers instead of mainstream media writers voting on their Top 25 each week. 47 of the top college hoops blog writers in the nation have been given votes, and yours truly is one of them. I'm the only one with overt ties to the Missouri Valley -- one other voter identifies himself as a Creighton fan but his blog is more of a general interest basketball site than one that focuses on a single team.

Each week, the poll will launch on Monday alongside the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches Polls. Each week, I'm required to publish my poll here so that the voting process is as transparent as possible. I'm also required to open up the post for comments so that my readers can offer feedback on my votes.

After the jump, my complete poll for the week of February 9-15, 2009, along with my justification for selected teams:
Continue reading CBS Sports Blog Poll, Week of 2/9/09.
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About the Author

Max Univers (not his real name) is a graphic designer and author of two books, neither of which you’ve probably heard of. A 2001 graduate of Creighton University’s Journalism program, Max takes time out of his busy nightlife to share his thoughts on Jays hoops here during the season.

Why Univers? Its his favorite font, plus it just sounds really cool as a surname.

Why Polyfro? Years and years ago, Max had a giant afro wig that he wore as part of a Halloween costume. Not wishing to retire its giant fro awesomeness after the holiday, he began wearing the wig out in public as part of his everyday ensemble. One night at a dance club, the DJ called out the moniker over the soundsystem. Max thought it sounded cool, and purchased the URL shortly thereafter.

More questions? Send me an email: max-at-polyfro-dot-com. I like jokes, story tips, and generally all correspondence involving Bluejay athletics. Emails that point out how stupid I am and/or where I should go after I die are not encouraged.

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