BlogPoll Ballot: Week Five

Here it is: the final regular season edition of my BlogPoll.

As always, comments and criticisms are welcomed and encouraged. Bring 'em on.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Pittsburgh	3
2	North Carolina
3	Connecticut	2
4	Memphis	1
5	Louisville
6	Duke
7	Gonzaga	5
8	Michigan St.	3
9	UCLA	1
10	Washington	7
11	Kansas	4
12	Oklahoma	2
13	Villanova	2
14	Missouri	5
15	Wake Forest	1
16	Brigham Young	5
17	Arizona St.	1
18	West Virginia	5
19	Syracuse	6
20	Purdue	2
21	Clemson	1
22	Illinois
23	Marquette	4
24	Utah	1
25	Texas
Last week's ballot

1-5 (Pitt, UNC, UCONN, Memphis, L'Ville)

Pitt's the obvious choice for #1 after their second win over then-#1 Connecticut. Before Saturday, I always considered them a slight hair behind the Tar Heels and Huskies, but now I'm not so sure. I still think certain teams could give them fits, but they have the potential to win the whole shebang. North Carolina, the Maryland blip aside, continues to dominate since their early-January slump. Connecticut is still firmly ahead of the next teams on the list, so they stay here despite the two losses to the Panthers. Still, I think it's quite obvious they aren't the same team without Dyson.  Memphis is an interesting discussion. They still play in a terrible league, but they continue to demolish those teams. I'm higher on them than most, and do NOT want to see any part of them in March. They're dangerous as hell, as far as I'm concerned. As are the Louisville Cardinals. They aren't consistent enough offensively to win a National Championship, IMO, but their defense is scary good. And when Terrence Williams is hot, good luck. 

6-10 (Duke, Gonzaga, Mich. State, UCLA, Washington)

Duke continues to be a numbers darling, and I have a hard time penalizing a team too much for losing in Chapel Hill. Gonzaga looked dominant against Santa Clara late Sunday night. They have the talent to get to Detroit, although they also have the look of an early-Tournament upset, to me. Just too much potential, too little consistency. Damn are they deep, though. Michigan State soars up my ballot, so-to-speak, this week after getting a chance to see them play. They are better than I give them credit for...much better. UCLA over Washington probably doesn't make much sense; after all, the Huskies just won the Pac 10 outright over the Bruins. But, UCLA is a better team, both from what I've seen and from what the numbers say, so they get the nod. It hurts, too, because I hate the Bruins. Whatever, though.

11-15 (KU, Oklahoma, Villanova, MU, Wake Forest)

Kansas had one major blip this week down in Lubbock, but it looks to be just that: a blip. Not a major concern. Oklahoma-Missouri was a tough one, for me. Missouri just beat Boomer Sooner this past week, but it was in the Paige, and Oklahoma finished higher than the Tigers in the non-con. I ended up going Sooners in this one, because of the better overall resume and higher finish in conference play, and even split the two up with Villanova in between. I'm beginning to fall hard for Villanova, in case you were interested. Have the potential to go really, really far in the NCAAs. And, finally, Wake Forest. Them dropping a spot doesn't make much sense at all, but whatever, I had no idea what I ranked them at last week. I still don't think they're all that good, but have enough talent to make a run.

16-20 (BYU, Arizona State, West Virginia, Syracuse, Purdue)

This is where it begins to get really, really interesting. All of these teams are incredibly close, by almost all measures, and it almost comes down to a case of personal preference. I'd like to face BYU the least, so they get ranked first. And, in subsequent order, you can deduce the ranking of the teams. Arizona State's loss to Stanford hurt them a bunch, or they would likely be 15 instead of Wake. West Virginia is still a numbers darling, but they had a chance to pick up an awesome win over Louisville at home, and add some resume-clout along with those high KP and Sagarin numbers, and failed. Syracuse has fallen under the radar as of late, but they picked up a really solid W in Milwaukee on Saturday. Still have the talent and the star power to make things interesting in a couple of weeks. Same with Purdue, who would have defnitely been higher if not for their midweek collapse to Northwestern.

21-25 (Clemson, Illinois, Marquette, Utah, Texas)

I didn't really, initially, think any of these teams were "rank-worthy". But, they were the five best remaining, so they all get the nod. As down as I am on the Demon Deacons, I'm even farther down on Clemson. And I've always loved Oliver Purnell's bunch, too. It's just, again, they got off to a piping hot start and have really struggled as of late. I'm starting to think Purnell honestly believes the season ends in mid February. The Illini, somehow, are still way up there. I haven't seem them play much, so I've got nothing, but yeah. Marquette is not NEARLY the same team with Dominc James, and they were already way overrated. Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews are still good enough to get them to the second weekend, depending on matchups, but they are very beatable. I'm a MWC fan, if you can't tell. Utah is damn good, though. That's all I've got on them. And, finally, Texas. I'm actually high on Texas, currently, although much of that is based off of their superman-type performance against us in the first half on Saturday. I'm absolutely in love with Dexter Pittman, and Damion James is ridiculous as well. I have a feeling they'll be making some noise in March; maybe even upsetting a 1 seed if they are an 8 or 9. Who knows.

OK, there's all of my justification. Fire away.