[Sly Fox]

For the record, the Cory Curtis mentioned int he story was my weekend guy here in Houston when I was sports director a few years back. To see two guys I know in this article had me rolling ...

Rushing the polls: Down to five doubters


Gonzaga's Maui Invitational victory impressed most of the country, except for the AP voter in Lynchburg, Virginia. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)

Whether you love them, hate them, or flat out ignore them, polls in college basketball are a part of life and go a long way in dictating where teams shake out when March rolls around. The Associated Press poll is thought of as the gold standard when it comes to polls because it is these guys' job to sit and watch college basketball to be educated journalists. The beauty of the Internet is that, at the click of a mouse, we can access how each and every AP voter ranked the teams.

Here's where my buddy comes in ...

For the past few weeks, I have been discussing the poll of one Mr. Cory Curtis from Nashville. I'm now happy to report that this will not be necessary as he has added Gonzaga and finally dropped Vanderbilt from his poll. Welcome to the good side, Cory.

And Chris, buckle yourself in because these guys are coming after you ...

Even though Cory Curtis is out of the doghouse, I have to stay out East with the poll I question the most. Of the five voters that left Gonzaga out of the top 25, Chris Lang from Lynchburg, Virginia had the most interesting poll in my estimation. Lang covers Liberty University for the Lynchburg News & Advance. Unlike Jon Wilner's poll, Mr. Lang is not a real progressive voter as most of his rankings are pretty standard with the rest of the nation. The only area of real interest has to be that he decided to put Washington at #14. This is the same Washington that has lost two games...the only two games which they have left the state of Washington for. What makes this ranking even more interesting is that he has UW four spots ahead of Texas Tech...the team that beat Washington and has still yet to lose a game.

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Come on, Chris. Give it back top them.

[LUconn]

wow, this guy is taking this way too personally. In your next poll, you should try to rank every team in Washington except the zags. And what do they care what see they get anyway? They'll just choke in the sweet 16 or before like they do every year.

[PAmedic]

I stopped reading when the guy wrote "out East"

dooooosh

(to be fair, I figure anything west of State College might as well be part of Asia)

[Chris Lang]

It is what it is, to borrow a cliche. Not everyone is going to be happy with a vote. It's body of work. Washington's only losses are at undefeated Texas Tech thanks to a wild finish in overtime, and against a very good Georgetown team on a neutral floor.

Gonzaga's lost to Michigan State (top 15 team) and to unranked Wake Forest. Zag fans are placing a lot of emphasis on winning Maui, three wins against unranked teams -- Colorado, Wisconsin and Cincinnati. There isn't another impressive win on the schedule, other than maybe Washington State at home.

The Zags are actually right on the cusp of being one of my Top 25 teams. If they beat Duke on a neutral floor, they're probably in. But I'm not ranking them just because they're Gonzaga. They've got to earn it. I don't have Georgia Tech in there for the same reason. I want to see them actually beat somebody. That team lost 20 games last year. I respect the recruiting class, but I want to see a good win before I really believe. Florida State on Sunday is an opportunity for that win.

As for Texas Tech, they've beaten -- nor played -- no one outside of UW. Should Temple be in the Top 10 just because it beat Villanova? That's not the way these rankings work. Should Seton Hall be in the top 10 because it's undefeated? No. Virginia Tech is 8-1, but the Hokies aren't a Top 25 team.

[SumItUp]

You are using too much good logic Chris. Just admit ECB and start a cyberwar.

[Chris Lang]

Duke 76, Gonzaga 41.

[olldflame]

Duke 76, Gonzaga 41.

About the same as Radturd did against them. The sea chickens actually fared better.

[ToTheLeft]

Let's not talk about this game anymore.

[SuperJon]

I would've loved to see Duke actually go out to Washington and play someone on the road or at least on their own coast.

[adam42381]

I would've loved to see Duke actually go out to Washington and play someone on the road or at least on their own coast.

Madison Square Garden is Dook's second home now. It's not really a neutral court when you play there all the time. This was their 27th game there under Krzyzewski.

[ToTheLeft]

And with Matt Bouldin coming off of a concussion, the Zags were doomed. Oh well.

[jinxy]

I generally root for Gonzaga but man that guy had to eat some words after that pasting by Duke. Duke seems a lot more physical this year with the Plumlee brothers playing a really well in the post. I do find it funny that the guy is all worked up over a top 25 ranking in mid-December. I mean seriously, I guess he knows the zags wont make up much ground with their conference schedule. Reminds me of a couple years ago when UVA just lit Gonzaga up by like 35 in the first year of JPJ. Singletary and Reynolds were lights out that game.