Poll Dancing: The coaches poll's strange infatuation with UCLA

Yahoo blogger says the Coaches love UCLA too much and rank us on name recognition.

9 months ago freesia39 6 comments 0 recs |

Comments

Yeah - it's just name recognition.

That’s why CCNY is always at the top of the polls.

The blog was not Pulitzer Prize stuff, in my opinion, but the really remarkable part was the moronic commentry. The posts on that blog were remarkably insipid. They remind me again why I am so glad to be a citizen of the BN. You can discuss things with intelligent people here, and there is always the fine sport when the ignorant trOJie stops in and gets torn to bits.

by Fox 71 on Feb 11, 2009 5:10 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

It is a big blog world out there, Fox

If you think that the commentary provided by most of the sports broadcasting fraternity is insipid, just wait until you look through the comment sections of a few more blogs and websites – ESPN.com being in a particularly sad state. It makes one actually want to listen to Digger Phelps or Dickie V, if given only those options.

by bruinhoo on Feb 11, 2009 11:34 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I guess I'm spoiled

I sometimes wonder if I’m the same species as junior high students. I know we were born on different planets. I know that somehow these kids grew up learning English as a second language. (E.g., “is like” is not a synonym for “said,” as in “So I’m like, what? And he’s like, no way, and I’m like ….” and on and on. Similarly, the verb “to go” is not the same as “to say,” as in "So he goes, like what, and I go, no way, and he goes ….)

When I become the benevolent dictator, I will still allow the patois of the gutter to be spoken, but (a) not in my presence, (b) not on the broadcast airways which in my beneficence I will allow others to use, and © certainly not in any blogs.

Fortunately, we don’t see much of that here. The Bruin education tends to weed those people out, and those who peek in here generally realize that they don’t belong in with the grown-ups. Of course, the occasional trOJie gets in, and we all have a field day taking pot shots, and then a great laugh afterwards.

by Fox 71 on Feb 12, 2009 3:46 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

His quote

probably sums up what most people think. “Since coaches who vote in the poll likely don’t watch too much of the Bruins (weekday games are on late and not telecast on ESPN), they see the gaudy record, know that Ben Howland’s team has had recent success and figure that the team deserves a high ranking.” But I think a lot of our high votes probably come from coaches who actually have seen our team play pretty regularly. If you just take a look at who some of the coaches voting are it might explain things a little better.

Mike Adras, Northern Arizona: The coach who inherited the program from Ben Howland so I think he would know a thing or two about how good a CBH coached team really is

Tommy Amaker, Harvard: We played against Michigan when he was still their coach a few years 2 or 3 times so he knows how tough it is to face UCLA.

Randy Bennett, Saint Mary’s and Steve Fisher, San Diego State: The two teams that played before us at the Wooden Classic this season so both coaches had a first hand view of how good this team can be when we dismantled DePaul.

Bob McKillop, Davidson: Although we haven’t played them this year I am sure he is still thinking about what might have happened had they not blown that big lead last year.

Bob Williams, UC-Santa Barbara: This is more speculative but former UCLA player Brad Holland is on the staff over their at UCSB and I’m sure being in such proximity to our school that we are always on their radar.

And last but not least, can you believe they give a vote to…
Tim Floyd, USC: How can you not vote UCLA high when they dominate you at home every single season.

by turs12 on Feb 12, 2009 12:07 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

east coast/west coast feud

Just perusing the polls this season, it seems the coaches poll tends to rank Pac-10 teams a bit higher. Please note that this is purely non-scientific research.

by brand0n on Feb 12, 2009 12:15 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

The coaches poll is correct on

how good our team is right now. I think we are probably around the 6th best team in the country based on how we are currently playing. But, I will say the AP is probably write as far as where we deserve to be ranked based on what we’ve done this year. .

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Feb 12, 2009 3:29 PM PST reply actions 0 recs