Final USA TODAY Coaches Poll

[triaddukefan]

Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll

1. LSU
2. Iowa
3. SCar
4. VPI


9. UCONN

18. Miami

20. Tenn
21. Chapel Hill

 

[bballnut90]

Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll

1. LSU
2. Iowa
3. SCar
4. VPI


9. UCONN

18. Miami

20. Tenn
21. Chapel Hill

These rankings make me chuckle. Miami beats Indiana on the road and Villanova in the Sweet 16 before losing to the eventual champion and gets ranked 18th, while Indiana is 7th and Villanova 12th.

 

[nwhoopfan]

These rankings make me chuckle. Miami beats Stanford on the road and Villanova in the Sweet 16 before losing to the eventual champion and gets ranked 18th, while Stanford is 10th and Villanova 12th.

They were unranked before the Tourney. How far up were they supposed to jump? Should the final poll only reflect what happened in the Tourney, or mostly the entire season with a few tweaks based on post season performance?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Also, Miami beat Indiana, not Stanford.

 

[bballnut90]

They were unranked before the Tourney. How far up were they supposed to jump? Should the final poll only reflect what happened in the Tourney, or mostly the entire season with a few tweaks based on post season performance?

It should take the last 3 weeks into account more than just a regular week of basketball. If you make the Elite 8 at a minimum you should be top 10-15. It’s all meaningless but I think them and Tennessee are quite undervalued on here.

 

[Rooster C.]

They were unranked before the Tourney. How far up were they supposed to jump? Should the final poll only reflect what happened in the Tourney, or mostly the entire season with a few tweaks based on post season performance?

They did the same thing with Louisville. There has always been a bias with the polls so I think it reflects that as well.

 

[undersized]

I know the winner will always be #1, but let's be honest, South Carolina remains the best team. It should probably go South Carolina, LSU, Iowa, Virginia Tech.

 

[GoChips20]

I know the winner will always be #1, but let's be honest, South Carolina remains the best team. It should probably go South Carolina, LSU, Iowa, Virginia Tech.

It doesn’t matter in the big picture but I agree with you and was thinking this myself. 36-1. But hey, all power to LSU and Iowa for making it to the end.

 

[Rooster C.]

I've come to the conclusion that polls are fairly meaningless except as a general guideline and may have some influence in terms of future recruiting. Some teams have a really bad loss and only drop a spot or two while others drop 8 or 10 spots. The same applies to post tournament rankings. A "perceived" very good team who loses to an unranked team in the tournament neither fully rewards the previously unranked team nor fully punishes the highly ranked team.

If an unranked team defeats a highly ranked team in the tournament it's considered a "fluke". If they win again, it's that they're "lucky" or had a "favorable matchup" or are simply "hot" temporarily. If they win again they've "overachieved". It's never stated that maybe they're actually a well-coached good team that simply took longer to jell as a team or had young players develop over the course of a season.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Why even have a Tournament if the winner isn't #1 in the final poll? I don't necessarily think the four teams in the Final 4 HAVE to be ranked 1-4 in any given year. Clearly there are times when a team crashes the Final 4 party that wasn't one of the best 4 teams in the country. Like I insinuated before, the final poll certainly should react to the Tourney results, but not throw out 3+ months worth of games and totally rerank everything based on 3 weeks.

 

[JDuro]

Would have been interesting to see who would be #2 if Iowa had won it, particularly if it was a sound defeat. But I believe #1 goes to the tourney champ. I need to pull up the men’s poll and see where they ranked San Diego St. and FAU.

 

[Kaizen]

I know the winner will always be #1, but let's be honest, South Carolina remains the best team. It should probably go South Carolina, LSU, Iowa, Virginia Tech.

Based on what South Carolina is the best team? The NC is LSU and LSU definitely should be #1.

Otherwise why we need a NC game?

 

[bballnut90]

Would have been interesting to see who would be #2 if Iowa had won it, particularly if it was a sound defeat. But I believe #1 goes to the tourney champ. I need to pull up the men’s poll and see where they ranked San Diego St. and FAU.

I think SC would've finished #2. Back in 2013 Notre Dame finished #2 (I think their record was 35-2) despite losing in the Final Four over Louisville (29-9) who lost in the title game.

 

[Rooster C.]

I disagree somewhat(not entirely). A regular season of 10 home games against inferior competition before conference play leaves you 10 - 0 (think Virginia), a conference schedule that is half home games and has at least 5 or 6 schools that aren't all that great and a 20 win season is not surprising.

How you play in the NCAA tournament SHOULD have greater emphasis. Imagine Notre Dame barely making the tournament but the opposite occurred and Olivia Miles missed most of the regular season but was healthy in time for the tournament and resulted in a deep run. Is that team worthy of a higher ranking because of how they play in the tournament rather than how they played before?

I also disagree that some teams "don't belong" in the final four and others should be ranked higher. You had to beat some good teams to get there - either on their home court or on a neutral court - so imo you belong there. It's not about winning "most" of your games - that's what determines if you make the tournament, your seeding, whether you host or not - all good reasons to win most of your games. It's about win or be eliminated when everything's on the line. If a team makes it to the Sweet 16, Elite 8 or whatever, then that's where they should be ranked at the end.

But that's not how polls work.

 

[SCGamecock]

I know the winner will always be #1, but let's be honest, South Carolina remains the best team. It should probably go South Carolina, LSU, Iowa, Virginia Tech.

Nah, they got it right. Let’s not invalidate LSU being the last man standing.

I really find it poor sportsmanship when we add asterisks to championships.

 

[undersized]

Nah, they got it right. Let’s not invalidate LSU being the last man standing.

I really find it poor sportsmanship when we add asterisks to championships.

I'm not adding an asterisk to LSU's championship. They won the tournament for sure. I'm just suggesting "best team" doesn't always equal "team that wins tournament." It's no different than the fact that in regular season matchups between two teams, sometimes the better team just... loses.

In general, college sports fans overreact to tiny sample sizes. And I don't necessarily blame them because it's all the data we have to go on.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Not to be a killjoy about the final #1, but I believe the folks are required to vote the champion #1. Apart from being common sense, of course.

I'm not sure what other requirements are required.

 

[JstVisiting]

I think SC would've finished #2. Back in 2013 Notre Dame finished #2 (I think their record was 35-2) despite losing in the Final Four over Louisville (29-9) who lost in the title game.

I thought we should have been 2, but doesn’t really matter.

 

[Kaizen]

It's no different than the fact that in regular season matchups between two teams, sometimes the better team just... loses.

In general, college sports fans overreact to tiny sample sizes. And I don't necessarily blame them because it's all the data we have to go on.

Tournament NC has to go through 64 -> 32 -> 16 -> 8 -> 4 -> 2 ->1, 6 games and beat 6 decent teams to win the NC, Those are not small sample.

This has big difference to compare with the regular season matchups. When you have to play with 6 decent teams continuously and won it in regular season?

 

[Urshurak]

I don't think winning one tournament means you're the best team in the country? That's why there are a lot of Cinderellas out there. Any team can have a great game and knock off a number one. Happens all the time. Does that mean that they are now an overall better team than the #1 they beat? Absolutely not, in my opinion.

I do not think the best team in women's basketball won this year, but that's why they play the game, so everyone gets a shot.

So, is LSU a BETTER team then SC? No way, no how.

That's how I see it........

 

[Kaizen]

I don't think winning one tournament means you're the best team in the country? That's why there are a lot of Cinderellas out there. Any team can have a great game and knock off a number one. Happens all the time. Does that mean that they are now an overall better team than the #1 they beat? Absolutely not, in my opinion.

I do not think the best team in women's basketball won this year, but that's why they play the game, so everyone gets a shot.

So, is LSU a BETTER team then SC? No way, no how.

That's how I see it........

Based on your post, can you tell us why we need a NC game? What does NC mean?

 

[VA Huskie]

I'm not adding an asterisk to LSU's championship. They won the tournament for sure. I'm just suggesting "best team" doesn't always equal "team that wins tournament." It's no different than the fact that in regular season matchups between two teams, sometimes the better team just... loses.

In general, college sports fans overreact to tiny sample sizes. And I don't necessarily blame them because it's all the data we have to go on.

I like the “best team” vs champion comment. A few years ago I heard UVAs baseball coach talk to our group. He’d just won the National Championship. He said that several years earlier his team was the best team in the country, but didn’t win the Natty. The year he won, he felt his team wasn’t the “best” team. In fact, he said that he thought that only about half the time the”best team” wins it all. It’s a tough tournament.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

. . . What does NC mean?

Practically speaking, it means that you won the NCAA tournament. No more, no less.

I expect it must be particularly galling to SC fans to see LSU, a team SC beat by 24,
declared national champions.

Why do we need a post season tournament? Because the fans want to see it, and TV
networks will pay big bucks to televise it. Likewise, to a lesser degree, the post season
conference tournaments.

 

[Kaizen]

Why do we need a post season tournament? Because the fans want to see it, and TV
networks will pay big bucks to televise it. Likewise, to a lesser degree, the post season
conference tournaments.

The Women's NCAA Division I basketball champions starts in 1982.

Where do you find fans and TV networks to pay for this women champion in 1982?

 

[ed4ourgirls]

The Women's NCAA Division I basketball champions starts in 1982.

Where do you find fans and TV networks to pay for this women champion in 1982?

To the best of my knowledge the first women's basketball game to be nationally televised was a
game between Maryland and Immaculata in 1975. The 1982 women's championship
game was televised by CBS.

As for fans - there are always fans. Not as many then as now, but there were fans.