Sports
AP Top 25 college basketball poll: Arizona, James Madison ranked – Asbury Park Press
Also considered: Virginia (2-0), Colorado (2-0), St. John’s (1-0), Princeton (2-0).
Dropped out: No. 23 Saint Mary’s after a home loss to Weber State; No. 25 Illinois, which got bumped to make room for James Madison.
Entered: James Madison at No. 16 after winning at No. 4 Michigan State and at Kent State; BYU at No. 20 after beating No. 17 San Diego State.
Analysis: Generally speaking, I try to honor the poll consensus and roughly work off that when casting a ballot. In that vein, the easy thing would be to keep Kansas No. 1. But with so many unknowns this early, and Kansas and most others feasting on cupcakes, it’s fitting to reward No. 12 Arizona for beating No. 2 Duke in Cameron…
Rewarding strong schedulers is also why I don’t want to punish San Diego State for losing to a good BYU side in Utah, so they stay on my ballot…
Florida Atlantic, which returns nearly everyone from a Final Four, also gets rewarded for a 13-point win over Loyola in Chicago…
Lastly, James Madison is coming off a 22-win season and was picked to win the Sun Belt, so the Dukes are far from a nobody. Winning at Michigan State and Kent State (picked to finish second in the MAC) is one heck of a body of work for the opening week. Forget Kenpom and metrics in mid-November. I choose to reward winning, on the road, against good opponents. End of story.
Why Princeton? The Tigers are knocking on the door because, after returning five of their top eight from a Sweet 16 squad, they registered quality wins (and comfortable ones) against Rutgers on a neutral court and at Hofstra. Very few teams (James Madison, notably) had a better week. Forget metrics in mid-November. Princeton passes the eye test. Win at Duquesne and at Monmouth this week and Mitch Henderson’s squad might well find its way onto this ballot and others on Nov. 20.
By conference: Big 12 (5), SEC (5), Big East (4), ACC (3), Big Ten (2), Pac-12 (2), American (1), Mountain West (1), West Coast (1), Sun Belt (1).
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.