This week’s AP Poll is weird. 5 teams received first place votes and three of them received a substantial amount. Louisville came out to be the number one choice with 36 votes while Duke received 14, Indiana 13, Kansas 1 and Michigan 1. The logic of the AP Poll is odd. Duke beat Louisville head to head and both teams have one loss to a quality opponent, yet Louisville is ranked ahead of Duke in this latest poll. Of course you see the all important recency effect in that Duke lost after Louisville did but you have to wonder the logic of this poll. Alas, I have no invested interest in either Louisville or Duke so I don’t care too much. Just an interesting point.

AP Week 11:

1) Big 10 – 6 Teams Ranked – Average Ranking of 11.33

2) Big East – 4 Teams Ranked – Average Ranking of 13

3) PAC 12 – 3 Teams Ranked – Average Ranking of 17.33

4) ACC – 2 Teams Ranked – Average Ranking of 8.5

5) Big 12 – 2 Teams Ranked – Average Ranking of 10

6) SEC – 2 Teams Ranked – Average Ranking of 13.5

The Big 10 is starting to cement itself as the top conference in the nation while the Big East is hanging on to its last shred of supremacy above what seems to be, a bottom four of the PAC 12, ACC, Big 12, and SEC. Unfortunately the SEC continues to lurk near the bottom of these Conference Power Rankings. The Mountain West found itself out of the top 6 for the first time in a long time as the major power conferences are comprising the top 6 spots. Life is once again how it should be. The Mountain West and A-10 each have 2 teams ranked in San Diego State and New Mexico and Butler and VCU. Obviously conference play distorts these power rankings a bit as teams from the same conference beat up on each other and upsets happen which could move a 50th ranked team up to 33rd while moving a 3rd ranked team to 12th. All in all, however, these power rankings seem to be a fair representation of how the landscape is playing out. An unfortunate observation is that the Cats are not even in the other receiving votes. It’s a long road up but I still have faith. The road to recovery starts tonight against the Vols. Go Big Blue.

Prediction for tonight’s game:

72 67 … Poythress reasserts himself and Wiljter manages a double figure outing.