Top 25 Coaches Poll

[POKE FAN]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/GeoffGrammer/status/559761820664090624[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/GeoffGrammer/status/559766415301808128[/tweet]

All four points for SDSU comes from one writer: Grammer. He had SDSU at 22 and the sheep at 25. He has been doing everything in his power to rationalize why Wyoming shouldn't be on his ballot over the last couple of weeks. Here is his latest:

My hesitation on Wyoming is this: The Cowboys, despite being alone for now atop the MWC standings, had a week to prepare for a home game against a UNM team playing its third game in seven days and second road game of the week. And, frankly, the Cowboys pulled out the overtime win only because of two very uncharacteristic late-game mistakes from Lobos senior guard Hugh Greenwood. The Lobos, all things considered (third game in seven days, being the road team, having normally sufficient leads late in regulation and overtime), may have been the better team on Saturday. As such, I couldn’t pull the trigger on placing Wyoming on this week’s ballot, although I know other voters will have them on their ballots.

 

[joshvanklomp]

My hesitation on Wyoming is this: The Cowboys, despite being alone for now atop the MWC standings, had a week to prepare for a home game against a UNM team playing its third game in seven days and second road game of the week. And, frankly, the Cowboys pulled out the overtime win only because of two very uncharacteristic late-game mistakes from Lobos senior guard Hugh Greenwood. The Lobos, all things considered (third game in seven days, being the road team, having normally sufficient leads late in regulation and overtime), may have been the better team on Saturday. As such, I couldn’t pull the trigger on placing Wyoming on this week’s ballot, although I know other voters will have them on their ballots.

Fair enough, but I don't think he's giving Nance enough credit for recognizing, going after the ball, and saving the ball to a teammate.

 

[seattlecowboy]

I actually agree with Grammar. Glad we got the win but honestly if we don't start playing better we are going to lose these road games coming up. To be honest New Mexico isn't near as good this year and they had a tough game at UNLV a couple nights before so we should have controlled that game since it was at home and we didn't.

Honestly makes me worried about the rest of our road games and that is why I think SDSU is probably going to finish first in the conference regular season and we will need to win the MWC tourney to get in. Hope I am wrong.

 

[BeaverPoke]

I actually agree with Grammar. Glad we got the win but honestly if we don't start playing better we are going to lose these road games coming up. To be honest New Mexico isn't near as good this year and they had a tough game at UNLV a couple nights before so we should have controlled that game since it was at home and we didn't.

Honestly makes me worried about the rest of our road games and that is why I think SDSU is probably going to finish first in the conference regular season and we will need to win the MWC tourney to get in. Hope I am wrong.

So we are winning without playing at our best. What happens when we start playing well?

 

[BeaverPoke]

It would be SO sweet to get CSU and Wyo ranked just in time for the Border War then knock them out of it!

 

[POKE FAN]

I actually agree with Grammar. Glad we got the win but honestly if we don't start playing better we are going to lose these road games coming up. To be honest New Mexico isn't near as good this year and they had a tough game at UNLV a couple nights before so we should have controlled that game since it was at home and we didn't.

Honestly makes me worried about the rest of our road games and that is why I think SDSU is probably going to finish first in the conference regular season and we will need to win the MWC tourney to get in. Hope I am wrong.

The more I read Grammer's "insight" concerning the MWC, the more I think he should just stick to tweeting stats. I'm less and less impressed. New Mexico is better than people think -- particularly defensively. They're very good defensively. They've lost three games to some pretty good MWC teams (SDSU, BSU, WYO), but also destroyed the sheep in Albuquerque. Having a week off -- as in Wyoming's case -- can also work against you. And, besides, don't most MWC teams have to play three games in 7-8 days? These are 20-22-year-olds. The dude is reaching.

Concerning the ballots, yes, Wyoming lost at home to SDSU. But the Pokes also did something SDSU couldn't do: beat CS-ewe and FSU on the road. Wyoming sits in first place ahead of the sheep, which includes a road win in Fort Collins. Somebody explain to me why Wyoming shouldn't be ahead of the sheep on most ballots -- which they're not.

 

[seattlecowboy]

I actually agree with Grammar. Glad we got the win but honestly if we don't start playing better we are going to lose these road games coming up. To be honest New Mexico isn't near as good this year and they had a tough game at UNLV a couple nights before so we should have controlled that game since it was at home and we didn't.

Honestly makes me worried about the rest of our road games and that is why I think SDSU is probably going to finish first in the conference regular season and we will need to win the MWC tourney to get in. Hope I am wrong.

So we are winning without playing at our best. What happens when we start playing well?

Let's hope we can play better and hope we start peaking right before the tournament.

 

[stymeman]

10 more than last week, we need to stay under the radar then us and CSU should be ranked going into the hugie in Laramie Feb. 4, oh yeah

 

[seattlecowboy]

I actually agree with Grammar. Glad we got the win but honestly if we don't start playing better we are going to lose these road games coming up. To be honest New Mexico isn't near as good this year and they had a tough game at UNLV a couple nights before so we should have controlled that game since it was at home and we didn't.

Honestly makes me worried about the rest of our road games and that is why I think SDSU is probably going to finish first in the conference regular season and we will need to win the MWC tourney to get in. Hope I am wrong.

The more I read Grammer's "insight" concerning the MWC, the more I think he should just stick to tweeting stats. I'm less and less impressed. New Mexico is better than people think -- particularly defensively. They're very good defensively. They've lost three games to some pretty good MWC teams (SDSU, BSU, WYO), but also destroyed the sheep in Albuquerque. Having a week off -- as in Wyoming's case -- can also work against you. And, besides, don't most MWC teams have to play three games in 7-8 days? These are 20-22-year-olds. The dude is reaching.

Concerning the ballots, yes, Wyoming lost at home to SDSU. But the Pokes also did something SDSU couldn't do: beat CS-ewe and FSU on the road. Wyoming sits in first place ahead of the sheep, which includes a road win in Fort Collins. Somebody explain to me why Wyoming shouldn't be ahead of the sheep on most ballots -- which they're not.

I'm not worried about the ballots to be honest.

I'm more along the lines of thinking if we play on the road like we did at home against New Mexico we will lose 4 road games including the one tomorrow night . So let's hope they can play better.

 

[POKE FAN]

Pokes come in at #34 (AP) and #32 (Coaches):

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings

 

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

I actually agree with Grammar. Glad we got the win but honestly if we don't start playing better we are going to lose these road games coming up. To be honest New Mexico isn't near as good this year and they had a tough game at UNLV a couple nights before so we should have controlled that game since it was at home and we didn't.

Honestly makes me worried about the rest of our road games and that is why I think SDSU is probably going to finish first in the conference regular season and we will need to win the MWC tourney to get in. Hope I am wrong.

The more I read Grammer's "insight" concerning the MWC, the more I think he should just stick to tweeting stats. I'm less and less impressed. New Mexico is better than people think -- particularly defensively. They're very good defensively. They've lost three games to some pretty good MWC teams (SDSU, BSU, WYO), but also destroyed the sheep in Albuquerque. Having a week off -- as in Wyoming's case -- can also work against you. And, besides, don't most MWC teams have to play three games in 7-8 days? These are 20-22-year-olds. The dude is reaching.

Concerning the ballots, yes, Wyoming lost at home to SDSU. But the Pokes also did something SDSU couldn't do: beat CS-ewe and FSU on the road. Wyoming sits in first place ahead of the sheep, which includes a road win in Fort Collins. Somebody explain to me why Wyoming shouldn't be ahead of the sheep on most ballots -- which they're not.

I couldn't agree more. We have done almost everything to put ourselves in the driver seat, with the exception of the SDSU stumble. We have demonstrated were the team to beat up to this point. Whatever, keep winning and it'll all come out in the end.

 

[JimmyDimes]

I actually agree with Grammar. Glad we got the win but honestly if we don't start playing better we are going to lose these road games coming up. To be honest New Mexico isn't near as good this year and they had a tough game at UNLV a couple nights before so we should have controlled that game since it was at home and we didn't.

Honestly makes me worried about the rest of our road games and that is why I think SDSU is probably going to finish first in the conference regular season and we will need to win the MWC tourney to get in. Hope I am wrong.

Well honestly, if UNM didn't have their best shooting game of the year, then it wouldn't have been as close. Greenwood was unconscious and hit a couple with a hand in his face. Plus, they didn't miss a FT, but shoot in the 60% rate as a team.

Wyoming just keeps on winning, but some people don't want to give much respect to the Pokes.

 

[joshvanklomp]

Somebody explain to me why Wyoming shouldn't be ahead of the sheep on most ballots -- which they're not.

The biggest thing is the timing of your losses. CSU was 24 in Dec. 29 poll. Losses in consecutive weeks dropped them to 33 and then 45. They've then had three wins in the last two weeks to raise the profile, including a big win over SDSU.

We were already a step behind because of non-conference losses. We made it in the January 12 poll, because it had been seven games since our last loss, but previous losses made us fall farther back than when CSU lost their first game. We fell back to 41 but have only had two games since our last loss (and one game since the last polls came out) to make up ground.

 

[WestWYOPoke]

Somebody explain to me why Wyoming shouldn't be ahead of the sheep on most ballots -- which they're not.

The biggest thing is the timing of your losses. CSU was 24 in Dec. 29 poll. Losses in consecutive weeks dropped them to 33 and then 45. They've then had three wins in the last two weeks to raise the profile, including a big win over SDSU.

We were already a step behind because of non-conference losses. We made it in the January 12 poll, because it had been seven games since our last loss, but previous losses made us fall farther back than when CSU lost their first game. We fell back to 41 but have only had two games since our last loss (and one game since the last polls came out) to make up ground.

Pretty much this. In any sport it's better to lose early rather than late. Look at Ohio State in football for example.

 

[Dutchnation]

10 more than last week, we need to stay under the radar then us and CSU should be ranked going into the hugie in Laramie Feb. 4, oh yeah

And it will be the first time in the history of the world that a game has both teams ranked and isn't televised.

 

[POKE FAN]

I actually agree with Grammar. Glad we got the win but honestly if we don't start playing better we are going to lose these road games coming up. To be honest New Mexico isn't near as good this year and they had a tough game at UNLV a couple nights before so we should have controlled that game since it was at home and we didn't.

Honestly makes me worried about the rest of our road games and that is why I think SDSU is probably going to finish first in the conference regular season and we will need to win the MWC tourney to get in. Hope I am wrong.

The more I read Grammer's "insight" concerning the MWC, the more I think he should just stick to tweeting stats. I'm less and less impressed. New Mexico is better than people think -- particularly defensively. They're very good defensively. They've lost three games to some pretty good MWC teams (SDSU, BSU, WYO), but also destroyed the sheep in Albuquerque. Having a week off -- as in Wyoming's case -- can also work against you. And, besides, don't most MWC teams have to play three games in 7-8 days? These are 20-22-year-olds. The dude is reaching.

Concerning the ballots, yes, Wyoming lost at home to SDSU. But the Pokes also did something SDSU couldn't do: beat CS-ewe and FSU on the road. Wyoming sits in first place ahead of the sheep, which includes a road win in Fort Collins. Somebody explain to me why Wyoming shouldn't be ahead of the sheep on most ballots -- which they're not.

I couldn't agree more. We have done almost everything to put ourselves in the driver seat, with the exception of the SDSU stumble. We have demonstrated were the team to beat up to this point. Whatever, keep winning and it'll all come out in the end.

Absolutely. Wyoming has proved through conference play to date that they deserve to be ranked above the sheep. This includes two ROAD wins versus the three current 5-2 2nd place teams in the league. (Conference road wins: Important to selection committee members.) The problem is -- and will always be -- lazy and/or hoops-challenged scribes with ballots. CSU blows away a couple of MWC doormats and has the game of their season from the arc (57% from three against SDSU, when they were averaging 32% coming in) and they are, once again, bona fide. If the sheep drop behind Boise by 14 points in the 1st half (like they did in Fort Fudd), tonight's game will be a Bronco blowout.

Pokes just need to take care of business.