Seriously, I’m beginning to wish that it was only a top-10 poll. It’s just a jumbled mess of teams that all seem ridiculously overrated but nothing else is in front of them.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	–
2	LSU	–
3	Oklahoma	–
4	Florida	–
5	West Virginia	–
6	California	–
7	Texas	–
8	Rutgers	1
9	Ohio State	1
10	Boston College	2
11	Wisconsin	3
12	Georgia	1
13	South Florida	1
14	Oregon	3
15	Clemson	1
16	Hawaii	4
17	Missouri	4
18	Kentucky	8
19	Nebraska	4
20	Penn State	9
21	Cincinnati	4
22	South Carolina	4
23	Arizona State	3
24	Virginia Tech	2
25	Miami (Florida)	1

Under Consideration/Wait Listed: Purdue, Michigan State, Kansas, Michigan and (god help me) UConn.

Here’s the draft ballot. Dennis did the heavy lifting. I tweaked initially. Feedback will be considered for the final ballot due Wednesday morning.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	–
2	LSU	–
3	Oklahoma	–
4	Florida	3
5	West Virginia	1
6	California	–
7	Texas	2
8	Wisconsin	1
9	Rutgers	1
10	Ohio State	1
11	Penn State	1
12	Boston College	6
13	Georgia	1
14	South Florida	2
15	Texas A&M	5
16	Clemson	3
17	Oregon	6
18	South Carolina	3
19	Louisville	11
20	Hawaii	2
21	Missouri	3
22	Georgia Tech	5
23	Nebraska	8
24	Alabama	2
25	Cincinnati	1

Considered/Waiting for an opening: Kentucky, Purdue, Texas Tech, Air Force
I can already tell you that Texas A&M will have to go down. Again, the problem isn’t finding teams that are too high. It’s finding teams that are better/should/deserve to be ranked ahead of them. Clemson is a team I can’t buy into, but don’t know what to do with them.
WVU ended up dropping a spot on the strength of a dominating Florida team that looks damn impressive. Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that more than a few ND fans are wondering “what if” with Urban Meyer.

Have to admit, that BC looks damn good this season with a more opened up offense.

Can’t help but think that Kentucky should be ranked.

Okay, here’s how the Pitt Blather ballot finally went.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	–
2	LSU	–
3	Oklahoma	2
4	West Virginia	1
5	Texas	5
6	California	1
7	Florida	1
8	Louisville	4
9	Wisconsin	3
10	Rutgers	3
11	Ohio State	1
12	Penn State	3
13	UCLA	1
14	Georgia	5
15	Nebraska	1
16	South Florida	9
17	Georgia Tech	6
18	Boston College	4
19	Clemson	5
20	Texas A&M	–
21	South Carolina	5
22	Hawaii	5
23	Oregon	3
24	Missouri	2
25	Auburn	7

On the Cusp/Watching: Washington, Cinci, Alabama, Tennessee, VT

Washington and Cinci just missed making my poll. I did move Missouri in, while dropping VT from the draft ballot.

You can see what the full ballot results look like, here. Every blogpoller’s ballot can be viewed here.
There are plenty of teams that I wanted to rank lower, but the problem was that there was a lack of teams that I could justify putting ahead of them without thinking how overrated that would make those teams. That was the one factor that mitigated against fully embracing some of the comments.
Keep in mind that several teams still moved up simply by virtue of other teams being knocked way down or out of the poll.
Did teams like Cal, Florida, Ohio State and UCLA really deserve to rise in the polls even one spot after this past week? Not really but Louisville, Wisconsin, VT and Georgia all deserved to fall further — which is how the others moved up.

Here’s what the draft of the ballot this week looks like. It’s a little different this season with Dennis putting a draft version and then I come in and tweak a little. After that, it’s open for comments and I have time to change it a little more before the due time.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	–
2	LSU	–
3	Oklahoma	2
4	West Virginia	1
5	Texas	5
6	California	1
7	Florida	1
8	Louisville	4
9	Wisconsin	3
10	Ohio State	2
11	Rutgers	2
12	UCLA	2
13	Penn State	2
14	Georgia	5
15	Nebraska	1
16	South Florida	9
17	Georgia Tech	6
18	Boston College	4
19	Texas A&M	1
20	Hawaii	3
21	Clemson	3
22	Oregon	4
23	South Carolina	3
24	Virginia Tech	13
25	Auburn	7

Considered/getting close: Cinci, Missouri, Tennessee, Washington, Alabama

Dennis dropped USC down to #3 on their bye week, but as good as LSU has looked, I’m not totally convinced on them yet. They have faced two teams that are offensively challenged, with horrible QBs. I am very impressed by their defense and this time they came out fired up on offense. I just want to see a little more — that and Les Miles doesn’t scare me as a coach.Oklahoma looked fantastic to move past WVU and the concerns about the ‘Eers defense appear legit.

Texas moved up more than maybe they should, but a couple other teams slipped to give them a bigger boost then I actually feel about them.

Like Louisville (again no defense) and Wisconsin (no offense). By all rights Cal shouldn’t have moved up a spot for their weak win, but really there feels like a huge gap in who to put in the second half of the top-ten and where.

That gap is what kept Georgia from slipping further, though I’m still considering putting them lower.

Right now Rutgers and USF look like legit BE contenders because they can play defense. Of course, USF is going to have to hold open tryouts for a kicker.
The last 8 or 9 spots on the poll are just a mess.

GT shouldn’t have moved that high, but no place else seemed quite right either. Texas A&M even moving up a spot is inexplicable even as I look at the blogpoll. Expect them to drop when I think about it a little more.

Dennis completely dropped the Hokies from the poll, but I had to leave them back in. If beating the Hokies that badly was such a statement by LSU that they deserve #1 consideration, then there has to be a belief that VT is at least a top-25 team.

Auburn hangs in by a thread because their defense is excellent, as are special teams and even their running game — yet another reason why Tuberville is so conservative. That will get them some quality wins in the SEC even when they shouldn’t. The QB, on the other hand…

I know, I skipped the preseason (week 1) ballot.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	25
2	LSU	24
3	West Virginia	23
4	Louisville	22
5	Oklahoma	21
6	Wisconsin	20
7	California	19
8	Florida	18
9	Georgia	17
10	Texas	16
11	Virginia Tech	15
12	Ohio State	14
13	Rutgers	13
14	UCLA	12
15	Penn State	11
16	Nebraska	10
17	Hawaii	9
18	Auburn	8
19	TCU	7
20	Texas A&M	6
21	Boise State	5
22	Boston College	4
23	Georgia Tech	3
24	Clemson	2
25	South Florida	1

Considered/Keeping in Mind (no particular order): Tennessee, Miami (FL), South Carolina, Missouri, Kent St. (no, not really), Oregon, Arkansas, Oregon St., BYU, Alabama.

The poll is due by 10 am tomorrow. Go ahead and explain with some logic why I’m an idiot (for this) and I still have time to revise. Hopefully in the future, the draft ballot will be up sooner for more debate.

If you care, the ESPN/USA Today Coaches preseason poll is out. Nothing that really stuns me. What I wanted to see was the coaches voting breakdown.

The Big East has 4 coaches in the voting pool of 60.

• Randy Edsall, UConn
• Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville
• Rich Rodriguez, WVU
• Greg Schiano, Rutgers

Here’s how the rest of the number of voting coaches looks by conference:

• ACC — 6
• Big 11 — 7
• Big 12 — 6
• Pac-10 — 5
• SEC — 7
• Notre Dame — 1

—————–

• MAC — 6
• C-USA — 6
• MWC — 4
• WAC — 4
• Sun Belt — 4

Some more from the basketball camps as Coach Dixon shuttled from Akron to Philly for the camps. On Monday he was at the Rbk U camp watching Ashton Gibbs. Not to mention Travon Woodall and Eloy Vargas. Vargas finished the camp strong.

Ashton Gibbs was also the subject of a lead story out of New Jersey.

“I think I fit in well there,” Gibbs said in between games at the elite Reebok University showcase. “They told me I would be a Ronald Ramon-type player — play the one and two, play tough defense and try to get some buckets on the offensive end. I think I can run up and down, but Pitt slows it down and they’re physical. That’s definitely my style of play.”

Like the gritty Ramon, Gibbs is a quintessential combo guard. He is neither a true point nor a pure scorer, but he can fill either roll on any given possession.

At the three-day Reebok Camp, which features 120 of the best players in the county, Gibbs ran the point in scrimmages and was one of the few guards who made an effort to set up a half-court offense.

With Pitt coach Jamie Dixon watching from the front row of bleachers, he also buried jumpers when the defense sagged.

“He’s very steady and he knows how to make his teammates better,” NJ Hoops publisher Jay Gomes said. “It’s funny because earlier in his career he was more of a ball-handler than a shooter, but he’s become a very good shooter.”

Nice.

Dealing with the present, Darnell Dodson is indeed qualified this year and is already taking summer classes at Pitt. ‘

Another incoming player this season, Bradley Wanamaker, did not qualify for the US Men’s Under-19 team.

I suppose, part of why I’m still a bit more focused on basketball is that the I’ve been putting a way too early FanHouse BlogPoll  together and posting the teams this week. Pitt came in at #18, and I had to give objectivity a shot in discussing them today.

As lame as Pitt’s home schedule is this fall, the road schedule receives recognition as being a challenge. Really, it’s on the strength — or brutality — of playing the expected best three teams on the road. Plus playing two other BCS conference schools in Michigan St. and Virginia on the road.

Rivals.com listed Pitt’s schedule as the 23d toughest in the country, and the 2d toughest in the Big East. That’s with Grambling and Eastern Michigan on the schedule. It’s either a bit of a reflection of the perception of the top three teams in the Big East now, or just how bad other schools schedule that Pitt’s sched. would make the top 25 in schedule difficulty.
Ideally, 2-3 on the road this season would be amazing progress. 1-4 would be tolerable.

It’s just lists and quick hitter stuff. Rivals.com revises its top-25, post NBA Draft withdrawal deadline. Pitt fell two spots from #21 to #23.

Even with the losses of frontcourt starters Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall, the Panthers still should fashion a winner. One reason to believe is Jamie Dixon, who has coached Pitt to four consecutive 20-win seasons. He’ll lean on guards Mike Cook (10.5 ppg), Levance Fields (9.2 ppg, 4.6 apg) and Ronald Ramon (8.8 ppg) early and hope five-star freshman power forward DeJuan Blair develops quickly.

Pitt was the lowest ranked of 6 Big East schools listed. Louisville #5, Georgetown #10, Marquette #15, Syracuse #19, UConn #21.

Jay Bilas at ESPN.com does good news/bad news capsules for the Big East teams:

Good news: Pittsburgh is always good because the Panthers have a program, not just individual teams. Losing good players will not affect the way that Pitt plays and the way that Pitt wins. Coach Jamie Dixon brought in a top-10 recruiting class, including hotshot DeJuan Blair, and Pitt will be in the NCAA Tournament again.

Bad news: Losing center Aaron Gray will be big, but a team can break through after losing its big anchor in the middle. In 1984, Virginia went to the Final Four the year after Ralph Sampson graduated.

I’m just completely confused. There isn’t even a hint of being able to play the “disrespected” card or write about Pitt being underestimated. This just messes with my head.

According to Rivals.com, the Big East as a whole, scored best in basketball recruiting for the class of 2007. In their top-30 signing classes, the Big East had 7 schools ranked. Arguably, the PAC-10 with its 5 teams (USC, Ariz., UCLA, ASU, UW) from a 10 team conference was at least as impressive. Especially since all 5 schools were ranked in the top-20.

Still, they decided to declare it was the Big East that came out ahead.

1. Syracuse (4)
2. Villanova (12)
3. Cincinnati (15)
4. DePaul (16)
5. Georgetown (23)
6. Pittsburgh (26)
7. St. John’s (30)
8. Seton Hall
9. Rutgers
10. Marquette
11. Louisville
12. Providence
13. South Florida
14. West Virginia
15. Notre Dame
16. UConn

In the conference breakdowns, the Big 11 also placed 5 teams (OSU, Purdue, Indiana MSU, Illinois); the SEC (Fla, UK, Ala, LSU) and Big 12 (K-State, Tex, OU, OSU) had 4 teams each, the ACC (Duke, NC St., VT) had 3 teams. Memphis and Gonzaga also made the list.

They didn’t have much to say about Pitt’s class other then DeJuan Blair is expected to be the man inside.