Such A Shame: UNC Had The Biggest Drop A No. 1 Team Has Ever Had In AP Poll History
I tried warning you this UNC team wasn't deserving of the No. 1 team in the country. We do this every year in college basketball. Every year a team makes a run in the NCAA Tournament, brings everyone back and everyone starts hyping them up. UNC was the team this year. I'm not saying they didn't deserve to be ranked, but like I kept saying all offseason, there was a reason they were an 8 seed. They weren't dominant last season, they got hot the last month. 30 games tells me more than the 6 in March.
Now we have this. UNC falling from 1 to 18, the single biggest drop a No. 1 team has ever had in the history of the AP poll. It's about right after UNC never looked right all year and lost to Iowa State and Alabama. There's nothing they have that says this is a top-10 team. We're talking about this season, not what they did in March. Also it shows how much they are missing Brady Manek. He was the key piece to let everyone else figure it out in March.
And sure, the AP poll is mostly stupid - UNC as No. 1 was evidence of that. But it just shows where this UNC team is as of right now. They can't really shoot. They are 255th in 3pt percentage as a team. They also don't take a ton of threes. They are struggling to defend the 3pt line. Not great! It's why KenPom might be onto something here. He had them at 9 to start the year and people were pissed. He looks right early.
Meanwhile this is right:
Houston is the best team in the country right now. I don't know who can argue against that. They should stay there for a little bit too. The next three Saturday's are the games that can keep them at No. 1 for basically the majority of the year. They have St. Mary's, Alabama and Virginia in a row. Win all 3 and people will talk about potential undefeated regular season.
Then there's this from the weekend:
Purdue made a jump of 19 which is pretty ridiculous. But when you beat WVU, Gonzaga and Duke that'll happen. I just wish college basketball did a better job with games getting pub. The entire week was overshadowed by college football, NFL and the World Cup.