#12 in the AP, #15 in the Coaches. I had LSU projected as #6 in the AP, #7 in the Coaches with a win over UT. Disappointed in these rankings. We beat the #6 team in the nation, and comfortably. Texas is obviously a very talented team, albeit young, and we had to travel. I thought staying at the spot we were previously would have been justified (#9, #11). Just goes to show you how important the VERY LAST game is most important. Most pollsters don't really know how to rank teams properly or don't have the knowledge to make educated guesses.
You can pretty much be in the top 7 teams in the nation and have a legit shot at a #1 seed, depends on which conferences you are in, how well you're playing at the end, conference tourney losses, etc. I remember within the last 2 years, we had 3 teams from the ACC in the top 4 or 5 teams. They didn't select all 3 ACC teams to be a #1 seed. But the rankings do matter. Every once in a while you'll see an anomaly like a #16 ranked team ending up a #7 seed, just based on being the odd team out when they come up with seperating teams into regions.
Not sure that I'd characterize it that way... I guess I'd simplify it as the loss dropped us and how far really is a matter of pollsters' uneducated vote. If you look at the Tigers at 5-2, and while we believe we'd played a tough schedule, pollsters are just looking at the record against the records of a ton of other schools. We should take comfort that of the two loss teams, in the AP, we're the third highest one (behind FLA, Kansas) and in the ESPN/USA we're behind FL, Kansas and A&M (you can complain about that placement). You'll also see that even with Texas beating us (at 6-2), they didn't crack the top 25. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/rankingsindex Just a thing you get used to in college basketball. The polls provide only a very subjective view of rankings. What I wait for is the RPI--that will show LSU higher than the polls probably, b/c of their SOS. The polls don't mean much until the tourney selection committee starts looking at seedings (and even then it's not scientific) and at the end of the year. At this stage of the year, it's all about playing certain teams that expose you to weaknesses so that you can develop. You do want to have your share of wins amongst those "key" match ups. I'd say as long as LSU goes .500 against Wichita St, A&M, Texas, Washington, O.State and UConn, our primary pre-SEC schedule, we'll be fine. We if steal one at Washington and defend against UConn, we could be a top 10 team by SEC play. :geauxtige
i wouldnt hold my breath if i were you. pomeroy has lsu's rpi at 79. he may be off, but he isnt that off.http://kenpom.com/rpi.php 1 win against top 100 wont look that impressive. likely to change in the next month (provided they win some)
