In his first year at Indiana, Kelvin Sampson has his team playing well. The Hoosiers are 11-4, a respectable record given their tough schedule. Indiana's four losses are to Butler, Duke, Kentucky and Ohio State, and all four games were close, with the seven-point loss to the Buckeyes their largest margin of defeat. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers have beaten some good teams, including Indiana State, Southern Illinois and Michigan State. By any objective measure, the Hoosiers are a good team. The stat guru Ken Pomeroy ranks them as the ninth-best team in the country. Jeff Sagarin ranks them 22nd. Bracketology says they'd be a 6 seed if the tournament started right now.
And yet in the AP poll, just one voter included the Hoosiers on his ballot. That one was Terry Hutchens of the Indianapolis Star, meaning if the home-town guy hadn't chosen the home-town team, Indiana would have been totally shut out of the AP poll.
It really doesn't matter, of course. In basketball, no one really cares about the AP poll because they decide the champion on the court in March, and voters don't have any say in the matter. But it's surprising that a high-profile program having such a good season gets no credit at all from the media outside its own state.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Maybe IU isn't getting votes because (1) the writers don't like to vote for cheaters or (2) the Hoosiers really aren't that great of a team. The "good" teams you mentioned that IU has defeated are really not that good this year. Take a look at their schedules/results. Indiana State lost to Middle Tennessee State (7-9 record) and Southern Illinois just got beat by both Northern Iowa and Bradley, and IU only beat SIU by 7 points in Assembly Hall. IU also only beat Western Michigan by 8 at the Hall, and WMU is 6-9.
As an IU fan, I couldn't agree more. The Hoosiers absolutely dismantled MSU and Purdue this week, and should hopefully pick up a win tomorrow at Penn State (which is apparently harder this year than it has been in years past). Hopefully that will garner some more votes in the polls. Sampson has these kids playing great defense and playing well together. I've been more than pleased with the results so far. They seem to be playing better and better each game, and I think the best is yet to come.