Is Georgetown Ranked Where it Should Be? Dissecting the Polls

The polls are out and all is right with the world as the Hoyas are once again a Nationally Ranked Powerhouse. Given we don't play another game until Saturday, and it is only Tuesday, let's delve a little deeper to examine the rankings and some of the logic, or lack thereof, behind them.

Ipad ain't got nothing on me (via searchengineland.com)

Now I realize that the majority of coaches / assistants / writers / children taking the polls probably are not following each team as closely as they should, but there are some inconsistencies that really make no sense.

(More after the Jump)

Coaches/ESPN Poll:

• Let's start off with the Hoyas being ranked behind Memphis. It's bad enough that the Hoyas are ranked behind Alabama in both polls but the Coaches Poll also left the Hoyas ranked one spot behind a team they beat on a neutral floor and have a better record than.
  
• Back to Alabama, I understand there's a bit of inertia with regards to the polls. People are reluctant to drop teams that are highly ranked. No one likes to be proven wrong. But Alabama has over two times as many points in the Coaches Poll as Georgetown (326 vs. 136) and are ranked 6 spots ahead of a team that beat them (and ended their winning streak) on their home court.
• Some other rankings oddities in the Coaches Poll: Illinois is 8-0 and is tied at 22nd with Gonzaga who is 5-1 with a loss to Illinois.
• Vanderbilt was ranked 19th last week. This week they're ranked 27th. In between they lost in overtime to #11 (at the time) Xavier and on the road in overtime to then #6 Louisville. Now I can see a compelling argument for moving a team down the rankings for losing in overtime to two Top-15 teams if they themselves are included in the Top-15, but I can't understand why a team gets punished so severely for losing two games they were not supposed to win.
• It's always amusing to peruse the "Also Receiving Votes" section to see what random teams are getting votes. This Week's Gem's: George Mason who has losses to Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University and Tulane, who while undefeated is 9-0 against the little sister's of the poor.

AP Poll

• Cynical Voter of the Week: Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times Dispatch. He failed to rank Georgetown and has Alabama in the Top Ten (at #9) and Memphis, Vanderbilt (, Michigan State, Arizona, and Indiana all ahead of the Hoyas.
• Delusional Voter of the Week: Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury Times who ranked the Hoyas 12th, higher than any other voter. He even ranked the Hoyas above Kansas who gave the Hoyas their lone loss. Truly Delusional. And we thank you for it, Wilner.
  
• As Gary Parrish pointed out in his Poll Attacks, of the 6 voters who left the Hoyas off their ballots, 5 have Alabama and Memphis ranked. Inexcusable, and most are properly included in Pollstalker's "Extreme Voters" category.. They are: Michael Philips of the Richmond Times Dispatch, Bill Cole of the Winston-Salem Journal, Elton Alexander of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Gary Laney of The Advocate, and Jason Franchuk of the Provo Daily Herald. If you subscribe to one of these papers: Stop. If you subscribe to any papers: Stop, and check out this thing called the internet (just kidding, future SWTE victims...)
  
• In addition to the 6 writers who left the Hoyas off the ballot completely, 24 other writers who ranked the Hoyas put them lower than Alabama, sometimes by as many as 12 spots.
• There are 18 voters out there who have Memphis ranked higher than Georgetown including the 5 who saw fit not to rank Georgetown at all but kept Memphis ranked.
• Just to be fair: There are 4 voters who voted Georgetown higher than Kansas even thought Kansas beat us on a neutral floor.
• The AP has Gonzaga ranked 1 spot above Illinois despite as I pointed out earlier Illinois beat Gonzaga head to head.
  
• Why is someone voting for UC Santa Barbara when they're 2-2 against D1 competition? Yes those two loses were quality loses, but you have to beat someone more than Portland and Santa Clara (even if Villanova couldn't).