Does Anyone Want to be Number One?
January 29, 2009 by Kevin Hunter
Filed under Basketball
0.8 seconds.
That’s all it took for Duke to make everyone realize that the number one ranking in the country is useless.
It was all James Johnson needed to make Connecticut the new number one team in the nation.
His layup with 0.8 seconds left in the game gave last week’s number one team and current No. 6 Wake Forest a 70-68 win last night in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Being ranked number one these days may be just as bad as being put on the cover of Sports Illustrated or the Madden football video game.
Now that the Duke has surrendered the top ranking, it’s your turn UConn. North Carolina couldn’t hold on to it, neither could Pittsburgh, Wake Forest or Duke. Let’s see what you can do.
You pounded DePaul last night 71-49 and you play Providence this weekend. But don’t get too happy. Duke did the same thing to Maryland last weekend and you see where that got them.
The #1 ranking might come with a curse. It would probably be safe to say that teams are comfortable in the 2-5 rank but the #1 comes with a big target. This is college basketball at its best. I think this is great for the game and part of the reason college basketball is so great. Teams might want to linger in the top 10 come postseason but stay away from the #1 ranking.
I concur. But I really believe this just shows that no team is head and shoulders consistently better than any other team.
I agree. I love the fact that there is no clear-cut number one team right now.
Even at the end of the regular season, the team ranked number one going into the tournament may not win it all, unless it has been on some insane run and has the momentum.
UConn and Oklahoma are bound to lose and when they do we may see UNC and Wake Forest back on top.
That still doesn’t prove that either one is the best team in the nation.
Im gonna have to call BS on what Sportspicks said. Teams are “uncomfortable” with the #1 spot so they lose? How bout random chance/ they got beat by good teams?
Guess what, PC has a great chance to beat Uconn this week. It’s because PC is good and sometimes upsets happen.
But seriously, teams don’t want the #1 ranking? They get too nervous or something? That’s ridiculous. Nobody cares about the rankings.
Actually people do care about the rankings. If they didn’t then they wouldn’t be around. But college basketball rankings don’t ultimately decide anything like they do in football.
I think it just gives sportswriters something to do during the season instead of just covering games. Many of them think their vote is sacred and makes them more important than they are.
I don’t think that teams are afraid of being number one either. That is ridiculous, but it does make you a target. Everyone is going to want to knock you off. Plus, being number one or being ranked in the top 10 is a good for recruiting.
How can teams be afraid of being number one? North Carolina, Duke, UConn and UCLA have all been there. I’m sure schools like Gonzaga, Butler or Cal State Fullerton would love to be number one for a day or two.
I think that we have a number of teams climbing to the top spot this year because there really isn’t one team that had dominated. Which may prove your point somewhat about the rankings being useless. After all, the nutty writers unanimously voted North Carolina as the preseason number one.
But as of now, anyone in the top 5 or top 10 is capable of winning the national title.
At the end of the season and the finals, the only rankings that will matter are numbers 3 through 25. Numbers one and two will be decided on the court.