Question 1: Biggest takeaway or surprise from the most recent AP poll?
Rhiannon Potkey (@RPotkey)- My biggest takeaway is that Green Bay was rightfully included at No. 23 after the great start to the season, including victories over Arizona State and Marquette and a lone loss to Mississippi State. It’s never a surprise to see this strong mid-major program having a solid year and beating some Power 5 programs.
Blake DuDonis (@Coach_Blake_)- I am fully aware that rankings at this point in the season don’t really matter, but I’m still puzzled by how Kentucky is ranked and Iowa isn’t. Both teams are 8-1 but the wins aren’t even close to being comparable. Ignoring the fact that UK lost by 27 at Baylor and Iowa lost by 1 to Florida State, just look at who each team beat. I’ve included the team’s RPI in parentheses and listed them from best to worst in that category.
Kentucky-Washington State (28), Gardner-Webb (106), Sacramento State (136), Morehead State (220), Tennessee Tech (237), Marshall (285), Montana (315), Evansville (320)
Iowa– Quinnipiac (14), Western Kentucky (45), Western Michigan (70), Elon (83), Northern Illinois (138), Morgan State (172), Samford (131), Charlotte (199)
RPI is an imperfect measure, of course, but it at least gives us an idea. Besides that, anyone who knows women’s basketball can look at those lists and see that Iowa clearly has better wins than Kentucky to this point. This isn’t a knock on the Wildcats at all, but if they are going to be in the Top 25, I simply don’t know how you can argue that Iowa doesn’t. From an outsider’s perspective, this seems like a reputation ranking more than anything for UK.
Ben Dull (@splitthepost)- Notre Dame sticking at number three. It’s always a bummer to see a ranked team get knocked down a few pegs because of a loss to a top team. Didn’t happen to the Irish this week.