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Posted by srr50 on February 26th, 2008 under Basketball
For losing to A&M in late January. Vitale, best known for turning enthusiastic babble into an art form, and for becoming the face of College Basketball for ESPN is at least consistent. He doesn’t think Texas deserves a Top Ten spot, much less a #1 seed.
Since the A&M loss on Jan.30th, Texas is 8-0,having gone unbeaten in the month of February for the first time in 45 years. The streak includes wins over Kansas, Kansas State and A&M. The Horns have given up 70 or more points just twice (both times to Baylor), and have held those eight opponents to 37% shooting. But Dickie V. isn’t convinced that the Horns are “PTP’ers.”
Vitale has a vote in the AP Basketball Top 25, and his February ballots put Texas lower than just about any of the 71 voters. There is a great website, Pollspeak that lets you follow any voter or team through the weekly collegiate polls. Here is Vitale’s ballot for Feb. 25th.
1. Tennessee
2. Memphis
3. UNC
4. UCLA
5. Georgetown
6. Duke
7. Kansas
8. Stanford
9. Xavier
10. Indiana
11. Texas
No one has Texas ranked lower than Vitale.
Three teams that the Horns have beaten (Tennessee, UCLA & Kansas) are in Vitale’s top 7. The main beneficiary of his ballot is Georgetown. The Hoyas are 22-4 on the season. They have no real quality non-conference wins (at Alabama is probably the best) while they have home wins against Connecticut, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh. Their losses are at Memphis, at Pittsburgh, at Louisville and at Syracuse.
Texas lost to the Aggies 83-60 on Jan. 30th, and dropped to 12 on the Feb.4 AP basketball poll. Vitale had the Horns at 18 on his ballot, the lowest placement of any voter for that week. After the Horns beat Kansas Vitale moved them all the way up to 13 on his ballot — Texas was 7th in the AP poll that week. Over the past month, Vitale has had Texas 5 or 6 spots lower on his ballot than the consensus.
Vitale was more forgiving when Georgetown lost two out of three games in one week (at Louisville, at Syracuse). He ranked the Hoyas 7th the next week (the highest of any voter) and bumped them up to 5th this week – again higher than anyone else.
Of course, the basketball polls mean little to the post-season, but maybe a 3rd straight Big Monday win will get Vitale to pay enough attention to at least put Texas in his Top Ten.

HenryJames said:
February 26th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Vitale is a caricature at this point.
Facebook User said:
February 26th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
CrazyJoeDavola said:
February 26th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
He’s still more tolerable than Billy Packer.
Facebook User said:
February 26th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I agree, Joe. Packer is so smug. And your stint on the 1847 Wafe Forest squad means nothing. I wish both of them were gone.
Out here on the West Coast we get Mike Montgomery doing some games and he’s really great. I suspect he’ll start coaching again at some point but I wish he’d go national and stay with it.
McLovin said:
February 26th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I think the B12 team is pretty good. Franschilla has grown on me.
Vitale missed a great deal of this season, although that’s really no excuse since he’s still probably seen more hoops than I have and I know his ballot is jacked.
Stanford anywhere in the Top 15 is a complete joke. I’m fine with Xavier if this is still 2004.
8straight said:
February 26th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I saw Jay Bilas on PTI today and he mentioned just about every #1 seed possibility except the Horns which is exactly how I want it. Keep up the good work DV.
Facebook User said:
February 26th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Most recent Joe Lunardi Bracketology:
Horns a 1 seed.
Big XII gets five more in:
Kansas, Baylor, A&M, OU, K State.
Penders gets dropped.
Trips Right said:
February 26th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Down goes Tenny. We should be ahead of those pretenders in any conversation about seeding. I’m pretty sure we’d roll them by 20 on a neutral floor. Wait, we did that. Hook ‘em.
Nice write up srr50.
sooner tim said:
February 26th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Horns are a legit NC contender because of their defensive pressure and intensity. And that’s coming from the enemy.
BRAGGonUT said:
February 27th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Something tells me Dicky V’s assistant only votes once a month.
doog said:
February 27th, 2008 at 7:10 am
getting overlooked is a good thing. we’d be the 2 seed in houston, Bay-Bee
Trips Right said:
February 27th, 2008 at 9:30 am
sooner, you’re exactly right. Defense sets this team apart from other good Texas teams. We can win games on bad shooting nights.
Facebook User said:
March 16th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Vitale says if we win, we’re a 1. Duh. And why does he hate the letter ‘G’?
Facebook User said:
March 17th, 2008 at 8:57 am
h/t: Double T Nation