What do Coaches know about rankings?

At a recent press conference, Rick Pitino was asked whether the lack of respect in the Coaches Poll would be used to motivate his team. He replied,

"I don't, because I have no respect for the coaches' poll," he said.

"The bottom line is coaches aren't paying attention," he said. "Nor should they. I'm not blaming the coaches. They give it to an assistant coach, most of them, and the assistant coach is breaking down 100 films and watching recruits."

Pitino said, "It's of no value."

Just glancing at this week's poll makes me wonder if Rick Pitino is right.

Tennessee beats Memphis, in Memphis no less, but loses a close one to a good Vanderbilt team, at Vandy. There is no shame in this split of back-to-back road games against ranked in-state rivals. Yet, Tennessee drops from number 1 to number 4 behind Memphis who stayed at number 3. Interestingly, Tennessee did not garner one first place vote.

Speaking of Vandy, Vandy drops from number 14 to number 16 after beating the Nation's top ranked team at home, and losing a heart-breaker at Arkansas when one of the players called a time-out they did not have.

Speaking of heart-breakers, Marquette was in great position to beat number 10 Georgetown but for a questionable foul called against them against a three point shooter, who then calmly hit three free throws to send the game into OT and eventually a victory for the Hoyas. You may be thinking that since Vandy dropped two spots for a bonehead play at the end of the game so would Marquette. No. Marquette moved up one spot from 21 to 20.

Just think, this is one of the polls used in the BCS formula.