As it turns out, the fanfare of griping about polls is not limited to the world of college football, especially in Madison.
When the AP basketball poll was released, Midwesterners took notice of the six Big Ten teams ranked, and many hailing from Wisconsin took offense at not seeing the Badgers even among the ranks of others receiving votes. They read this as a prediction that the Badgers would be the seventh best team in the conference, and scoffed at the idea that a Bo Ryan squad could finish that low.
But the poll does in some sense reflect reality, and Badger fans need to wake up to it.
First off, preseason polls are not a road map for who is winning the title. Just because Texas, Kansas and Michigan State are the top three teams does not mean that they are being penciled in for spots in the Final Four. Instead, it is just a snapshot evaluation of where the teams are now and, in that sense, the Badgers don't stack up.
This team was one of the last four in the tournament field one year ago and lost two of its senior anchors. Marcus Landry and Joe Krabbenhoft may have had some holes in their respective games, but they did bring a lot to the table in terms of defense and toughness.
Maybe if the Badgers were bringing in a few well-known freshmen, the national media would rate them higher. The only new face to reinforce last year's 13-loss team is Mike Bruesewitz (not to take anything away from young Mr. Bruesewitz, but Greg Oden or Carmelo Anthony, he ain't).
But somehow a team that was far from the top-25 last season, which lost a three- and four-year starter and has no high profile additions, should be even near the top-25?
""But it's all about Bo,"" the fans will say. ""Look at his track record, his teams have never finished worse than fourth, it won't happen now.""
This is true, but there are many nevers in Ryan's career were held in too high of esteem. A few years ago, a Bo Ryan team has never lost in the first round of the tournament, then in 2006 it happened.
Then it was, Bo's Badgers have never lost to a lower seed during March Madness. In 2007, UNLV made sure that ended. Even entering last March, he was derided as having never beaten a higher seed in the tournament, and that never fell as well.
The Badgers did finish last season tied for fourth, but a three-way tie really means they were somewhere between fourth and sixth (only one spot above that imagined projection of seventh place).
Now don't take this as an argument that the Badgers will actually finish in seventh place. Ryan is a good coach, and Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil could develop into a very strong duo at the power forward and center spots.
But many teams have those players that could make the jump from good rotation player to a primary pillar of the squad. Just having potential breakout does not merit a high level of preseason hype.
Maybe this season turns out like 2007-'08, where the Badgers got better after losing a strong senior class that included Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor. But that season was unexpected and anther one like it would be the same way.
So right now, the Badgers have no votes in the AP poll and it probably should be that way. Down the road maybe they'll earn their way into the rankings.
But at this point, less than a season after Wisconsin was very nearly out of the NCAA field, anyone griping about respect doesn't have much of a leg to stand on.
Think Bo if such a good coach that Wisconsin should be considered for the preseason top-25 no matter who is suiting up? Show Ben the error of his ways at breiner@wisc.edu.
