My top 30 (again) + a few more (again)

Not proud of this list, but here it is.

1--Penn State 24-0
2--Texas 18-0
3--Washington 19-2
4--Iowa State 19-3
5--Hawaii 20-2
6--Illinois 18-3
7--UCLA 18-6
8--Nebraska 16-6
9--Stanford 15-6
10--Oregon 15-5
11--Kentucky 22-2
12--California 13-8
13--Minnesota 17-7
14--Michigan 19-6
15--Florida 18-3
16--USC 15-8
17--Florida State 21-2
18--Arizona 16-6
19--LSU 18-5
20--Baylor 19-5
21--Texas A&M 14-6
22--Washington State 16-6
23--St. Mary's 16-4
24--Notre Dame 16-4
25--UCSB 18-5
26--Ohio State 18-7
27--Northern Iowa 22-2
28--St. Louis 17-6
29--Colorado State 18-4
30--LBSU 14-6

HM--Dayton 21-3; Florida International 24-2; Ohio 19-5; Oklahoma 15-7; San Diego 15-5; Tennessee 17-6; UC Irvine 17-6

My top 30 + a few more

I've changed my mind about a few things over the last couple of weeks and have just submitted the following to RichKern.com. Also of little interest to most everyone, this afternoon I went to see "A Serious Man", watched the last 10 minutes or so of the Vikings near-collapse, put together an IKEA table/puzzle for my mother, and then watched the first installment of the Monty Python documentary on IFC this evening.

Send your complaints to Ron.


1 Penn State (20-0)
2 Texas (14-0)
3 Washington (17-1) -- Huskies are looking more and more vulnerable as the weeks go by.
4 Hawaii (16-2) -- we won't know enough about this team until the NCAAs, as usual.
5 Iowa State (15-3) -- huge test v. the Huskers this week.
6 Illinois (14-3) -- inconsistency is still a problem, but they now have wins over both Minnesota and Michigan.
7 Oregon (14-3)
8 Stanford (12-5)
9 Nebraska (14-4) -- Werth hitting her stride and the Huskers may be hitting theirs.
10 Minnesota (15-5) -- still have to prove they can beat a top 10 team. Iowa State is it, so far.
11 Michigan (17-4) -- first match with Minnesota this weekend, at Williams Arena.
12 UCLA (14-6)
13 Kentucky (19-1)
14 California (10-7) -- biggest disappointment of the season, so far, for me.
15 Florida (14-3) -- unless it's the Gators instead.
16 Arizona (15-3)
17 Florida State (17-2)
18 USC (13-6) -- shouldn't this team be better than they are?
19 Texas A&M (13-4) -- big wins over Nebraska and Baylor.
20 LSU (15-4)
21 Baylor (17-4) -- sliding a bit. They need to dig in.
22 St. Mary's (12-4) -- loss to San Diego means the WCC doesn't have a power this year?
23 UCI (16-3)
24 LBSU (12-5)
25 Washington State (15-4) -- has to be THE surprise team of the year.
26 UCSB (14-5) -- up and down.
27 Colorado State (16-3) -- may be much better than this, but MWC still looks down for 2009.
28 San Diego (12-4)
29 Notre Dame (13-4) -- another team that may be better than this ranking.
30 St. Louis (13-6) -- tough loss to Dayton.
HM Dayton (18-2)
HM Florida International (19-2)
HM Ohio (16-4)
HM UNI (18-2)

Another day, another update

I’m beginning to have my doubts about (R)uffda!’s process. Do you know what he did last night? He went to see Hancock and then came home and cleaned a little before going to bed. OK, I was shocked about the cleaning part, too, but the point is there was NO ranking being done.

He liked Hancock, but said it was probably a little too intelligent for the average movie-going-dolt. Which is ironic, really, since “average movie-going-dolt” is exactly how I’d describe him -- if I was forced to describe him.

Anyhow, I pushed him a little.

“You want some more teams, doggie?” he finally replied (and, for the record, I hate being called doggie). “Texas and Florida will be top 5. USC and U-dub may be close. I have to think about it. Cal Poly, Nebraska, Long Beach, Cal, UCLA should all be Top-tenish. Maybe. Is Crimes done at LBSU? I forget. Now get the HELL out of my bed!”

There you have it:

1--Penn State
2--Stanford (maybe)
3--Texas
4--Florida
5--USC (maybe)
6--Washington (maybe)
Close--Cal Poly, Nebraska, Long Beach (maybe), Cal, UCLA

I’m off to work on today’s Sudoku.

Rankings continued

He’s back.

“Number one and two are no-brainers,” he says. That’ll sure come in handy for him, I think. I laugh at my own joke.

“What’s so damned funny?” he asks. Nothing, I think, except for those jammies. I laugh at this joke, too. He glares at me, mumbles something unintelligible and then clams up. I am quickly bored. Telling jokes to oneself will do that. I wait for him to continue.

“Penn State is number one and Stanford, dammit, is number two,” he says at last. “Of course,” he continues, “The Cardinal have to replace Kehoe and we’re still not sure who’s on the Olympic team. Flukey and Barbie could be tired. We can hope.”

I don’t like (R)uffda! calling Akinradewo and Barboza “Flukey” and “Barbie”. It implies a familiarity which does not exist.

“What the hell are you typing?” he says and comes to read over my shoulder. “What the bleep?! You can’t type that!”

Carte blanche, I type.

“You don’t even know what it means!” he shouts.

I looked it up, I type. Doofus, I add, for good measure.

“FINE!” he says, and stomps off.

So this is what we have so far:

1--Penn State
2--Stanford (maybe)

All of this without the AVCA Preview, no less!