It would seem the AP is a little slow about getting its basketball poll ballots up. That was the case last week, and maybe this time around, too, because the good folks over at Pollstalker didn’t have this week’s votes up when I filed from College Park last night.
But it’s there this morning, and so all is well. And the number of voters giving Maryland a spot on their ballot has tripled.
To three.
The full rundown of all 72 voters’ thoughts on Maryland is here, but this is the concise rundown of things:
* Mark Berman, Roanoke Times: 16th
* Dave Jones, Harrisburg Patriot-News: 21st
* Mark Stewart, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 25th
Expect that number to grow over the next three weeks. Maryland should enter ACC play at 12-2, and the Terps’ first league game is at home against a shorthanded Georgia Tech team that might have guard Moe Miller back at that point.
Let’s see … an ACC team with a 13-2 record, victories over Michigan and Michigan State, no inexplicable losses and a brand name that won’t cause voters in other parts of the country to pause? That sounds like the ticket to a spot around No. 24, depending on other results, of course.
Not saying Maryland will be ranked come Jan. 12. Or even that it should be ranked, though its resume is credible at this stage. But there’s a decent chance it will pop up at the bottom of the poll at that point, and there’s very few people who would have predicted that a couple months ago.
