The Big East media poll will be released later this morning at Big East Media Day, which thankfully was not canceled because of Kige. I’ll come back later to share the results. Right now I’m disheveled. I played in a softball game last night in which our surging team was up 11-0 after two innings — a little guy with a penchant for the pen one-hopped the fence in left field — and lost 15-11. My best guess is that the Pittsburgh Pirates Altoona Curve switched places with the opponent in the bottom of the third. A team that could do no right suddenly could do no wrong and started smoking every ball it hit. Surreal. Yes, I know it’s softball, but the nature of the loss irks me. That bothers me more than anything else.

Anyhow, we’re here today for our Big East poll, which featured 20 votes, including mine that went to the Big East’s version, too. Here are the results. Eight points first a first-place vote, one for a last place vote. A detailed look follows the jump and should show not only how even the middle is, but why many people think a good team could be bad or a bad team could be good.

1. West Virginia, 159 points
2. South Florida, 131
T3. Pitt, 92
T3. Rutgers, 92
5. Louisville, 91
6. Cincinnati, 75
7. Connecticut, 58
8. Syracuse, 22

Team-by-team, including voting breakdown (highs in italics) and select voter comments

West Virginia

Voting: 19 first-place votes, one second-place vote

Voter comments: “Pat White = conference championship. ‘Nuff said.” … “If you’re going to win a national championship, you have to win the conference too, right? And one more question, how is LaSean McCoy better than a back who averaged SEVEN YARDS PER CARRY last year in limited duty (without establishing a rythm)? How does that make sense? Is it because there are four upper case letters in his name?” … “talent to be a national contender- replacing Owen is toughest task, young secondary will have to grow up in a hurry.”

South Florida

Voting: One first-place vote, 12 second-place votes, five third-place votes, one fourth-place vote, one fifth-place vote

Voter comments: “They have to much speed to be left behind to far” … “Finally this team stops taking paychecks to play bad road games at big schools like they’re a MAC team. Secondary took a hit, but Grothe and Selvie hold it down.” … “Matt Groethe looks like Alfred E. Newman. Not that that means anything. He just does. WVU wins the showdown this year, making Pat’s career record against them an even 2-2. He deserves better.” … “Grothe may have to win games by himself as his teammates continue to collapse under pressure late in the season.” … “Corners are unproven and will miss Moffitt. 5-2”

Pitt

Voting: Three second-place votes, four third-place votes, one tie-for-third vote, three fourth-place votes, two fifth-place votes, one tie-for-fifth vote, three sixth-place votes, three seventh-place votes

Voter comments: “I dislike picking them this high. I’ll be elated if I’m wrong and they finish 5th or lower.” … “Offensive line is weak and QB is unproven but they have Kinder back and McCoy is the best running back in the BE (not to say ND is shabby). they will also have the best defense in the league 5-2.” … “Pitt- The only thing Dave Wannstedt has proven to me is that he can’t win when it counts on a team packed with talent. They will sorely miss their O linemen.” … “Why is everybody in love with a 5-7 team? Until Wanny puts up even a .500 season, I’m not buying.” … “I hate to say it, but with all the good recruits, something has to give” … “Wanstache has won one big game, that doesnt equal greatness.”

Rutgers

Voting: one second-place vote, one third place vote, one tie-for-third vote, seven fourth-place votes, one tie-for-fifth vote, eight fifth-place votes, one sixth-place vote

Voter comments: “They will have to rebuild for 4 more yrs to be a contender again” … “A decent passer and three 1,000 yard receivers return. I hear Schiano’s whipping some people into shape on the banks of the ol’ Raritan.” … “will be Texas Tech East with Rice’s departure, if the O-line can pass block” … “best WRs in the conference but no Oline and Teel sucks. no ray rice. 3-4”

Louisville

Voting: Two second-place votes, three third-place votes, one tie-for-third vote, four fourth-place votes, three fifth-place votes, one tie-for-fifth vote, six sixth-place votes

Voter comments: “Kragthorpe has a good QB in Cantwell and Ron English has to have improved the defense, just by virtue of showing up at practice, right? But I think they’re still a middle-of-the-pack team.” … “Ron English is good, and they are more talented than they appear, but Kragthorpe is terrible.” … “much improved in Kragthorpe’s sophomore year” … “Hard to know exactly what we have here. No excuse for losing that many games with such talent last year.”

Cincinnati

Voting: One second-place vote, two third-place votes, one tie-for-third vote, two fourth-place votes, four fifth-place votes, one tie-for-fifth vote, three sixth-place votes, six seventh-place votes

Voter comments: “No QB The defense cant score enough to win games” … “Gotta like the direction this team’s heading. Heck of a first-year adjustment they made to the spread in 2007. This year they could be a handful.” … “could end up as high as #2, if QB dropoff isn’t overly precipitous” … “Kelly is a helluva coach, and they have confidence now.” … “Without Mauk, we’ll see how good Kelly is with QB’s this year. The Bearcats could finish higher.” … “There defense will be good and Kelly offenses put up points but they will miss Mauk. 4-3”

Connecticut

Voting: Three third-place votes, one fourth-place vote, five sixth-place votes, nine seventh-place votes, two eighth-place votes

Voter comments: “I don’t think they were as good as their record last year. This year, I think their record will be about as good as they are. Which is not very.” … “Luck runs dry.” … “played way over their heads last year” … “Speed They have none. Im picking the orange over this overrated bunch”
Syracuse

Voting: Two seventh-place votes, 18 eighth-place votes

Voter comments:  “They have to be better dont they.” … “Finally, mercifully, the Greg Robinson experiment comes to an end.” … “is that a light at the end of the tunnel? Nope, it’s a train…” 

Summary

A few things are clear:

– WVU is the favorite and South Florida the team that could unseat the Mountaineers.

– Third place is completely up for grabs.

– Cincinnati is the darkhorse. 

– Pitt still has a lot to prove.

– There would be very little surprise if No. 2 finished No. 7 and vice versa. It’s that competitive.  

– No one bought what UConn was selling last year.

– Greg Robinson is on life support. Or as one person, who actually tried to vote Syracuse No. 9, said…

9. Cuse . . . . The futility continues. I’m working on a song about the coach:

And here’s to you, Mr. Robinson
Touchdown Jesus loves you more than you will know
Whoa whoa whoa . . .

(They play Notre Dame this year, which will give Charlie Weis a much needed win.)

And yeah, there’s no #8 on my list. As long as Robinson is at Syracuse, The Orange isn’t going to be good enough to compete for last place in the league.