The USA Today released its Amway Top 25 coaches poll this morning, and the Arizona Wildcats — coming off a 3-9 season — somehow received two points.
Base on the points system, that means the Wildcats were either No. 24 on one ballot or No. 25 on two of them. The No. 1 team receives 25 points, No. 2 24 points and so on. The two points amount to a No. 55 ranking if you want to count that far.
UCLA is in a six-way tie for 56th, one spot below the Wildcats, who have lost five straight times to Jim Mora and the Bruins. Take that Mora!
By the way, ASU did not receive any votes.
Who ranked Arizona, you ask?
We don’t know. USA Today does not release who voted for what team until the final ranking is released at the end of the season.
Don't assume two coaches had Arizona in his Top 25. Two points likely means someone ranked UA No. 24.
— Anthony Gimino (@AGWildcatReport) August 3, 2017
What we do know: The Pac-12 is represented by six coaches, including Rich Rodriguez. Did he vote for his own team? Hmmm.
The other conference coaches who vote in the poll are Mora, Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, Colorado’s Mike MacIntyre, Washington State’s Mike Leach and USC’s Clay Helton.
Before you put too much stock in Arizona being the No. 55 team in the country, consider that coaches generally do not rank the teams.
Imagine Mike Leach looking over all the schools and ranking them in his office …
Come on.
It is widely perceived the sports information directors of the schools do the actually voting.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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