TadPoll: Frogs Fall From Top 25

The TCU Horned Frogs Men's Basketball team will begin Big 12 play this Saturday as an unranked team. Just like we all thought, right? The Frogs dropped out of this week's AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll despite a 41-point win over the Grambling State Tigers earlier this week. TCU does, however, have the most points of any unranked team, placing them at 26^th.

The Frogs were the victim of somewhat of a strange situation involving the poll. Last week, 30 of the 65 AP voters had TCU ranked in their Top 25 ballots. The Frogs either stayed in the same position or moved up in 22 of those 30 ballots. Four of the remaining eight voters dropped TCU out of the Top 25, while the other four moved TCU down in their ballots.

So, how did TCU drop out?

Last week, the Frogs were 25^th with 120 points and the Georgetown Hoyas were just outside the rankings, at 26^th with 85 points. The Frogs gained a net total of 12 points this week, however the Hoyas gained a net total of 55 points, thus allowing Georgetown to jump TCU for the last spot in the rankings. Georgetown's nationally televised, four-point, overtime win over the 10-3 Indiana Hoosiers at Madison Square Garden must have really impressed the voters.

The 12-0 Frogs, one of just six remaining undefeated teams in all of college basketball, will certainly have their opportunity to jump back into the poll next Monday. TCU hosts the Tennessee State Tigers tonight, before opening Big 12 play against the 17^th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday.

Here are a couple of other notes from this week's poll:

• TCU is the only undefeated team that is unranked.
• 27 of the 65 AP voters included TCU in their individual Top 25 ballots this week, a net decrease of three voters from last week. Four voters dropped TCU out while one voter bumped TCU in.
• The Frogs made some modest gains among the voters that kept TCU in their Top 25 ballots. The Frogs are in the top 20 in six of the ballots, including a 14^th place ranking from Doug Doughty of the Roanoke (VA) Times, a 12^th place ranking from Ben Frederickson of the Knoxville (TN) News Sentinel, and a 10^th place ranking from Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• Five of the eight voters in the Big 12 Conference's geographic footprint included TCU in their ballots this week.
• This is the fifth consecutive week that the Frogs have received votes. TCU was 46^th (2 votes) in the December 1^st edition of the poll, 32^nd (45 votes) in the December 8^th edition, 27^th (80 votes) in the December 15^th edition, and 25^th (120 votes) last week.
• For the second consecutive week, the Big 12 has the most ranked teams with six (9-ISU, 11-UT, 13-KU, 17-WVU, 18-OU, 22-BU).