Blog was a little quiet last week, as it was the first time in a long time that I can remember only covering one game during the week. Such is the way the schedule falls, so I’m not complaining. It did give me a little chance to do some feature work, so check out these two stories if you missed them last week:

Feature on Virginia associate head coach Ritchie McKay.

Feature on the HCYA program that has produced a pipeline of basketball talent going from Houston to Lynchburg.

Moving on, here’s my AP Top 25 ballot from this week:

1. Kansas
2. Villanova
3. Syracuse
4. Kentucky
5. Michigan State
6. Texas
7. Purdue
8. Georgetown
9. BYU
10. Duke
11. West Virginia
12. Kansas State
13. Tennessee
14. Gonzaga
15. Temple
16. Wisconsin
17. Vanderbilt
18. Butler
19. Northern Iowa
20. Baylor
21. Mississippi
22. New Mexico
23. Florida State
24. Pittsburgh
25. Cornell

Some discussion points:

* First, if you’re not aware of the Web site Pollspeak.com, it’s worth bookmarking. Basically, it offers transparency across the board for voters in the Associated Press polls for football and basketball. Which is a good thing. It holds voters accountable. We’re not perfect, and sometimes a team slips under the radar. There’s no secret that a voter in say, Lynchburg, will watch more ACC and Big South basketball than a voter in Portland, Ore. And that Portland voter is going to have a better grasp of Big Sky and Pac-10 hoops than I do, even though I must say there’s nothing better than staying up for those 11 p.m. WAC and Pac-10 tips that show up on CSN and ESPNU.

ANYWAY ...

You can basically click for a report on any voter in the poll, and it will show his or her ballot with some extra information. A click on my name reveals:

—At No. 6, I have Texas ranked higher than anyone in the country.
—At No. 9, I have BYU ranked higher than anyone in the country.
—Only two voters have West Virginia ranked lower than I do (No. 11).
—Only three voters have New Mexico ranked lower than I do (No. 23).
—I’m one of only five voters to have Ohio State unranked.

So, these are polls for a reason. It’s boring if everyone turns in the same ballot, and there’s no real RIGHT ballot. That’s why we have a tournament in college basketball. These polls are fun, but for the most part, useless in the grand scheme of things.

But on the Buckeyes. They’ve lost six games. I’m completely aware that three of those losses came with Evan Turner out with a broken back. Fair enough. But you can’t just ignore those games. Basketball is more than a one-man sport, and two of those losses were somewhat unsightly—at Michigan, at Minnesota. Since Turner returns, Ohio State had a great win (at Purdue) and a nice win (at home against Wisconsin), and I’ve had my eye on them, but I just haven’t felt completely compelled to put them back in my ballot. So I was a little stunned to see OSU come in at No. 13 this week. The Buckeyes are one of the more overrated teams if you take the RPI into consideration. OSU comes in today at No. 31 in the RPI according to the Web site RealtimeRPI.com.

Then again, if I use that rationale, then I’ve got Ole Miss WAY overrated. The Rebels are ranked No. 46 in the RPI, and in theory, belong nowhere near my ballot.

Mea culpa. It was a mistake.

No NCAA bids were harmed in the process of turning in this ballot, though, so really, it’s OK. The tournament committee doesn’t put a whole lot of credence into AP or Coaches poll rankings. Though I’ll admit, I should have ranked Ohio State and dropped Ole Miss. I’ll defend keeping Florida State in, though, ahead of Georgia Tech. FSU lost to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium last week but gutted out a good win at Boston College. There aren’t many teams in the country that go into Cameron and win, so it’s a little tough to ding the ‘Noles too much for that one. It was a competitive game for the most part. And BC has been a tricky venue for ACC foes, so I give FSU credit for winning that game.

With BYU, I wasn’t going to punish the Cougars too much for losing at New Mexico, another traditionally difficult venue. It’s not like the Cougs were blown off the floor. New Mexico is a good, ranked team, and in theory, the Lobos were probably the favorites in that game.

Moving on…Seven games I’ll be paying attention to this week on the national stage. Rankings reflect how the teams stand on my ballot:

—No. 2 Villanova at No. 8 Georgetown, Saturday—I grew up in the D.C. area and watched a steady feast of Georgetown-Nova and Georgetown-Syracuse as a kid. This feels like good, old school Big East basketball. Villanova can really put the clamps on a No. 1 seed with a win here.

—No. 5 Michigan State at No. 16 Wisconsin, tonight —Sparty has cruised along pretty good in the Big Ten lately, but Mad-town is a pretty difficult place to escape with a victory. Wouldn’t be shocked at all if Bucky won this one.

—No. 9 BYU at UNLV, Saturday—The Rebels need this one a lot more than the Mormons do. UNLV could stand to grab one more quality win to assure itself of an NCAA bid, and this would certainly count as that.

—Georgia Tech at No. 10 Duke, Thursday—The Wreck needs a big time ACC road win, and this would be a great opportunity for that.

—No. 24 Pittsburgh at No. 11 West Virginia, Wednesday—The Mountaineers have obviously been flying under my radar a bit, even with some great wins of late (against Marshall and Ohio State). Pitt is slumping and needs this one in the worst way.

—No. 14 Gonzaga at Memphis, Saturday—Trap game for the Zags, who host rival Portland in a WCC game Thursday. Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans aren’t walking through those Pyramid doors, but Memphis can still be plucky. The Tigers stand at No. 78 in the RPI, and this would be a bad loss for Gonzaga.

—No. 15 Temple at Richmond, Saturday—The Spiders can really work their way into the bubble conversation with a win here.

—Wichita State at No. 19 Northern Iowa, Wednesday—UNI’s only MVC blemish was a loss to Gregg Marshall’s bunch in Kansas.

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Look for periodic posts on the blog in the upcoming weeks breaking down some of the signees from Liberty’s football signing class, which will be announced tomorrow. The press conference at 4 p.m. at the Football Operations Center is open to the public, but I won’t be there, as I’ll be en route to Charlottesville for the Virginia-N.C. State clash tomorrow. We’ll still have quotes from coach Danny Rocco in the paper. I’m meeting with him earlier in the day. Look for a full list and a Liberty story in the Thursday paper, and ongoing updates in the blog in the coming weeks on the players who sign. That should tide everyone over until spring practice starts.

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This kind of came out of nowhere this weekend, but Gary McCann, who covered Winthrop for the last five years for the Rock Hill Herald, retired at the end of the month, handing the reins of the beat over to staff writer Karl Lyles.

If you’ve paid attention to Big South hoops over the years, I’m sure you’ve read some of McCann’s work. His farewell column can be found here.

Winthrop visits Liberty for an 8 p.m. tip Thursday. The game can be seen on ESPN360.com, along with ESPN Full Court and Liberty’s in-house Flames Sports Network.

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Coverage note for Thursday ... I won’t be covering the women’s game that precedes the women’s game, the 5 p.m. tip between North Carolina Central and Liberty. It would be difficult to get anything written between games, and deadline will probably be a pretty major concern that night considering the men’s game tips at 8 and there’s a possibility we’ll have early deadlines with more incoming weather to deal with.

I shouldn’t complain, though. N&A Tech stalwart Nathan Warters gets a 9 p.m. tip in Blacksburg for the Hokies and North Carolina.

Of course, I’ll be courtside for the huge game next Monday between Liberty and Gardner-Webb, the two teams tied for first place in the Big South. Should be quite the entertaining battle, and I’d honestly be a little surprised if these two teams don’t meet again on a Sunday in March with an NCAA tournament berth on the line.

I’ll be back Thursday with a pre-game post for the Winthrop game.