Let’s knock out the ballot first:

1. Kansas
2. Kentucky
3. Villanova
4. Syracuse
5. Purdue
6. Duke
7. Kansas State
8. West Virginia
9. Wisconsin
10. Michigan State
11. Texas
12. BYU
13. Georgetown
14. Gonzaga
15. New Mexico
16. Ohio State
17. Tennessee
18. Temple
19. Butler
20. Vanderbilt
21. Wake Forest
22. Texas A&M
23. Pittsburgh
24. Richmond
25. Virginia Tech

According to Pollspeak.com:
* I have Wisconsin ranked higher than anyone in the country. Former N&A staffer Andy Bitter would be proud.
* Only one voter has Ohio State lower than I do (#16).
* Yes, I’m sold on Virginia Tech, after waffling for some time. If the Hokies can knock off Wake Forest tonight at Cassel Coliseum, you can start taking Tech off the bubble and move it to the “securely in the field” conversation.

Highest RPI team I don’t have ranked—Baylor (#17 according to Realtimerpi.com).
Others in the RPI Top 25 I don’t have ranked—Xavier (#20), Rhode Island (#22), California (#23), Northern Iowa (#25).
Surprising RPI fact—Michigan State, Ohio State and Texas are all outside the RPI Top 25.

******

Moving on to Liberty now ...

* I’m sure the Flames will employ the same sort of defensive strategy they did in the first meeting at Radford, a 60-55 Liberty win, with some minor tweaks, of course. In three games against Art Parakhouski-led Radford teams, Liberty has been content to let the 6-foot-11 Belorussian get his. He had 26 points and 15 rebounds in the first game but Radford got nothing from anyone else. I’m guessing the Highlanders won’t shoot 1-for-22 from 3-point range again, and even LU coach Dale Layer noted after that game that the first meeting would have had an entirely different outcome if Radford even hits two or three of those missed 3s.

The key for Liberty is to get Joey Lynch-Flohr in foul trouble and to keep Lazar Trifunovic from going off. Those two did nothing against the Flames in the first meeting, but Trifunovic is certainly capable of hurting teams (1). Since scoring eight against the Flames in that first meeting, Trifunovic has been held to single figures just once, scoring four last week against Charleston Southern.

(1)-even if he has the ugliest jump shot I’ve ever seen.

* Liberty won that first meeting without Kyle Ohman, who was out with a broken wrist. Ohman came off the bench in both games last weekend in North Carolina and scored 15 against UNC Asheville and 12 against Gardner-Webb. He didn’t look much for his perimeter jumper, going just 0-for-2 from 3-point range. But he made smart decisions and his ability to drive the lane has taken some heat off Evan Gordon and Jeremy Anderson.

* Ohman is moving up the Liberty all-time scoring list. He’s currently in 19th place with 1,050 points, 15 points shy of catching Mike Coleman for 18th. Next after that is Cliff Webber (1,100) and Eric Gordon (1,154). Gordon, of course, is Evan’s father. That’s probably as far as Ohman can realistically get (and getting to Gordon is a stretch, even), as Liberty only has five guaranteed games left.

* Two of the top three assist men in the conference are on the floor tonight—Radford’s Amir Johnson (5.7 apg, 1st) and Liberty’s Jesse Sanders (5.08 apg, 3rd).

* If Liberty wins tonight, the Flames would be the only team in the conference to own a season sweep of Radford and would grab just their second win against one of the teams in the upper half of the Big South standings. Seven of Liberty’s eight Big South wins came against the teams ranked seventh through 10th in the Big South.

* In Big South play, Liberty’s Antwan Burrus is averaging 7.4 rebounds per game.

* Interesting number here—when Liberty’s opponent shoots 50 percent or better, the Flames are 3-3. When the opponent shoots below 50 percent, the Flames are 10-10. So opponent’s shooting percentage really doesn’t seem to matter.

* This is Radford’s final road game of the regular season. The Highlanders host UNC Wilmington Saturday in a BracketBusters pool game and then host Presbyterian and Winthrop next week.