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Last season, as you may recall, Xavier walk-on Tim Whelan declared that he was going to eschew repairing the teeth he damaged on Semaj Christon's elbow until Xavier was in the top 25. You may also recall that Xavier never quite reached the top 25 last year. I am sincerely hoping Whelan has long since had the requisite dental work completed, but if there's one thing we like more than walk-ons here, it's good sports, and he continues to be both. In his honor, our weekly look at the polls will bear his name long after he graduates with a degree in finance and continues on to wherever his ambition and full set of teeth lead him. Anyway...
Xavier is off to a sterling start this season. With wins over cupcake foes Gardner Webb and Morehead State bracketing a satisfying victory over SEC power (kind of) Tennessee, the Muskies are as well-positioned as they possibly could be after three games. X was under the radar at the season's outset; was this week and change enough to put them on the proverbial map?
AP Poll:
| Rank | Team | Record | Votes | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan State | 3-0 | 1,608 | 2 |
| 2 | Kansas | 2-0 | 1,523 | 5 |
| 3 | Louisville | 3-0 | 1,511 | 3 |
| 4 | Kentucky | 3-1 | 1,410 | 1 |
| 5 | Arizona | 3-0 | 1,339 | 6 |
| 6 | Duke | 2-1 | 1,320 | 4 |
| 7 | Oklahoma State | 3-0 | 1,198 | 8 |
| 8 | Ohio State | 3-0 | 1,172 | 10 |
| 9 | Syracuse | 3-0 | 1,135 | 9 |
| 10 | VCU | 3-0 | 928 | 14 |
| 11 | Memphis | 1-0 | 871 | 13 |
| 12 | Wisconsin | 3-0 | 763 | 20 |
| 13 | Gonzaga | 3-0 | 710 | 15 |
| 14 | Wichita State | 4-0 | 705 | 16 |
| 14 | Michigan | 2-1 | 705 | 7 |
| 16 | Florida | 2-1 | 619 | 11 |
| 17 | Oregon | 2-0 | 613 | 18 |
| 18 | Connecticut | 4-0 | 600 | 19 |
| 19 | New Mexico | 2-0 | 353 | 22 |
| 20 | Baylor | 3-0 | 342 | 23 |
| 21 | Iowa State | 3-0 | 296 | 21 |
| 22 | UCLA | 2-0 | 291 | 24 |
| 23 | Creighton | 3-0 | 246 | 26 |
| 24 | North Carolina | 2-1 | 213 | 12 |
| 25 | Marquette | 2-1 | 144 | 17 |
Coaches' Poll:
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | FIRST PLACE VOTES | PREVIOUS RANK | CHANGE | HI/LOW* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan State Spartans | 3-0 | 789 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 1/2 |
| 2 | Louisville Cardinals | 3-0 | 761 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 2/3 |
| 3 | Kansas Jayhawks | 2-0 | 735 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3/6 |
| 4 | Arizona Wildcats | 3-0 | 684 | 5 | 1 | 4/5 | |
| 5 | Kentucky Wildcats | 3-1 | 658 | 1 | 4 | 1/5 | |
| 6 | Duke Blue Devils | 2-1 | 630 | 4 | 2 | 4/6 | |
| 7 | Syracuse Orange | 3-0 | 601 | 7 | 7/7 | ||
| 8 | Ohio State Buckeyes | 3-0 | 597 | 9 | 1 | 8/10 | |
| 9 | Oklahoma State Cowboys | 3-0 | 541 | 12 | 3 | 9/12 | |
| 10 | Virginia Commonwealth Rams | 3-0 | 443 | 14 | 4 | 10/15 | |
| 11 | Memphis Tigers | 1-0 | 404 | 13 | 2 | 11/13 | |
| 12 | Gonzaga Bulldogs | 3-0 | 381 | 15 | 3 | 12/15 | |
| 13 | Michigan Wolverines | 2-1 | 362 | 8 | 5 | 8/13 | |
| 14 | Florida Gators | 2-1 | 359 | 10 | 4 | 8/14 | |
| 15 | Wisconsin Badgers | 3-0 | 332 | 19 | 4 | 15/21 | |
| 16 | Wichita State Shockers | 4-0 | 330 | 16 | 16/16 | ||
| 17 | Oregon Ducks | 2-0 | 275 | 18 | 1 | 17/18 | |
| 18 | Connecticut Huskies | 4-0 | 265 | 20 | 2 | 18/20 | |
| 19 | North Carolina Tar Heels | 2-1 | 208 | 11 | 8 | 11/19 | |
| 20 | New Mexico Lobos | 2-0 | 180 | 21 | 1 | 20/21 | |
| 21 | Baylor Bears | 3-0 | 131 | 25 | 4 | 21/NR | |
| 22 | Indiana Hoosiers | 4-0 | 129 | 23 | 1 | 22/24 | |
| 23 | Creighton Bluejays | 3-0 | 111 | NR | 23/NR | ||
| 24 | UCLA Bruins | 2-0 | 105 | 24 | 23/24 | ||
| 25 | Iowa Hawkeyes | 4-0 | 74 |
You'll likely notice a couple of things. First of all, our format is different. The nice people who pay our bills here at Banners went to the trouble of making these HTML charts and asked us to use them; being a fan of not paying my own bills, I complied. While Xavier did receive votes in the AP poll, that section doesn't show up here, leaving X devoid of any sort of recognition. Wednesday's game at Miami (OH) isn't likely to rocket Xavier onto the charts, though if enough teams in front of them lose, it may just.
Whelan's status: hopefully dentally intact and feeling good about it.