How can North Carolina drop two spots after beating Louisville?

I have no idea.

But one voter did drop UNC two spots after the Tar Heels beat Louisville -- and then he did some other silly things, too. Bless his heart. I actually like the guy.

But the Poll Attacks have no friends.

Let's get it!

Associated Press poll: Nobody likes what Shaka Smart has done with VCU more than I like what Shaka Smart has done with VCU, and I had the Rams ranked as high as 10th at one point this season based mostly on preseason expectations and somewhat on their early win at Virginia. But, like I've said many times, the results have to matter, and most people seem to agree, which is why VCU fell from 10th to unranked in the latest AP poll.

I also have VCU unranked in the Top 25 (and one).

And then there's Elton Alexander.

He has the Rams ranked 14th even though the Rams are 4-2 with a lopsided loss to unranked Florida State and another loss to unranked Georgetown. (No, neither FSU nor Georgetown appear on Alexander's ballot.) Among the schools Alexander has ranked behind VCU is the undefeated Oregon team that beat the Georgetown team that, you know, beat VCU. The undefeated Connecticut team that owns a win over Indiana, and the undefeated Iowa State team that owns a win over Michigan, are both also behind VCU on Alexander's ballot, and, it's worth pointing out, that he has Michigan ahead of Iowa State even though Michigan is 4-2 with losses to Charlotte and -- are you following this? -- Iowa State.

But wait.

It gets better.

Alexander also has Louisville ranked fifth and North Carolina ranked 24th.

That's too high for Louisville and too low for UNC.

I'm assuming he didn't watch Sunday's game. And making that decision even more confusing is the fact that -- you're not gonna believe this! -- Alexander actually had North Carolina ranked 22nd last week, meaning he dropped the Tar Heels two spots after they beat Richmond and Louisville. Make sense of that, if you can. Again, North Carolina beat Louisville and dropped on Alexander's ballot. Ol' Roy just can't win with some people, I guess.

Coaches poll: There is a running theory in college basketball circles that the Coaches poll is the silliest of all the polls because it's a poll comprised by votes that come from A) coaches who do not watch much basketball outside of film of teams on their schedules, or B) sports information directors, meaning, in that case, it's not really a coaches poll at all.

I've long believed it's a reasonable theory.

And, today, I submit actual proof in the form of New Mexico State's seven points.

Just so we're clear, let me say this: New Mexico State is a perfectly reasonable team that could and possibly should win the Western Athletic Conference, and Sim Bhullar is something you need to see, at some point. So please don't interpret this as a knock on New Mexico State.

That's not what this is.

What this is a knock on the careless folks voting in the coaches poll, because there's neither a reason nor way that New Mexico State legitimately got seven points in the Coaches poll. Why do I think that? Because the Aggies didn't get any votes in the preseason. On on Nov. 11. Or on Nov. 18. And yet suddenly, when the poll was released today, the Aggies had seven points even though they've done nothing notable this season other than lose to Western Michigan.

They're 5-1 overall.

That's fine.

But the five wins all came against opponents ranked outside the top 100 at KenPom.com, and, again, that one loss is to a Western Michigan team ranked 179th at KenPom. In other words, there's no way somebody who wasn't voting for NMSU in the preseason would be voting for NMSU now, and yet the Aggies got seven points in this week's poll.

And you know why, don't you?

Because somebody put New Mexico State on a ballot when he meant to put New Mexico.

That's the only logical explanation.

It's also really stupid.

And careless.

And evidence that the coaches poll is just as silly as most think.