Is the AP Poll Undervaluing Virginia?

Back again, hoops fans, to sort out some clear AP poll bias and confusion.  Someone's got to do it, right?

I agree with the AP voters on the No. 1 team in country, at least.  Oklahoma would be, without question, the overall top seed in the dance if I was asked to draw up the tournament today.  But I think Virginia along with West Virginia, Oregon, and Miami FL are all a little (or a lot) underrated right now.   Virginia's lofty slot surprises me a bit and I'm sure it surprises a Tar Heel fan or two, but the data suggests UVa has played a little better defense against a little tougher schedule than UNC to date.  I would be willing to bet Louisville fans have no problems with where the Cavs fall in my rankings today!!

Unfortunately, I think Notre Dame and Butler have some serious work to do.

And finally, if SMU were eligible, UCLA would be heading to the NIT as of today per My Numbers, but the 'Stangs & HC Larry Brown are on the NCAA bad boys list so the Bruins get to go to Dayton as the last at large in the field.  In my field, anyway.  :)

Data as of Wednesday February 3.

rank	seed	auto	Team	W	L	OEFF	DEFF	SOS	MN Index	AP Rank
1	1	auto	Oklahoma	19	2	3	23	6	6.7	1
2	1	auto	Virginia	17	4	7	24	5	15.2	9
3	1	auto	Villanova	18	3	22	8	21	15.7	3
4	1	auto	Iowa	17	4	6	16	13	16.3	5
5	2	at large	West Virginia	18	4	31	7	19	19.0	14
6	2	at large	Xavier	19	2	21	20	36	19.2	6
7	2	at large	North Carolina	19	3	4	36	34	20.0	2
8	2	at large	Kansas	17	4	16	37	12	21.2	7
9	3	auto	Oregon	18	4	9	57	18	23.3	16
10	3	at large	Maryland	19	3	23	11	48	23.7	4
11	3	auto	Texas A&M	18	3	50	2	38	25.0	8
12	3	at large	Miami FL	16	4	20	33	33	29.8	17
13	4	at large	Michigan St.	19	4	11	28	61	32.2	10
14	4	at large	Iowa St.	16	6	8	65	7	32.8	13
15	4	at large	Purdue	19	4	36	9	82	40.2	18
16	4	at large	Texas	15	7	34	35	3	40.2	NR
17	5	at large	Kentucky	16	6	25	51	35	42.7	20
18	5	at large	USC	17	5	32	45	56	43.5	NR
19	5	at large	Utah	17	5	46	55	45	43.8	NR
20	5	at large	Baylor	17	5	13	95	46	45.3	15
21	6	at large	Louisville	18	4	45	4	96	46.5	19
22	6	auto	Wichita St.	16	5	27	10	80	46.8	21
23	6	at large	Duke	16	6	1	130	24	48.2	NR
24	6	at large	Florida	14	7	84	6	8	48.3	NR
25	7	at large	Florida St.	15	7	67	38	23	52.8	NR
26	7	at large	Arizona	17	5	12	52	93	53.7	23
27	7	at large	Seton Hall	15	6	63	26	53	53.8	NR
28	7	at large	Syracuse	16	8	62	32	25	54.7	NR
29	8	at large	Providence	18	5	117	21	69	56.7	11
30	8	at large	Dayton	18	3	98	18	113	60.7	24
31	8	at large	Colorado	17	5	77	50	83	60.8	NR
32	8	at large	Michigan	17	6	15	137	64	63.3	NR
33	9	auto	VCU	16	5	65	12	112	64.2	NR
34	9	at large	Indiana	19	4	18	48	144	64.3	22
35	9	auto	Monmouth	18	5	69	60	98	64.8	NR
36	9	at large	Saint Joseph's	18	3	97	25	125	65.7	NR
37	10	auto	Cincinnati	16	6	71	22	101	67.5	NR
38	10	at large	Texas Tech	12	8	66	62	14	68.0	NR
39	10	at large	California	14	8	72	43	42	68.2	NR
40	10	at large	South Carolina	19	3	115	30	127	68.5	25
41	11	at large	Washington	14	7	83	82	39	71.2
42	11	at large	Kansas St.	13	8	121	15	29	71.3
43	play-in	at large	Clemson	14	8	54	64	54	72.7
44	play-in	at large	Vanderbilt	12	9	101	19	17	72.7
45	play-in	at large	Pittsburgh	17	4	19	148	118	75.5
46	play-in	at large	UCLA	13	9	30	133	15	76.2
47	11	auto	Valparaiso	19	4	125	1	152	77.0
48	12	auto	William & Mary	15	6	35	166	70	78.2
49	12	auto	South Dakota St.	18	5	74	93	141	85.5
50	12	auto	San Diego St.	17	6	258	3	95	91.8
51	13	auto	Long Beach St.	11	12	64	104	2	95.3
52	13	auto	Akron	18	4	76	79	192	96.2
53	13	auto	Arkansas Little Rock	19	2	137	14	213	96.5
54	13	auto	Chattanooga	19	3	102	75	200	98.2
55	14	auto	Stony Brook	17	4	94	31	222	103.2
56	14	auto	Saint Mary's	18	2	5	116	306	122.5
57	14	auto	Belmont	16	7	28	246	167	125.7
58	14	auto	Yale	13	5	140	42	238	130.3
59	15	auto	Stephen F. Austin	15	5	89	106	282	142.5
60	15	auto	UNC Asheville	15	8	181	88	233	155.2
61	15	auto	Grand Canyon	19	3	111	129	347	157.7
62	15	auto	UAB	18	4	129	121	331	158.3
63	16	auto	North Florida	18	7	24	309	263	164.2
64	16	auto	Weber St.	15	6	141	103	332	172.7
65	play-in	auto	Texas Southern	10	11	151	198	197	192.5
66	play-in	auto	Bucknell	12	9	145	192	283	197.5
67	play-in	auto	Wagner	14	7	247	152	348	213.2
68	play-in	auto	Hampton	13	8	281	169	327	223.0
69	first 4 out		Wisconsin	13	9	87	47	30	76.3
70	first 4 out		LSU	14	8	43	87	65	78.3
71	first 4 out		Oregon St.	12	8	96	83	20	78.5
72	first 4 out		Georgia Tech	12	10	48	85	10	78.5
73	next 4 out		Notre Dame	15	6	2	222	62	79.3
74	next 4 out		Butler	15	7	14	160	74	81.3
75	next 4 out		Gonzaga	17	5	47	49	163	82.3
76	next 4 out		Georgia	12	8	144	34	32	82.3