My Take: Why the Basketball rankings don't work...

It's that time of year yet again. The snow is flying, and so are the basketballs. But it isn't the time for the polls quite yet.

College football polls are somewhat valuable because of their roll in the BCS, but college basketball? Those polls are irrelevant because of the limited impact they have on the tournament, and at this time of year how accurate are the polls.

The answer is of course not accurate at all. Just take a look at this past week if you want proof. Take a look at Tennessee in particular.

Last weekend the Volunteers upset Pittsburgh in the "Steel City" for the first time in what feels like ages. Then this week the boys from Rocky Top dropped not one, but two games to mid-majors. Losing to Oakland on Tuesday, and then dropping a close on to UNC-Charlotte on Friday night.

Other great examples of how the rankings do not work would come from Saturday. When a total of four top 25 teams went down, and three of them to non-ranked opponents. Add in close victories by Kansas, and Texas to tilt the scale on top of that.

The truth of the matter is that basketball rankings really don't fully take shape until the conference schedule starts. Too many times we find teams that probably should have never been in the top 25, or perhaps teams that should have but will not work their way into position until February. So why not start the polls in January...at least then it would make sense.