College hoops polls might be inconsequential noise, but that doesn't mean they're not fun to argue about. In that spirit, I present the creatively named "Poll Thoughts," which you can expect every Monday until the season is over, or until the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll voters stop being so dumb. (In other words, expect it until the season is over.)

It's the week everyone got thrown for a loop. A top 25 ballot is never easy to assemble, especially if you don't take the process at least somewhat seriously in the first place. (Right, Kevin O'Neill?) But when so many ranked teams lose to unranked teams on the road, as they did Saturday, you know you're going to get a jumbled mess of a poll on Monday. Naturally, that's exactly what happened this week.

Three previously unranked teams jumped into the poll, three ranked teams fell out, and there are a handful of questionable collective decisions up and down the poll. Let's take a gander, shall we?

• People are finally paying attention to Washington. Last week, Huskies fans were openly lamenting their absence from the top 25, and they were right to do so. Washington had three losses, sure, but they were all good losses -- two to ranked teams in Maui, one to a ranked team (Texas A&M) on the road -- and the Huskies' lack of ranking belied their thoroughly impressive statistical performance thus far. This week? The Huskies not only made it into the polls, they jumped all the way to to No. 18. And you know what? I have absolutely no problem with that. When you look at the teams from Nos. 19-25, there aren't many you'd pick to beat the Huskies on a neutral court, and there aren't many who have been as impressive as Washington to date this season.
• The other teams that went from unranked to ranked? Wisconsin and Temple. No qualms there.
• The three teams that fell out of the poll were Memphis, Vanderbilt, and Cincinnati. Let's take Memphis first: Despite their utter lack of quality wins and last week's brutal blowout to a Tennessee team that turned around and lost to Arkansas on Saturday, the Tigers still managed to notch 36 votes. How? I have no idea. Vanderbilt, meanwhile, was punished sorely for its loss to South Carolina, but since the Commodores were only ranked No. 24 last week, I suppose you can see why they fell far enough to miss out on the poll. (Though I have no idea why they got four votes less than Memphis. That's just strange.) Of the three, Cincinnati has the most legitimate gripe. All the Bearcats did last week was handle Xavier easily at home and lose to No. 7 Villanova at Villanova. Is that worth losing a poll spot over? Really? If the Bearcats thought they were being disrespected before, they'll certainly feel that today.
• Cincinnati's omission makes even less sense when you consider the teams that lost to unranked teams but managed to avoid much poll punishment themselves. Among them: No. 22 UCF, which lost at Houston; No. 24 Michigan State, which lost at Penn State; No. 20 Kansas State, which lost at Oklahoma State; 15 Kentucky, which lost at Georgia; No. 14 Texas, which lost to Connecticut at home; No. 12 Missouri, which lost at Colorado; and No. 19 Georgetown, which lost at home to West Virginia. I'm not arguing that all, or any, of those teams should suffer all that much for their losses. But all of those losses were obviously worse than Cincinnati's. The poll voters didn't seem to mind that a bunch of ranked teams lost on the road to unranked teams. That's fine. But then why drop Cincinnati out? Baffling.
• Here's a funky figure for you: At No. 11, Notre Dame has reached its highest ranking in the coaches' poll since 1985-86, when the Irish were likewise ranked No. 11 overall. The closest Notre Dame has been to that mark in recent years was its No. 19 ranking at the end of the 2007-08 season. In other words, for a variety of reasons, the Irish are having their best season in years, and they're doing it without the player (forward Luke Harangody) that defined their program from 2006-07 until his injury last season. The Irish were better last year without Harangody, and they're certainly better this year. I'm not sure anyone could have seen that one coming.
• Update: One thing I didn't notice right away, but just caught thanks to Twitter and the like: The Big East is currently dominating the polls. The 16-team league has seven teams -- Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Villanova, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Louisville, and Georgetown -- listed in the coaches' poll this week, with the aforementioned Cincinnati Bearcats sitting just outside with 64 votes. (Factor in West Virginia and St. John's, both of whom could make an appearance in the coming weeks, and the league looks even more impressive.) Does that make the Big East the best conference in the country? No, not necessarily. The Big Ten has six teams ranked, which is a larger proportion of its 11 teams than the Big East's seven is of its 16. (Math!) Besides, rankings are no way to judge a conference anyway. But if the Big East gets nine or ten teams in the NCAA tournament in March, don't be surprised. None of these squads don't seem likely to go away.