Who voted for Cornell in the A.P. Poll?

Cornell received a single vote in the A.P. Poll and it comes from Mark Berman of the Roanoke (VA) Times. Above is Berman's ballot.

Why did Berman vote for Cornell? Here is his explanation:

Well, time for the first regular-season ballot for the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

I have two new teams on my ballot: Rider and Cornell.

Yep, that's right.

Rider, after all, had the biggest win of the first week, winning at Miss. State. Knocking off a Top 25 team on the road is certainly worth a spot on my first regular-season ballot. So I booted Miss. State, which I had at No. 14 in my preseason ballot, and added Rider at No. 24. Rider was picked third in the preseason MAAC poll, behind Siena and Niagara. Siena remains on my ballot, so I have two MAAC teams in my Top 25.

Rider, which boasts the best player in the MAAC, plays UVa pretty soon. So Rider may not be done knocking off major-conference teams.

The second-most notable win of the first week was Cornell winning at Alabama, which was voted third in the West Division in the preseason SEC poll. Yes, it was only the first game for new Alabama coach Anthony Grant, but still a nice win. And Cornell is no slouch - the Big Red is the defending Ivy League champ.

Western Kentucky was No. 23 in my preseason ballot, but the Hilltoppers have not played yet. So I took them out of my ballot to make room for Cornell.

There were some other interesting wins of note in Week 1 -- San Diego beat Stanford, Texas-San Antonio beat Iowa (so the Hokies better win that game next month at Iowa), and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi crushed Oregon State (Ore. State also lost to Texas Tech).

But Cornell made the 2009 NCAAs, unlike Texas-San Antonio, Texas A&M-CC and San Diego, and the team the Big Red beat seems a bit better than Stanford, Iowa and Oregon State. So I gave Cornell the No. 25 spot instead of those other teams.

Why Rider and Cornell instead of the likes of Louisville, Clemson or Minnesota? Because Rider and Cornell have already accomplished something. Louisvile, Clemson and Minn. could certainly be in my ballot soon, but they don't have a noteworthy win yet, so I am again leaving them out of my ballot, just like I left them out of my preseason ballot.

Heck, very few teams have a noteworthy win so far. All the more reason to salute Rider and Cornell.

(updated 8:55 pm)