There were quite a few upsets in college basketball this week, which caused a lot of movement in the top 25. The teams' name is followed by this week's record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.
1. Duke (1-0) (11-0) -24.10 (1)
2. Ohio State (3-0) (11-0) -23.27 (6)
3. Washington (1-0) (7-3) -20.81 (3)
4. Kansas (1-0) (10-0) -20.19 (2)
5. Pittsburgh (1-0) (11-1) -19.51 (8)
6. Vanderbilt (2-0) (9-2) -19.47 (11)
7. Kentucky (1-0) (8-2) -18.51 (4)
8. Georgetown (1-0) (10-1) -18.28 (7)
9. Purdue (2-0) (11-1) -17.72 (14)
10. Arizona (2-0) (10-2) -17.44 (9)
11. Louisville (1-0) (9-1) -17.09 (NR)
12. BYU (1-1) (11-1) -16.71 (5)
13. West Virginia (1-0) (8-2) -16.44 (10)
14. UCF (2-0) (10-0) -15.76 (25)
15. San Diego State (2-0) (13-0) -15.66 (15)
16. UNLV (2-1) (11-2) -15.62 (18)
17. Saint Mary's (1-0) (9-2) -15.39 (12)
18. Texas A&M (2-0) (11-1) -15.207 (24)
19. Syracuse (2-0) (12-0) -15.206 (22)
20. Wisconsin (0-0) (9-2) -14.75 (16)
21. Indiana (2-0) (9-2) -14.43 (NR)
22. Texas (1-0) (9-2) -14.33 (NR)
23. Butler (1-0) (6-4) -14.31 (NR)
24. Duquesne (1-0) (5-4) -14.12 (NR)
25. Belmont (3-0) (9-2) -14.08 (NR)
Dropping out:
Michigan State (1-0) (8-3) -13.99 (17)
Illinois (0-1) (10-2) -13.53 (13)
Kansas State (0-2) (9-3) -12.69 (19)
Temple (1-0) (8-2) -11.63 (20)
Drexel (1-0) (8-1) -10.78 (21)
Boston College (1-0) (9-2) -9.68 (23)
Ranked teams by conference
Big East: 5
Big 10: 4
Big 12: 3
MWC: 3
Pac 10: 2
SEC: 2
ACC: 1
CUSA: 1
WCC: 1
Hor: 1
Atl 10: 1
Atl Sun: 1
The ACC is now the only power conference with only one ranked team, while the Mountain West continues to have three ranked members from a mid-major conference. The ACC's ranked team does happen to be ranked #1, which makes the regular season more of a race for #2 in the ACC. Two of the MWC's top teams were upset this week, so they no longer have a top 10 representative.
Ohio State moved back up to #2 with 3 consecutive blowouts, and with Oakland and Indiana in its upcoming schedule, they could become #1 if they perform well. It also helps that the entire Big 10 is performing better than expected, with Purdue, Indiana, and Wisconsin all looking extra strong, and Michigan State and Illinois still with lots of potential.
Washington continues to sit much higher in my rankings than the national polls, and a big part of the reason is that all three teams they have lost to went undefeated this week, and all 3 are in the top 25 nationally and the top 26 of my rankings. The Pac 10 still isn't as strong as it was a few years ago, but it's much improved over last year.
Vanderbilt continues to be overlooked, but with wins over Belmont and a decent North Carolina team, along with close losses to Missouri and underrated West Virginia, they are a team to watch. Their late-season matchups with Kentucky should open some eyes and get them into the tournament, win or lose.
I don't think anybody expected Purdue to play this well without Robbie Hummel, but their early season schedule has been pretty tame, and with conference play starting in a week, we will see how strong they really are when they face ranked teams every week.
Louisville has beaten Butler and UNLV, both of which had good comeback weeks, and Drexel, the only team to beat them, is a favorite to win their conference and enter the NCAA Tournament. Their blowout over Gardner-Webb showed that they still are a very strong team, despite an imperfect record.
BYU's loss to UCLA was unexpected and unacceptable, but it doesn't erase what they did to both Saint Mary's and Arizona earlier this season. They play a surging UTEP team this week in a game they must win to maintain national respect.
I can't wait for UCF's matchup with Memphis in January, because the conference rivals are among the most underrated and overrated teams in the country, and it could turn into a blowout that most people will not foresee.
Indiana entered the rankings this week with two huge blowouts of small schools. Their only two losses have been on the road to good schools, but they need to show they can beat a good team on the road to stay where they are.
Texas beat North Carolina this week in a game between two teams that were lurking right outside the top 25. This week's game with Michigan State will give us a good idea which one of these teams is a contender and which is a pretender.
Butler keeps finding a way to get into the top 25 despite their 4 losses. None of the losses looks really bad, and this week's blowout of Stanford was impressive, no matter how far Stanford and the rest of the Pac 10 have fallen.
Duquesne is another 4-loss mid-major that keeps finding their way into the lower section of the rankings. Losing close games to Big East powers Pittsburgh and West Virginia helps their cause, and blowing out most of their other opponents does the rest.
Belmont is a team most people haven't even heard of, but they have only two losses, identical 85-76 scores at their larger in-state rivals, Vanderbilt and Tennessee, both of which are among the leaders of the SEC this year. A rematch with slumping Tennessee tomorrow could get them a little real attention.
NBA Player of the Day
I forgot to mention yesterday's winner, LaMarcus Aldridge, who is also the first repeat winner of the award. His 29 points and 19 rebounds powered the Trail Blazers to a 26-point demolition of the Bucks.
The best player last night was Kevin Durant, the star of the Oklahoma City Thunder. His 32 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists, helped the Thunder outscore Charlotte 31-12 in the 4th quarter and turn a close game into a blowout. This performance may help Durant move up the the MVP rankings this Friday.
Predictions - 22 Dec
College Football
(19) Utah vs. (10) Boise State - Boise State by 18
NBA
Cavaliers at Hawks - Hawks by 12
Bulls at Wizards - Bulls by 10
Pistons at Raptors - Raptors by 5
76ers at Celtics - Celtics by 14
Thunder at Knicks - Thunder by 1
Nets at Hornets - Hornets by 10
Jazz at Timberwolves - Jazz by 8
Nuggets at Spurs - Spurs by 8
Rockets at Clippers - Rockets by 2
College Basketball
(3) Kansas at California - Kansas by 9
Harvard at (4) Connecticut - Connecticut by 6
Drexel at (5) Syracuse - Syracuse by 10
American at (6) Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh by 25
(7) San Diego State vs. IUPUI - San Diego State by 16
(8) Villanova at Monmouth - Villanova by 15
(21) Illinois at (10) Missouri - Missouri by 4
(22) Texas at (12) Michigan State - Michigan State by 5
Winthrop at (14) Kentucky - Kentucky by 26
San Diego vs. (15) Baylor - Baylor by 21
Radford at (19) Florida - Florida by 35
UMBC at (20) Notre Dame - Notre Dame by 34
(25) Louisville at Western Kentucky - Louisville by 10
UCF at Massachusetts - UCF by 12
Northern Iowa at Indiana - Indiana by 18
George Mason at Duquesne - Duquesne by 8
Robert Morris at Arizona - Arizona by 15
Nevada at Washington - Washington by 32
Utah at Butler - Butler by 17
I'm not predicting any specific upsets today, but with 6 games involving top 25 teams that my formula has predicted to be within 10 points, I would guess that 2 or 3 of them will end up going against the favorite. Missouri, Michigan State, and Connecticut are the 3 I am personally thinking are most likely to go down.
Prediction Results - 21 Dec
NBA: 4/6 (.667) 177/237 overall (.747)
College Football: 1/1 (1.000) 40/55 overall (.727)
College Basketball: 6/9 (.667) 126/151 overall (.834)
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