We're down to two undefeated teams, and only 3 teams have one loss. The Big East was full of upsets this week, and as a result they lost a few ranked teams. Ohio State remained undefeated, the only team from a major conference remaining, and it finally paid off with the #1 ranking becoming theirs for the first time in a month. Here are this week's rankings, with team name followed by weekly record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.
1. Ohio State (3-0) (21-0) -23.90 (4)
2. Duke (2-0) (18-1) -23.34 (2)
3. Kansas (1-1) (19-1) -21.64 (1)
4. Washington (2-0) (15-4) -20.27 (3)
5. Texas (2-0) (16-3) -19.75 (13)
6. Kentucky (1-0) (15-4) -19.73 (6)
7. BYU (1-0) (19-1) -19.25 (9)
8. Wisconsin (2-0) (15-4) -18.78 (14)
9. Pittsburgh (1-1) (19-2) -18.20 (7)
10. Purdue (2-1) (17-4) -17.38 (5)
11. Vanderbilt (2-0) (14-4) -16.88 (17)
12. San Diego State (1-0) (20-0) -16.73 (11)
13. Villanova (1-0) (17-2) -16.10 (23)
14. Connecticut (2-0) (17-2) -15.82 (NR)
15. Illinois (0-1) (14-6) -15.72 (16)
16. Arizona (1-1) (16-4) -15.70 (21)
17. Georgetown (0-0) (14-5) -15.51 (20)
18. Missouri (1-0) (17-3) -15.46 (25)
19. Saint Mary's (1-1) (17-3) -15.40 (8)
20. Belmont (2-1) (18-4) -15.38 (10)
21. Louisville (1-1) (15-4) -15.07 (22)
22. North Carolina (0-0) (13-5) -14.35 (NR)
23. Notre Dame (3-0) (17-4) -14.27 (NR)
24. Maryland (1-1) (12-7) -13.46 (18)
25. UNLV (2-1) (16-5) -13.29 (15)
Dropping out
Marquette (0-2) (13-8) -13.19 (24)
West Virginia (1-1) (13-5) -13.08 (19)
Syracuse (0-2) (18-3) -12.61 (12)
Ranked teams by conference
Big East: 6
Big 10: 4
ACC: 3
Big 12: 3
MWC: 3
Pac 10: 2
SEC: 2
WCC: 1
Atl Sun: 1
Three Big East teams dropped out this week, but they were replaced by 2 Big East teams and an ACC team, so the Big East still remains the best conference, but with different contenders.
Hot
UConn has finally earned my respect, jumping clear up to #14 in my rankings after beating Marquette on the road last night in a game I had picked them to lose. I now have the Huskies ranked at #3 in the Big East, behind only Pitt and Villanova.
Villanova shook off a loss to UConn last week with a huge upset win at Syracuse, a win that sent Syracuse plunging and eventually out of the top 25. A difficult road win, especially in a tough conference, is a sure sign of a good team.
I may be starting to sound like a broken record here, but Notre Dame also proved themselves this week with a tough road win at Pitt on Monday. For some reason, the home court advantage seemed to be working in reverse this week in the Big East.
The Texas Longhorns went from thrashing their in-state rival Aggies last week to knocking off the previously undefeated Kansas Jayhawks this week, beating a top 10 team by double-digits for the second straight game. The upset over Kansas ended their home winning streak at 69 games, a streak that had started years ago.
Missouri beat a very good Iowa State team this week by a score of 87-54, not the type of score you'd expect between 2 good teams. Missouri faces off with fellow Big 12 hot team Texas on Saturday in a game that will be very important to the conference standings and tournament seeding.
Not
It's hard to believe that Syracuse was undefeated just 10 days ago, now that they have lost three in a row. The first two, against top 10 teams Pitt and Villanova, were forgiveable, but losing at home by 22 points to Big East doormat Seton Hall proves that there is something much bigger wrong with the Orange.
Saint Mary's started the week by overlooking San Diego and having to hold on for a victory, then went to Nashville and got blown out by Vanderbilt. Tomorrow they get to face off with perennial conference favorite Gonzaga, so they picked the absolute worst time to go cold.
Belmont has fallen from good graces this week by playing far beneath their potential twice, first in a 5-point win over a terrible USC-Upstate team, then losing last night at Lipscomb, a team that shouldn't have had much of a chance against the Bruins. Hopefully they can turn it around before March.
After UNLV lost to Colorado State last week, they seemed to lose their fight. They escaped with narrow victories over New Mexico and Wyoming this week, two average teams with very slim NCAA Tournament hopes, not the resume they'll need coming from the Mountain West.
West Virginia lost to in-state rival Marshall this week, a team that always seems to be their Achilles' heel, then announced that leading scorer Casey Mitchell has been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. They may have permanently punched their ticket out of the top 25.
NBA Player of the Day
None. There was no NBA player who played at a star level last night in any of the 5 games, and I don't want to water down the award, so it will go down as vacant for today.
Predictions - 26 Jan
Upset picks are in italics.
NBA
Magic at Pacers - Magic by 3
Grizzlies at Nets - Grizz by 4
76ers at Raptors - 76ers by 2
Nuggets at Pistons - Nuggets by 4
Hawks at Bucks - Bucks by 1
Thunder at Timberwolves - Thunder by 5
Clippers at Rockets - Rockets by 6
Bobcats at Suns - Suns by 5
Spurs at Jazz - Spurs by 4
Hornets at Warriors - Hornets by 4
College Basketball
(4) San Diego State at (9) BYU - BYU by 8
(7) Villanova at Providence - Nova by 5
(8) Texas at Oklahoma State - Texas by 8
Northwestern at (18) Minnesota - Minnesota by 7
West Virginia at (19) Louisville - Louisville by 8
Saint John's at (20) Georgetown - Georgetown by 12
North Carolina at Miami - North Carolina by 1
Prediction Results - 25 Jan
NBA: 4/5 (.800) 349/483 overall (.720)
College Basketball: 2/6 (.333) 322/391 overall (.824)
Upsets: 0/3 (.000) 86/139 overall (.619)
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