1. Duke (2-0) (25-2) -23.21 (1)
2. Kansas (2-0) (26-2) -23.08 (3)
3. Ohio State (1-1) (26-2) -22.76 (2)
4. BYU (1-0) (25-2) -20.38 (6)
5. Texas (2-1) (24-4) -19.86 (4)
6. Washington (2-1) (19-8) -19.45 (7)
7. Purdue (2-0) (22-5) -19.20 (8)
8. Kentucky (1-0) (19-7) -18.82 (11)
9. Pittsburgh (1-1) (24-3) -18.61 (5)
10. San Diego State (2-0) (27-1) -17.63 (9)
11. Wisconsin (1-1) (20-6) -17.40 (10)
12. Georgetown (1-1) (21-6) -16.29 (12)
13. Arizona (2-0) (23-4) -15.92 (13)
14. North Carolina (1-0) (20-6) -15.71 (14)
15. Louisville (2-1) (21-7) -15.62 (24)
16. Syracuse (2-0) (23-6) -15.59 (17)
17. Belmont (2-0) (25-4) -15.33 (15)
18. Notre Dame (0-1) (21-5) -14.45 (16)
19. Maryland (1-0) (17-10) -14.42 (20)
20. Illinois (1-2) (17-11) -14.40 (19)
21. Missouri (1-0) (21-6) -14.03 (NR)
22. West Virginia (1-0) (17-9) -13.96 (NR)
23. George Mason (1-0) (23-5) -13.84 (21)
24. UNLV (1-0) (20-7) -13.643 (NR)
25. Villanova (1-1) (21-7) -13.641 (22)
Dropping out:
Vanderbilt (2-1) (20-7) -13.56 (23)
Connecticut (1-1) (20-6) -13.51 (25)
Saint Mary's (0-2) (22-6) -12.62 (18)
Ranked teams by conference:
Big East: 7
Big 12: 4
ACC: 3
Big 12: 3
MWC: 3
Pac 10: 2
SEC: 1
Atl Sun: 1
Col: 1
Bouncing In
There are some new Gaels in town. Iona is making a very strong late-season push, winning its two games this week by a combined 57 points, with both wins coming on the road. Neither opponent was very good, but the way they beat them is what's important, and they showed that they may deserve a spot in the tournament, especially if they can play as well as they did in December, when they nearly beat Syracuse on the road. Keep your eye on this team.
Utah State finally won a game over a good opponent for the first time this season, beating Saint Mary's on the road in BracketBusters last weekend. The 10-point victory helps their case for an at-large bid just in case they don't win the WAC, especially since they only have one bad loss this season, two weeks ago at Idaho.
Cincinnati has not lost a bad game all year, with all 6 of its losses coming to probable tournament teams from the Big East, and this week they strengthened their case with a big win over Louisville and a road win at Providence. They could clinch it this week with an upset of UConn.
Louisville may have lost that game to Cincinnati to start this week, but they followed up that disappointment with a huge upset of UConn and a blowout of Rutgers on the road. Look for them to continue their winning ways this week against Pitt.
Kentucky showed this week that they are not done with a huge road blowout of the South Carolina Gamecocks. They are still 3 games out of first with 4 to go, and their game with Florida this week should go a long way toward determining the SEC East champ.
Bubble Bursting
Saint Mary's was looking like they had put it all together again before they went to San Diego and lost to the San Diego Toreros, one of the worst teams in the entire country. It would have been a different story if they had been facing the top-10 ranked Aztecs from San Diego State, and maybe that's who they thought they were playing. They followed that up with a big home loss to Utah State in a game they needed in order to prove that they're March material.
Notre Dame's loss to West Virginia probably won't keep them out of March Madness, but their first loss in over a month was not even close. I've been saying for a while that the Irish are not a top 10 team, but if they get a good seed they may be setting themselves up for a second-round upset.
Kansas State may have followed up their big upset of #1 Kansas with another victory, but explain to me how the same team that beat Kansas by 16 last week only beat Oklahoma by 15 this week. Looks like that win over the Jayhawks may have been a fluke.
Minnesota spent a great deal of time on top of my overrated rankings earlier this season, and over the past month they have shown everyone exactly why. They have now lost 6 of their past 7 games, and are not looking like they have enough left to get back into the tournament picture.
Vanderbilt had been looking so good lately, pulling off huge wins over Alabama and Kentucky in their 5-game winning streak, but they again fell victim to their in-state rival Tennessee last night, the one SEC team they can't seem to play with. The Commodores fell back out of my top 25 this week, but they do have two chances left to impress the panel, closing the season against Kentucky and Florida.
NBA Player of the Day
Kevin Garnett - BOS - 24 pts, 12 reb, 6 ast, 2 blk, 11-16 FG, 2-2 FT
The Boston Celtics showed no ill effects from the long All-Star Weekend, with all of their stars playing well, with Garnett in particular having his best game in quite a while. The Celtics pulled away from Golden State in the second half, not allowing the Warriors to continue their hot streak or sneak back into the game.
Predictions - 23 Feb
Upset picks are in italics.
NBA
Rockets at Cavaliers - Rockets by 8
Pistons at Pacers - Pacers by 7
Kings at Magic - Magic by 14
Wizards at 76ers - 76ers by 11
Thunder at Spurs - Spurs by 7
Bulls at Raptors - Bulls by 8
Bucks at Knicks - Knicks by 4
Grizzlies at Timberwolves - Grizzlies by 4
Jazz at Mavericks - Mavs by 7
Hawks at Suns - Suns by 2
Clippers at Hornets - Hornets by 8
Lakers at Trail Blazers - Lakers by 2
College Basketball
(24) Temple at (1) Duke - Duke by 18
Colorado State at (7) BYU - BYU by 18
(8) Purdue at Indiana - Purdue by 6
(9) Notre Dame at Providence - Notre Dame by 4
Cincinnati at (11) Georgetown - Georgetown by 9
(12) Wisconsin at Michigan - Wisconsin by 2
Oklahoma at (17) Texas A&M - Texas A&M by 15
(19) North Carolina at North Carolina State - North Carolina by 3
Baylor at (21) Missouri - Missouri by 12
(22) Kentucky at Arkansas - Kentucky by 8
DePaul at (25) Saint John's - Saint John's by 19
UNLV at New Mexico - New Mexico by 2
Florida State at Maryland - Maryland by 9
Prediction Results - 22 Feb
NBA: 9-0 (1.000) 468-194 overall (.707)
College Basketball: 4-1 (.800) 473-109 overall (.813)
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