College Basketball Rankings - 15 Dec

Here are the newly updated college basketball rankings, current through all of Tuesday's games. The team's name is followed by its weekly record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.

1. Duke (2-0) (10-0) -27.18 (2)
2. Kansas (1-0) (9-0) -22.19 (3)
3. Washington (0-1) (6-3) -21.75 (7)
4. Kentucky (2-0) (7-2) -21.53 (8)
5. BYU (2-0) (10-0) -21.22 (17)
6. Ohio State (2-0) (8-0) -21.14 (1)
7. Georgetown (1-1) (9-1) -21.02 (10)
8. Pittsburgh (1-1) (10-1) -19.64 (5)
9. Arizona (1-1) (8-2) -18.42 (4)
10. West Virginia (1-0) (7-2) -18.35 (16)
11. Vanderbilt (0-1) (7-2) -17.62 (13)
12. Saint Mary's (2-0) (8-2) -17.57 (6)
13. Illinois (2-0) (10-1) -17.54 (19)
14. Purdue (1-0) (9-1) -17.42 (12)
15. San Diego State (3-0) (11-0) -16.62 (14)
16. Wisconsin (3-0) (9-2) -16.13 (20)
17. Michigan State (1-0) (7-3) -16.01 (NR)
18. UNLV (1-1) (9-1) -15.91 (11)
19. Kansas State (1-0) (9-1) -15.41 (NR)
20. Temple (2-0) (7-2) -15.13 (NR)
21. Drexel (2-0) (7-1) -15.05 (NR)
22. Syracuse (1-0) (10-0) -14.68 (NR)
23. Boston College (2-0) (8-2) -14.58 (25)
24. Texas A&M (2-0) (9-1) -14.51 (NR)
25. UCF (1-0) (8-0) -14.23 (9)

Dropping out:

Florida (1-0) (7-2) -13.97 (21)
Louisville (2-1) (8-1) -13.70 (18)
Connecticut (1-0) (8-0) -13.63 (22)
Tennessee (1-1) (7-1) -13.31 (15)
Butler (1-1) (5-4) -11.13 (24)
Missouri State (0-1) (6-3) -8.61 (23)

Ranked teams by conference:

Big 10: 5
Big East: 4
Big 12: 3
MWC: 3
ACC: 2
Pac 10: 2
SEC: 2
WCC: 1
Atl 10: 1
Col: 1
CUSA: 1

The Washington Huskies moved up this week despite losing their only game, but closer inspection shows that all three of the Huskies' losses came to teams that are currently in my top 25, all were by 7 or fewer points, and none was a home game for Washington. Add to that the fact that all 3 of those teams made big moves in this week's rankings, and Washington was helped out by association.

Kentucky moved up with a strong week, but they remain behind Washington, who they have beaten, based on the fact that they have two losses to teams not currently ranked (Connecticut and North Carolina). Those losses are both to quality opponents who may be ranked again before too long, so it shouldn't hurt them in the long run.

BYU made a huge leap this week with a huge win over a very underrated Arizona Wildcats team. Add in their win over Saint Mary's, this year's top team in the WCC, and solid wins over tournament contenders Utah State and Vermont, and this BYU team may be even better than last year's.

Ohio State lost its spot at the top by playing only one opponent this week, who happened to be a very weak one. Their only impressive win, over Florida, has been devalued by the Gators' loss to UCF, but they are still the team to beat in the Big 10.

With Georgetown and Pittsburgh both losing this week, another Big East team entered the top 10, and it's a familiar face. West Virginia already has impressive wins over Oakland, Duquesne, and Vanderbilt, and lost close games to Miami and Minnesota, both decent bubble teams. The Big East appears to be a conference full of good teams that is lacking a great team.

Saint Mary's dropped out of the top 10 this week, not because of their two losses, which are both to undefeated teams, but because they didn't look completely dominant in their win over Cal-Riverside. It took a big run that started with 14 minutes left to finally put away a game that should have been decided much earlier.

Illinois' big move this week was facilitated by Oakland's big upset of Tennessee last night. Oakland has proven that it can play with the big boys, and the Fighting Illini's 11-point victory may be looking even more impressive in coming weeks.

Michigan State finally entered my top 25 this week, also buoyed by their win over Oakland, but also because their losses are all against good opponents. Their win over Washington will continue to look more and more impressive as the season progresses, and they seem like a safe bet to return to the NCAA Tournament.

UNLV took a hit with a loss to Louisville, but it still doesn't diminish the value of their win over Wisconsin. Their upcoming game with Kansas State should open some eyes about the strength of this team and the Mountain West in general.

Temple followed up their unexpected upset of Georgetown this week with a huge blowout of the Akron Zips. Their loss to Texas A&M is now looking a little better too, and a visit to Villanova at the end of the month may be a good opportunity to pull another big-name upset over a Big East leader.

Drexel proved they belong in the top 25 with their upset of previously undefeated Louisville yesterday, and they may be able to stick around if they can pull off another one when they visit Syracuse next Wednesday. They should be one of the underdogs to watch come tournament time.

Syracuse followed up their big win over Michigan State last week with the most dominant win I've seen out of any team this year, a 100-43 win over Colgate that was 47-8 at halftime. Not that the game should have been close by any means, but it's pretty impressive when one team's first half scoring would have been enough to win the game.

Texas A&M finally climbed into the rankings after sitting at #26 for the past two weeks. They were helped this week by Temple's win over Georgetown and their upset win over the Washington Huskies, and their only loss so far was by two points to the Boston College Eagles, who are ranked one spot ahead of them.

UCF was not as impressive as I would have hoped this week, not pulling away from Bethune-Cookman until the second half. They still have a lot of talent and that big win over Florida, but they can't have any more letdown games in the near future, with no opponents currently in my top 25 remaining on the schedule.

Florida dropped from the top 25 based on the weak performance of UCF, who they lost to, in their game this week. Connecticut dropped because of the incredibly weak nature of the opponents they have played over the past two weeks. They don't really have a chance to impress me until December 27, when they play Pittsburgh, and I just don't see them pulling the upset after a straight month of playing cupcakes.

The Big 10 surpassed the Big East this week as the conference with the most ranked teams, after a week in which most of the Big East struggled. The Missouri Valley and Horizon leagues lost their only ranked teams to defeat, and Butler and Missouri State may not be back this year. The Mountain West continues to be the only mid-major with more than one ranked team, and with only one loss among the top 3 in the conference, there could be some very exciting games coming up within the conference this year.

Predictions - 15 Dec

NBA

Lakers at Pacers - Lakers by 2
Celtics at Knicks - Celtics by 7
Clippers at 76ers - 76ers by 8
Bulls at Raptors - Bulls by 4
Cavaliers at Heat - Heat by 21
Kings at Hornets - Hornets by 14
Rockets at Thunder - Thunder by 5
Bobcats at Grizzlies - Grizzlies by 4
Bucks at Spurs - Spurs by 11
Timberwolves at Suns - Suns by 9
Blazers at Mavericks - Mavericks by 8

College Basketball

Florida-Gulf Coast at (2) Ohio State - Ohio State by 36
Bethune-Cookman at (9) Baylor - Baylor by 25
Akron at (20) Minnesota - Minnesota by 19
Cal-Santa Barbara at (22) UNLV - UNLV by 14
Louisiana-Lafayette at UCF - UCF by 25

Prediction Results - 14 Dec

NBA: 6/7 (.857) 135/183 overall (.738)
College Basketball: 2/4 (.500) 85/101 overall (.842)