College Basketball Overrated and Underrated - 25 Jan

Two Big East teams left my overrated rankings this week, but not in the way I would have hoped. Villanova pulled off a huge upset in Syracuse, shedding the overrated tag along the way. Notre Dame must have taken notice, because they did the same thing last night in Pittsburgh, knocking off conference-leading Pitt on the road to prove that they belong. Two teams also left my underrated rankings, and one of those did go the right way. With Vanderbilt's upset of Saint Mary's this week, the Commodores were allowed back into the top 25, which is where they belong. UNLV, however, did not fare as well, losing by 15 at home to Colorado State, one of the average teams in the MWC. With that said, there are 4 new spots to fill in the overrated and underrated rankings, so here they are.

Overrated

1. Minnesota (1)

2. Texas A&M (2)

3. Connecticut (5)

4. Florida State

5. Syracuse

Minnesota was allowed back into the top 25 after their huge upset of Purdue two weeks ago. The problem is, it appears that the Boilermakers just had an off night. My prediction is that Purdue will avenge that loss on Saturday when the Golden Gophers come to visit them, and hopefully Minnesota will drop back out of the top 25 and back to bubble-world, where they belong.

Did nobody see the Texas-Texas A&M game last week? The Aggies were beaten in every way, never held the lead once, and never got within 18 points in the final 15 minutes of the game. Remember, this was a matchup of #10 vs. #11. Sure, the Longhorns are good, which they proved against Kansas, but the Aggies should have dropped more than one spot for that performance. After they lose to Nebraska on Saturday and Texas again on Monday, they're sure to end up closer to where they belong.

The Big East is so evenly matched this year that it scares me to put any of their teams in here, but UConn is not a top 5 team. They belong somewhere in the middle of the pack, toward the bottom of the top 25. They'll lose at Marquette tonight, but unless Louisville can beat them on the road, the Huskies will probably still remain in the top 10 of both polls.

Florida State is ranked because they beat Duke, the best team in the ACC, but they also lost to Auburn, the worst team in the SEC, so logically, they are more of an average team that is good enough to beat good teams but can still lose to bad ones. This week, they'll lose to an average team when they meet Clemson on the road.

The Syracuse Orange will follow up their back-to-back losses with a win tonight against Seton Hall, but it won't be the start of a new winning streak. The Orange have to travel to Marquette to take on a very dangerous Golden Eagle team, and I predict that they will enter February having lost 3 of their last 4.

Underrated

1. Belmont (1)

2. North Carolina

3. Marquette

4. Maryland (2)

5. Washington (3)

My crusade to get Belmont ranked has taken another step in the right direction, as they have now earned a vote in each poll. They did have a scare this week against USC-Upstate, but they should prove that they have righted the ship with 3 more conference wins this week.

North Carolina is a marginally-ranked team at best, but they don't have a single vote in this week's AP poll, which is why they're here. They did themselves no favors by losing to Georgia Tech last week, but if they beat Miami on the road tomorrow, we'll have a little better idea of how good this team really is.

Marquette's upset of Notre Dame a couple weeks ago may have only been the tip of the iceberg. If you read my overrated rankings closely, you may have noticed that I have two of those teams losing road games this week to a certain Big East team that no voter has noticed yet. If the Golden Eagles pull them both off, they are sure to make a move toward the top 25.

Maryland took a huge drop in my rankings this week after they were blown out at home by Virginia Tech, and they have yet to beat a team that is ranked, but there is something about this team that still has me believing. They should be able to pick up two wins this week, which will hopefully help them build momentum to their rematch with Duke on Groundhog Day.

Washington moved down a couple spots in the underrated rankings this week, but their move is a good one. After they beat Arizona and Arizona State by double-digits this week, they were rewarded by moving up to #18 in the polls. While I still believe they should be higher, at least they are headed in the right direction. They face another tough test this week at rival Washington State, but a win there should keep them climbing.

NBA Player of the Day

Amare Stoudemire - NYK - 30 pts, 9 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk, 13-23 FG, 4-7 FT

Stoudemire shook off his two worst games of the season with a big night against the Wizards in a game that kept Washington winless on the road and ended New York's 6-game losing streak just in time for Miami to come to town. The win may have been enough to keep Amare in the MVP race, but a win over Miami would guarantee it.

Predictions - 25 Jan

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Nuggets at Wizards - Nuggets by 6

Cavaliers at Celtics - Celts by 19

Clippers at Mavericks - Mavs by 8

Bobcats at Kings - Kings by 2

Jazz at Lakers - Lakers by 8

College Basketball

(12) Purdue at (1) Ohio State - Ohio State by 10

(5) Connecticut at Marquette - Marquette by 5

(6) Kansas at Colorado - Kansas by 7

Seton Hall at (10) Syracuse - Syracuse by 16

(23) Florida at Georgia - Georgia by 2

Belmont at Lipscomb - Belmont by 9

Prediction Results - 24 Jan

NBA: 8/10 (.800) 345/478 overall (.722)

College Basketball: 1/2 (.500) 320/385 overall (.831)

Upsets: 2/2 (1.000) 86/136 overall (.632)