Duke finally lost a game this week, which left only 3 undefeated teams in the entire country. Losing did create an opening at #1, and there were many teams that made a case for the top ranking this week. Here are this week's rankings, with team name followed by this week's record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.
1. Kansas (3-0) (18-0) -23.37 (3)
2. Duke (1-1) (16-1) -22.72 (1)
3. Washington (1-1) (13-4) -21.81 (4)
4. Ohio State (2-0) (18-0) -21.27 (2)
5. Purdue (0-2) (15-3) -19.57 (5)
6. Kentucky (1-1) (14-4) -18.93 (7)
7. Pittsburgh (3-0) (18-1) -18.74 (10)
8. Saint Mary's (2-0) (16-2) -18.43 (8)
9. BYU (1-0) (18-1) -18.42 (6)
10. Belmont (2-0) (16-3) -18.06 (11)
11. San Diego State (2-0) (19-0) -17.88 (12)
12. Syracuse (2-1) (18-1) -16.40 (20)
13. Texas (1-0) (14-3) -16.33 (9)
14. Wisconsin (1-0) (13-4) -16.08 (18)
15. UNLV (1-1) (14-4) -16.06 (14)
16. Illinois (1-1) (14-5) -15.84 (19)
17. Vanderbilt (1-1) (12-4) -15.84 (16)
18. Maryland (1-1) (11-6) -15.57 (15)
19. West Virginia (2-0) (12-4) -15.35 (23)
20. Georgetown (2-1) (14-5) -15.23 (21)
21. Arizona (1-0) (15-3) -15.18 (17)
22. Louisville (1-1) (14-3) -14.96 (13)
23. Villanova (2-1) (16-2) -14.34 (24)
24. Marquette (1-1) (13-6) -13.99 (25)
25. Missouri (2-1) (16-3) -13.62 (NR)
Dropping Out:
North Carolina (2-1) (13-5) -13.53 (22)
Ranked teams by conference:
Big East: 7
Big 10: 4
Big 12: 3
MWC: 3
ACC: 2
Pac 10: 2
SEC: 2
WCC: 1
Atl Sun: 1
Kansas took the top spot this week after beating three strong conference rivals in a row, with two of those on the road. They continue to face tough competition this week with Texas and Colorado on deck, but they should be able to beat both of them, which should keep them in the top spot.
Duke only dropped one spot following their loss to Florida State, and a large part of the reason is that the Seminoles were already a top 50 team before the upset, and they were playing at home, so a close game was already expected. Their next big test comes at the end of the month when they go on the road to face Saint John's and Maryland, either of which could knock them off.
Ohio State dropped two spots this week despite remaining undefeated and having 3 of the top 5 lose. They beat their two opponents this week by a combined 7 points, and neither Penn State nor Michigan is looking like a tournament-quality team at this point in the season.
Purdue didn't drop at all after losing both of its games this week, but neither was a blowout, and both were to quality opponents. While I don't feel that Minnesota is as good as advertised, they are not a bad team, and West Virginia was expected to beat them at home, at least in my opinion.
Pittsburgh beat a very good Georgetown team on the road by 15 points last Wednesday, then beat Syracuse, who had been undefeated up to that point, to take the lead in the race for the Big East title. A close neutral-site loss to Tennessee probably won't hurt them at all in the long run.
Belmont entered the top 10 for the first time this week after finally receiving a vote in one of the national polls. As dominant as they were before this week, they stepped it up another notch this week, beating two more conference opponents by a combined 71 points. It's time for more voters to start noticing the "other" Bruins.
Syracuse's wins over Saint John's and Cincinnati were both better than expected, then they lost a very tough road game at Big East leader Pittsburgh. Their play this week clearly separated them from the rest of the Big East pack and put them solidly in 2nd place in the nation's best conference.
Texas played only once this week, against Big 12 doormat Oklahoma, but a 20-point win over the Sooners wasn't enough to keep the Longhorns in the top 10, especially since Texas A&M and Baylor just beat the Sooners by similar margins.
Wisconsin moved up after upsetting Illinois, who followed up that upset by taking one of their own against Michigan State. The combination of the two pushed the Badgers up 4 spots and the Illini up 3, giving the Big 10 a couple of possible challengers to Ohio State, who hasn't been playing quite as well lately.
West Virginia started the week with a 30-point blowout of Providence, then capped it off with an upset of Purdue, one of the best teams in the country. The Mountaineers have managed to move up to #21 in the AP poll while still sitting outside the top 25 according to the coaches. It may be easy to overlook them with all the quality teams in the Big East, but they have proven they belong up with the rest.
Louisville didn't play as well as they should have in a loss at Villanova, then needed a miraculous comeback to beat Marquette at home later in the week. I thought that the Cardinals were the #2 team in the Big East, but Syracuse took that honor from them this week, and Louisville rejoined the pack fighting for third.
Every time I write Missouri off, they go and post another impressive victory, this time beating up the Kansas State Wildcats by 16 points on Monday night. I expected the upset, I just didn't expect the blowout. It will be interesting to see how they play in Austin this week.
North Carolina punched their ticket out of the top 25 when they lost by 20 points to Georgia Tech, a team they would have beaten when playing their best basketball. The Tar Heels have been far too inconsistent lately to have a realistic chance of beating Duke next month.
NBA Player of the Day
LeBron James - MIA - 34 pts, 10 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl, 11-30 FG, 10-11 FT
Even though the Heat lost again in James' return and his overall performance wasn't anything out of the ordinary, the fact that there were only two games last night and that the two best players were both on losing teams gave LeBron yet another Player of the Day award. Whether he keeps his lead in the MVP rankings on Friday is another matter, especially with Miami on a 4-game slide.
Predictions - 19 Jan
Upset picks are in italics.
NBA
Suns at Cavaliers - Suns by 7
Jazz at Nets - Jazz by 5
76ers at Magic - Magic by 8
Pistons at Celtics - Celtics by 13
Grizzlies at Hornets - Hornets by 5
Wizards at Bucks - Bucks by 8
Knicks at Rockets - Rockets by 4
Raptors at Spurs - Spurs by 14
Lakers at Mavericks - Lakers by 1
Thunder at Nuggets - Nuggets by 4
Trail Blazers at Kings - Blazers by 5
Pacers at Warriors - Warriors by 1
Timberwolves at Clippers - Clippers by 6
College Basketball
Iowa at (1) Ohio State - Ohio State by 22
(5) Duke at North Carolina State - Duke by 12
Air Force at (6) San Diego State - San Diego State by 21
(10) Texas A&M at (11) Texas - Texas by 9
Penn State at (13) Purdue - Purdue by 18
Saint John's at (15) Louisville - Louisville by 10
Cincinnati at (16) Notre Dame - Notre Dame by 6
San Diego at (21) Saint Mary's - Saint Mary's by 36
Marshall at West Virginia - West Virginia by 15
Mississippi at Vanderbilt - Vanderbilt by 18
Colorado State at UNLV - UNLV by 16
Prediction Results - 18 Jan
NBA: 0/2 (.000) 306/428 overall (.715)
College Basketball: 3/4 (.750) 293/347 overall (.844)
Upsets: 1/1 (1.000) 73/117 overall (.624)
The upset streak is alive and well at 14.
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