Overrated
1. Xavier (1)
2. Texas A&M (2)
3. Florida (3)
4. Temple (4)
5. Connecticut
Xavier is sitting just inside the top 25 this week after taking over the lead in the Atlantic 10 conference. Their lead and their ranking could both be in trouble this week, because they have to make a trip upstate to visit Dayton, and I predict that they will come out with their second conference loss in that one.
Texas A&M saved their spot on this list by escaping with a 1-point win against Oklahoma State this week, a game I thought they would lose. Still, it wasn't impressive enough to convince me that they are not overrated, and this week I'm even more confident that they'll lose, this time when they visit Baylor.
Florida somehow moved up two spots in the polls this week despite playing only one game, which was a narrow victory over LSU, one of the very worst major-conference teams in the entire country. In my eyes, they should have been moved down, even with the win. This week they will start heading down after they are blown out by Kentucky.
Temple looks poised to overtake current Atlantic 10 leader Xavier this week, but they won't finish the week unblemished. They have a huge game with Duke tomorrow, and there's a good chance they'll drop from these rankings no matter the outcome. Either they'll beat Duke and shed the tag, or they'll get blown out and drop from the top 25.
UConn moved back into the overrated rankings this week after a 13-point loss to Louisville didn't drop them as far as it should have in the polls. This week it will be the Cincinnati Bearcats that beat the Huskies, and the next week it will be West Virginia taking them down.
Underrated
1. Washington (1)
2. Belmont (2)
3. Illinois (3)
4. Maryland (4)
5. Kentucky (5)
The Washington Huskies blew a golden opportunity for a quality win with a 1-point road loss at Arizona this week, and their remaining schedule is not that difficult. They are not leaving Seattle again until the Pac-10 Tournament, which is where they are hoping for a rematch with the Wildcats.
Belmont beat their closest conference competition, East Tennessee State, by 10 points this week before blowing out bottom-dwelling USC-Upstate on Saturday. They have already clinched the regular-season conference title, but they may still need to win the conference tournament to guarantee a spot in March Madness. It's too bad they haven't been able to gain the respect they deserve.
Illinois still has to face the two best teams in the Big Ten on the road before the regular season ends, and even though Illinois is better than people think, they aren't good enough to beat those teams away from home. If they happen to pull one of them off, they could conceivably move into the polls, but I doubt it either way.
Maryland is in the same boat as Illinois, a good team from a good conference that hasn't been able to pick up a good, quality win in a while. The Terrapins play North Carolina this week, but don't expect too much from Maryland, because the Tar Heels are one of the hottest teams in the country right now.
With their blowout win over South Carolina, it appears that the Kentucky Wildcats are back. They can make an even bigger statement this week when the Florida Gators come to town, and I see a very big win in Kentucky's future.
Predictions - 22 Feb
NBA
Pacers at Wizards - Pacers by 3
Raptors at Bobcats - Bobcats by 5
Rockets at Pistons - Rockets by 1
Kings at Heat - Heat by 16
Timberwolves at Bucks - Bucks by 7
Clippers at Thunder - Thunder by 8
Grizzlies at Nuggets - Nuggets by 3
Celtics at Warriors - Celtics by 5
Hawks at Lakers - Lakers by 7
College Basketball
Illinois at (3) Ohio State - Ohio State by 13
Iowa State at (5) Texas - Texas by 18
(16) Louisville at Rutgers - Louisville by 2
Tennessee at (18 Vanderbilt - Vandy by 12
Washington at Seattle - Washington by 21
Prediction Results - 21 Feb
College Basketball: 1-1 (.500) 469-108 overall (.813)
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