This week 3 of my overrated teams lost, which allowed some new teams to enter the overrated rankings, although most of them are familiar faces. Florida failed to lose at Vanderbilt, which helped them earn their way out of the top 5 overrated teams, while Villanova and Texas A&M left due to losses. Here are the final overrated and underrated rankings of the season, with previous ranking in parentheses.
Overrated
1. Xavier (2)
2. Saint John's (4)
3. Temple
4. Notre Dame
5. Kansas State
Xavier finished the regular season with 16 wins in 17 games, but the best win in that run was against Temple, who is also overrated. They are currently waiting for the winner of Massachusetts and Dayton to determine their next opponent, but they'll beat either one. They are currently the best team in the conference, but any of the top 4 seeds could easily win, and a loss to Duquesne in the semifinals could drop them from the top 25.
Saint John's lost at Seton Hall this week like I predicted, but remained highly ranked. They are hosting the Big East Tournament, which gives them a huge advantage, and I see them easily making the semis, where they would face Pitt, and if they can pull that upset, they should win the whole thing, which would probably remove them from these rankings.
Temple played a couple of close conference games this week and were able to move back in to the top 25 as a result, but I still have them on the outside by quite a distance. They do have a chance to win their conference tournament, but I see them losing to Xavier in the finals.
Notre Dame's road win over UConn was impressive, but still wasn't enough to merit the #4 ranking in my opinion. If they get a #1 seed in the NCAA's, they will probably be the first top seed to go down. I'm predicting that they will lose to either Cincinnati or Louisville in the Big East tournament, which could prevent them from getting a top seed.
Kansas State has definitely earned a spot back in the top 25 after their impressive 6-game winning streak that included wins over 3 highly-ranked opponents. I see them losing to Kansas in the semis of the Big 12 Tourney, but we all remember what happened last time these two teams played.
Underrated
1. Washington (1)
2. Illinois (4)
3. Belmont (2)
4. UNLV
5. Kentucky
Washington finished off the regular season with another loss, this time to USC, and now they have to face Washington State again in the Pac 10 Tournament, a team that has already beaten them twice. The Huskies are the best team in the conference, but they'll need to win it to guarantee an NCAA berth.
Illinois should be able to upset Michigan in the first game of the Big Ten Tournament, but I just don't see them beating Ohio State in the semifinals, no matter how important the game is to the Illini. They lost a close one at Purdue before blowing out Indiana this week, which shows that they are a quality team but not a real championship threat.
Belmont tore through the Atlantic Sun tournament, destroying North Florida 87-46 in the championship game to earn an automatic bid to March Madness. Whichever team is matched up with the Bruins in the first round better watch out, because they won't know what hit them.
UNLV finished the regular season in very strong fashion, winning their last 5 games, including a 20-point road win against Utah to end the season, and as hosts of the Mountain West tournament, I predict that they will be the upset conference champions.
Kentucky finished the season with 3 straight wins, including home victories over two ranked teams, Florida and Vanderbilt, and I don't foresee any trouble for them reaching the championship game, where they'll face either Vanderbilt or Florida again, and if they win as I'm predicting, they should be able to get a top 4 seed in March.
NBA Player of the Day
Carmelo Anthony - NYK - 34 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast, 12-16 FG, 4-5 3P, 6-6 FT
Carmelo was on fire last night, scoring 34 points out of a possible 43 on the shots he took, and the Knicks blew out the struggling Jazz as they struggle themselves to get used to new personnel. New York has been playing better when Carmelo is their best player, although last night both he and Amare had nice games, which makes them tough to beat.
Predictions - 8 Mar
Upset picks are in italics.
Possible upsets are underlined.
NBA
Lakers at Hawks - Lakers by 4
Warriors at Cavaliers - Warriors by 4
76ers at Pacers - Pacers by 1
Bucks at Wizards - Bucks by 2
Trail Blazers at Heat - Heat by 8
Rockets at Suns - Suns by 1
College Basketball
DePaul vs. (19) Connecticut - UConn by 18
Prediction Results - 7 Mar
NBA: 5-2 (.714) 538-224 overall (.706)
Upsets: 1-0 (1.000) 143-93 (.606)
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