College Basketball Rankings - 19 Mar

This is a special edition of the college basketball rankings, with only the 32 teams currently alive in the NCAA Tournament included. The teams will each have their actual nationwide ranking included, as well as their pre-tournament ranking in parentheses.

1. Duke (1)

2. Ohio State (2)

3. Kansas (3)

4. Purdue (11)

5. Pittsburgh (7)

6. Texas (4)

7. Wisconsin (12)

8. San Diego State (6)

9. Kentucky (5)

10. BYU (9)

11. Washington (8)

12. Syracuse (15)

13. North Carolina (13)

14. Notre Dame (16)

16. Connecticut (17)

17. Illinois (18)

19. Florida (21)

20. Cincinnati (30)

21. West Virginia (27)

23. Gonzaga (25)

24. Arizona (19)

25. Marquette (31)

27. George Mason (33)

31. Michigan (43)

32. Kansas State (34)

34. Florida State (36)

40. Temple (42)

45. Butler (41)

53. Richmond (51)

63. UCLA (66)

65. VCU (85)

83. Morehead State (87)

Best Teams Out

15. Louisville (14)

18. Belmont (10)

22. Maryland (22)

26. Virginia Tech (26)

28. Vanderbilt (24)

Most Impressive in First Round

1. VCU

2. Cincinnati

3. Michigan

4. Purdue

5. Wisconsin

Least Impressive Winners

1. Kentucky

2. Arizona

3. San Diego State

4. Washington

5. Kansas

NBA Player of the Day

LeBron James - MIA - 43 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 16-21 FG, 5-7 3P, 6-7 FT

Miami is back on top, and a big game from LeBron is the reason why. The Heat have now won four of their last 5, including wins over the Lakers and Spurs, the two best teams in the West. LeBron scored 23 points in the third quarter alone, and put up the most points he has scored since the 51 he put on Orlando in early February.

Predictions - 19 Mar

Possible upsets are underlined.

NBA

Cavaliers at Clippers - Clippers by 10

Nuggets at Heat - Heat by 6

Celtics at Hornets - Celtics by 1

Pacers at Grizzlies - Grizz by 5

Bobcats at Spurs - Spurs by 13

76ers at Trail Blazers - Blazers by 3

NCAA Tournament

(5) West Virginia vs. (4) Kentucky - Kentucky by 4

(7) UCLA vs. (2) Florida - Florida by 6

(13) Morehead State vs. (12) Richmond - Richmond by 4

(7) Temple vs. (2) San Diego State - San Diego State by 7

(8) Butler vs. (1) Pittsburgh - Pitt by 8

(11) Gonzaga vs. (3) BYU - BYU by 4

(5) Kansas State vs. (4) Wisconsin - Wisconsin by 6

(6) Cincinnati vs. (3) Connecticut - UConn by 2

Prediction Results - 18 Mar

NBA: 8-4 (.667) 596-249 overall (.705)

NCAA Tournament: 14-2 (.875) 28-8 overall (.778)

Upsets: 3-2 (.600) 158-109 overall (.592)

College Basketball Rankings - 9 Mar

The regular season has ended, and most conferences are in the middle of their conference tournaments. In four days we will know exactly which teams will be competing for the championship this year. Only one team in my top 25 has finished the season (Belmont) and earned their tournament bid, but the rest should follow this week. Here are the final rankings of the regular season, with team name followed by weekly record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.

1. Ohio State (1-0) (29-2) -22.62 (1)
2. Kansas (2-0) (29-2) -21.12 (2)
3. Duke (1-1) (27-4) -20.48 (3)
4. Texas (1-0) (25-6) -17.35 (7)
5. Purdue (0-1) (25-6) -17.31 (5)
6. BYU (1-1) (28-3) -17.24 (4)
7. Pittsburgh (2-0) (27-4) -17.15 (6)
8. Kentucky (1-0) (22-8) -16.45 (10)
9. San Diego State (1-0) (29-2) -16.08 (8)
10. North Carolina (2-0) (24-6) -15.94 (13)
11. Washington (1-1) (20-10) -15.91 (9)
12. Syracuse (1-0) (25-6) -15.55 (14)
13. Wisconsin (1-1) (23-7) -15.38 (11)
14. Belmont (3-0) (30-4) -15.16 (12)
15. Louisville (1-1) (23-8) -14.32 (16)
16. Notre Dame (1-0) (25-5) -14.21 (15)
17. Illinois (1-0) (19-12) -13.91 (19)
18. Cincinnati (2-0) (24-7) -13.12 (NR)
19. Georgetown (0-1) (21-9) -12.75 (18)
20. UNLV (1-0) (23-7) -12.62 (NR)
21. Florida (1-0) (24-6) -12.61 (25)
22. Arizona (2-0) (25-6) -12.54 (21)
23. Connecticut (1-2) (22-9) -12.38 (23)
24. Utah State (2-0) (28-3) -12.26 (NR)
25. West Virginia (2-0) (20-10) -12.17 (22)

Dropping out:
Vanderbilt (0-1) (21-9) -12.10 (17)
Marquette (1-2) (19-13) -12.03 (24)
Maryland (0-2) (18-13) -10.82 (20)

Ranked teams by conference:
Big East: 8
Big 10: 4
MWC: 3
Big 12: 2
ACC: 2
SEC: 2
Pac 10: 2
Atl Sun: 1
WAC: 1

Bubbling Up

Cincinnati ended the regular season in style, winning by 7 at Marquette before whipping Georgetown by 22 at home to close it out. For a team that opened the season with low expectations, this season couldn't have gone much better, with all 7 of their losses coming to Big East opponents that will be playing in March.

Utah State made a statement in their final regular season game, beating Louisiana Tech 72-30 on the road and allowing just 15 points in each half of the game. They are the runaway favorites to win the WAC title and earn a return trip to the NCAA's.

UNLV closed out their season with a 20-point road win at Utah, wrapping up a season that included just two losses to unranked teams. They may not have beaten BYU or San Diego State in the regular season, but they are the hottest of the three teams right now, and the conference tournament is on their home court, so I am picking them to take the automatic bid.

Syracuse took out a lot of frustration on DePaul in their final game of the season, winning the contest 107-59 after maintaining a 20-point lead for the final 32 minutes of the game. The win earned the Orange a double bye in the Big East tournament, which could come in very handy in this very deep conference.

Drifting Down

I've been a big proponent of Maryland all season long, but after losing to Miami and Virginia to close out the season in two games that weren't even close, the Terrapins have dropped from my rankings and from tournament contention. It was the first time all season they had lost back-to-back games that they should have won.

Being swept by a New Mexico team that probably won't make the tournament wasn't a good way to celebrate a huge victory over San Diego State, but that's what happened to BYU this week. The loss came on the heels of the suspension of their leading rebounder, and they'll have to use the Mountain West tournament as practice on how to play without Davies.

Vanderbilt moved up a little after nearly beating Kentucky on the road last week, but then they didn't take that momentum and turn it into an upset of Florida like I would have liked to see. The game caused the two teams to switch positions in my rankings and left Vandy cold heading into the conference tourney.

George Mason lost for the first time in nearly two months this week, dropping a game to VCU in the conference semifinals, but their spot in March Madness is still safe. They haven't beaten any ranked teams this year, but they've been good enough to present a challenge in the first couple rounds.

Saint Mary's lost to Gonzaga for the second time in as many weeks and lost 4 of their last 6 games overall, but they did reach the conference championship game, and Gonzaga is one of the hottest teams in the nation currently, but it still doesn't mean anything if they don't pick up a win in the NCAA Tournament.

NBA Player of the Day

Vince Carter - PHX - 32 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 13-17 FG, 5-7 3P, 1-2 FT
Vince Carter made up for his missed free throws that cost Phoenix their previous game with a huge fourth quarter that included 15 points and 2 3-pointers as Phoenix was able to take a late lead, then held on to beat the Rockets and remain in 9th place in the West.

Predictions - 9 Mar

Upset picks are in italics.
Possible upsets are underlined.

NBA

Warriors at Nets - Nets by 1
Thunder at 76ers - 76ers by 2
Jazz at Raptors - Jazz by 2
Bulls at Bobcats - Bulls by 7
Clippers at Celtics - Celtics by 11
Mavericks at Hornets - Hornets by 1
Cavaliers at Bucks - Bucks by 11
Pacers at Timberwolves - Pacers by 1
Knicks at Grizzlies - Grizzlies by 4
Pistons at Spurs - Spurs by 13
Magic at Kings - Magic by 8

College Basketball

Rutgers at (18) Saint John's - Saint John's by 11
(19) Connecticut vs. (22) Georgetown - Georgetown by 1
South Florida vs. Cincinnati - Cincinnati by 12
Marquette vs. West Virginia - West Virginia by 1

Prediction Results - 8 Mar

NBA: 4-2 (.667) 542-226 overall (.706)
College Basketball: 1-0 (1.000) 541-134 overall (.801)
Upsets: 0-1 (.000) 143-94 overall (.603)

College Basketball Overrated and Underrated - 8 Mar

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)

College Basketball Tournament Predictions - 3 Mar

Using Joe Lunardi's latest version of Bracketology, I have updated my NCAA Tournament predictions to include all results through last night's games. Teams in italics represent probable upsets, and teams that are underlined represent possible upsets.

Round of 32

(1) Ohio State

(8) UCLA

(5) Vanderbilt

(4) UConn

(11) Saint Mary's

(3) Syracuse

(10) Illinois

(2) Duke

(1) Pitt

(8) UNLV

(5) Georgetown

(4) Florida

(6) Villanova

(3) Wisconsin

(7) Temple

(2) Texas

(1) Kansas

(8) Utah State

(5) Arizona

(4) Louisville

(6) West Virginia

(3) San Diego State

(7) Missouri

(2) Purdue

(1) BYU

(9) Washington

(5) Kentucky

(13) Belmont

(6) Texas A&M

(3) North Carolina

(7) George Mason

(2) Notre Dame

Sweet 16

(1) Ohio State

(5) Vanderbilt

(3) Syracuse

(2) Duke

(1) Pitt

(5) Georgetown

(3) Wisconsin

(2) Texas

(1) Kansas

(4) Louisville

(3) San Diego State

(2) Purdue

(1) BYU

(5) Kentucky

(3) North Carolina

(2) Notre Dame

Elite Eight

(1) Ohio State

(2) Duke

(1) Pitt

(2) Texas

(1) Kansas

(2) Purdue

(1) BYU

(3) North Carolina

Final Four

(1) Ohio State

(1) Pitt

(1) Kansas

(1) BYU

Championship

(1) Ohio State

(1) Kansas

Champion

(1) Ohio State

It looks to me like the best games will be in the Elite Eight round, with Ohio State facing Duke and Kansas facing Purdue, which means that only two of the best four teams in the country right now would be able to reach the Final Four. Neither Pitt nor BYU has a great shot at the title game, but the title game should be great no matter who makes it, since no team has really separated itself from the pack. When I pick my 10 brackets on ESPN, there's a good chance I'll have 7 or 8 different teams as champions in different brackets.

NBA Player of the Day

Al Horford - ATL - 31 pts, 16 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 13-20 FG, 1-1 3P, 4-7 FT

Horford tied his career high with 31 points and scored on a dunk with 29 seconds left to give Atlanta their first lead of the game as the Hawks upset Chicago last night. Atlanta started the game down 14-0, but Horford led the huge comeback with his best game of the season.

Predictions - 3 Mar

Upset picks are in italics.

Possible upsets are underlined.

NBA

Magic at Heat - Heat by 4

Nuggets at Jazz - Nuggets by 2

College Basketball

(10) Wisconsin at Indiana - Wisconsin by 4

(15) Saint John's at Seton Hall - Seton Hall by 1

Oregon State at (18) Arizona - Arizona by 21

UCLA at Washington - Washington by 14

Prediction Results - 2 Mar

NBA: 7-3 (.700) 516-211 overall (.710)

College Basketball: 7-4 (.636) 518-127 overall (.803)

Upsets: 2-2 (.500) 138-86 overall (.616)

College Basketball Rankings - 2 Mar

There were a lot of upsets this week, most notably Virginia Tech over Duke and everyone over Texas, which caused quite a bit of shifting around all throughout the rankings as we head into conference tournament season. Duke's loss cost them the top spot, which was quickly snapped up by another former #1, but there will probably be even more switching at the top before the champion is determined in just over a month. Here are this week's rankings, with team name followed by weekly record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.

1. Ohio State (2-0) (28-2) -22.91 (3)
2. Kansas (1-0) (27-2) -22.41 (2)
3. Duke (1-1) (26-3) -22.33 (1)
4. BYU (2-0) (27-2) -20.25 (4)
5. Purdue (3-0) (25-5) -18.81 (7)
6. Pittsburgh (1-1) (25-4) -18.36 (9)
7. Texas (0-2) (24-6) -17.99 (5)
8. San Diego State (1-1) (28-2) -17.32 (10)
9. Washington (0-1) (19-9) -17.25 (6)
10. Kentucky (2-1) (21-8) -17.24 (8)
11. Wisconsin (2-0) (22-6) -17.16 (11)
12. Belmont (2-0) (27-4) -16.29 (17)
13. North Carolina (2-0) (22-6) -16.09 (14)
14. Syracuse (1-0) (24-6) -15.57 (16)
15. Notre Dame (3-0) (24-5) -15.33 (18)
16. Louisville (1-0) (22-7) -14.70 (15)
17. Vanderbilt (1-1) (21-8) -14.61 (NR)
18. Georgetown (0-2) (21-8) -14.55 (12)
19. Illinois (1-1) (18-12) -14.24 (20)
20. Maryland (1-1) (18-11) -14.17 (19)
21. Arizona (0-2) (23-6) -13.76 (13)
22. West Virginia (1-1) (18-10) -13.68 (22)
23. Connecticut (1-1) (21-7) -13.66 (NR)
24. Marquette (2-0) (18-11) -13.62 (NR)
25. Florida (2-1) (23-6) -13.41 (NR)

Dropping out:
Missouri (1-2) (22-8) -13.06 (21)
George Mason (2-0) (25-5) -12.72 (23)
UNLV (2-0) (22-7) -12.49 (24)
Villanova (0-2) (21-9) -12.04 (25)

Ranked Teams by Conference

Big East: 8
Big 10: 4
ACC: 3
SEC: 3
Big 12: 2
MWC: 2
Pac 10: 2
Atl Sun: 1

The next 10 teams include 3 more from the Big East, along with two from the Big 12 and two from the West Coast.

Marching into March

Gonzaga closed out the regular season in style, beating Saint Mary's on the road to earn a tie at the top of the stadings, then won their final two games by a combined 84 points, while those two opponents scored a total of 80 between them. We may not have to endure March without our favorite Cinderallas after all.

Kansas State won a tough road game against Nebraska before pulling off two more huge upsets of ranked teams, beating Missouri by 10 and Texas by 5, just two weeks after beating Kansas by 16. They have only lost to one team ranked outside my top 51, but their season has been viewed by many as a disappointment. They may have just turned that around.

In Washington State's lone game this week, they went on the road and beat the Washington Huskies by 11 points, a team that, despite not being ranked nationally, is still sitting just inside my top 10. Recent losses, especially the one at Arizona State, really hurt their chances of making the NCAA's, but they should be a very strong NIT team.

Florida did lose a game at Kentucky this week, but they did keep it closer than I expected, then they wiped out SEC West leader Alabama last night by 27 points, proving definitively that the SEC East is the more powerful division in basketball. They entered my top 25 for the first time since early December, when a loss to UCF dropped them from the rankings.

Something's got to give this weekend when Vanderbilt faces fellow hot lister Florida in the regular season finale. This week Vandy destroyed LSU on the road before nearly pulling off a win in Kentucky last night, losing by only 2 points.

Falling out of February

Despite being the current leader of the SEC West, Alabama has lost two straight road games, showing that they have no realistic chance at the SEC title or the NCAA Tournament. They'll probably end the regular season with a third straight loss when they face Georgia on Saturday.

Michigan State took a huge hit this week when they lost at home to Purdue by 20 points, which is not a good thing for a team sitting on the tournament bubble. I still think they should be in, but I'm not sure the selection committee will see it the same way.

After looking so good just a week ago when they nearly beat Arizona on the road, Washington lost a very important home game to the Washington State Cougars that has made the conference tournament much more important to the Huskies. They may need to make it clear to the championship game just to have a chance at March Madness, and even that might not be enough.

Just one month ago, Duquesne was in first place in the Atlantic 10 and had an 11-game winning streak, and I had them ranked in my top 25 for a few days, but since then the Dukes have fallen apart, winning only once in their last 6 games, most of those to inferior competition. After looking like they had a chance at an at-large bid last month, they now must win their conference to get in.

Last week, Arizona had an 8-game winning streak, a top-10 ranking, and was coming off a win over chief conference rival Washington, but then they went to Los Angeles and were swept by USC and UCLA, the latter loss coming by 22 points, which allowed the Bruins to pull into a tie with the Wildcats for the conference lead. They can't afford to lose to either of the Oregon schools this weekend if they don't want to fall back onto the bubble.

NBA Player of the Day

Jose Calderon - TOR - 22 pts, 7 reb, 16 ast, 7-10 FG, 3-4 3P, 5-5 FT
Calderon made up for his performance last time Toronto faced New Orleans, when he was held scoreless, by taking over the game, ending up just 3 rebounds away from a triple-double and hitting the free throws that sealed the upset.

Predictions - 2 Mar

Upset picks are in italics.
Possible upsets are underlined.

NBA

Bulls at Hawks - Bulls by 3
Spurs at Cavaliers - Spurs by 13
Warriors at Wizards - Warriors by 1
Suns at Celtics - Celtics by 9
Timberwolves at Pistons - Pistons by 5
Hornets at Knicks - Knicks by 1
Pacers at Thunder - Thunder by 6
Bobcats at Nuggets - Nuggets by 8
Trail Blazers at Kings - Blazers by 3
Rockets at Clippers - Rockets by 2

College Basketball

(22) Texas A&M at (2) Kansas - Kansas by 18
New Mexico at (3) BYU - BYU by 16
Clemson at (4) Duke - Duke by 18
(5) Pittsburgh at South Florida - Pitt by 11
Providence at (11) Louisville - Louisville by 16
(13) North Carolina at Florida State - Florida State by 1
(16) Connecticut at West Virginia - West Virginia by 6
(21) Utah State at New Mexico State - Utah State by 5
Kennesaw State vs. Belmont - Belmont by 30
Maryland at Miami - Maryland by 1
Cincinnati at Marquette - Marquette by 7

Prediction Results - 1 Mar

NBA: 4-4 (.500) 509-208 overall (.710)
College Basketball: 6-0 (1.000) 511-123 overall (.806)
Upsets: 2-1 (.667) 136-84 overall (.618)

College Basketball Overrated and Underrated - 1 Mar

4 of my 5 overrated teams lost this week, three of those in upsets, meaning that there was some good movement in the rankings. Temple's loss to Duke knocked them from the AP top 25, just as I predicted, so they were removed from the overrated rankings as well. UConn also left the overrated rankings this week, but their move was a mixture of being upset by Marquette, which dropped them, and beating Cincinnati, which helped them in my rankings. Overall, they are still slightly overrated, but not enough to be in the top 5. Here are the updated rankings, with last week's rankings in parentheses.

Overrated

1. Florida (3)

2. Xavier (1)

3. Texas A&M (2)

4. Saint John's

5. Villanova

Florida lost at Kentucky this week, just as I predicted, yet only dropped to #14 in both polls. This Florida team has 4 bad losses on the season, including a 3-point loss to Jacksonville in December, a team that is currently ranked #158 in my rankings. Florida will lose again this week, this time when they visit Vanderbilt, but will probably still be somewhat overrated as it enters the SEC Tournament.

Xavier had the smallest chance of losing among the overrated teams last week, and they followed through with their part. They should finish this week unblemished as well, which will clinch them first place in the Atlantic 10 and a favorable draw in the conference tournament.

Texas A&M was upset by Baylor this week, but is still holding on to one of the last spots in the polls, which keeps them firmly in the overrated ranks again this week. They play Kansas tomorrow, and after they are blown out yet again by a Big 12 power, they should drop from the national polls and finally leave the overrated rankings.

Saint John's may be the hottest team in the entire country right now, along with Gonzaga, but two December losses are still holding them down in my rankings, Saint Bonaventure (#157) and Fordham (#296). A loss to Seton Hall this week may bring them back down to earth.

Villanova has now lost three straight games, all to ranked teams, but the margin of victory is increasing for their opponents in each game also. That trend will probably continue this week, as the Wildcats are visiting conference leader Pitt to end the regular season.

Underrated

1. Washington (1)

2. Belmont (2)

3. Maryland (4)

4. Illinois (3)

5. Marquette

Washington was back on the roller coaster this week, beating up on city rival Seattle on Tuesday before losing to in-state rival Washington State by 11 at home on Sunday. They are the best team in the Pac 10, but they haven't been playing like it, and unless they can get their act together, they may be praying just to make it to March Madness.

Somehow, the Belmont Bruins have been losing votes in the polls over the past few weeks (their single vote is still the most among the underrated teams), despite the fact that they haven't lost since January 25 and blew out their last opponent, Kennesaw State, 88-41. The Atlantic Sun tournament opens tomorrow with Belmont facing that same team in the first round, so look for a similar result.

Maryland beat a very solid Florida State team this week before losing on the road to conference leader North Carolina, yet remains as voteless as ever in the polls. Maryland is currently projected as missing March Madness altogether, which would be a travesty for a team that has the talent to pull a nice first-round upset.

Illinois didn't even put up a fight in their loss to Ohio State this week, but they are still a solid team that only has one bad loss all season, and with a current projection of a 10-seed, they could be in perfect position to surprise someone in March.

Marquette has lost to only one team all season that is not currently ranked, and that team (Gonzaga) is currently #28 in my rankings. Their road upset of UConn this week should have earned them a few votes, but they are being ignored due to the large number of Big East schools currently in the polls, but they won't be ignored much longer.

NBA Player of the Day

Marcus Thornton - SAC - 29 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 9-16 FG, 1-4 3P, 10-12 FT

In just his 3rd game as a King, Thornton took over in the 4th quarter, scoring 16 points and bringing Sacramento back from a 5-point deficit at the end of the third quarter almost single-handedly. Add Thornton to Sacramento's current pair of young stars and you have a team that could be scary very soon.

Predictions - 1 Mar

Upset picks are in italics.

Possible upsets are underlined.

NBA

Warriors at Pacers - Pacers by 5

Knicks at Magic - Magic by 8

Mavericks at 76ers - 76ers by 1

Hornets at Raptors - Hornets by 5

Pistons at Bucks - Bucks by 5

Lakers at Timberwolves - Lakers by 9

Spurs at Grizzlies - Spurs by 2

Rockets at Trail Blazers - Blazers by 2

College Basketball

(1) Ohio State at Penn State - Ohio State by 8

Illinois at (6) Purdue - Purdue by 11

(9) San Diego State at Wyoming - San Diego State by 13

Alabama at (14) Florida - Florida by 9

(20) Vanderbilt at (23) Kentucky - Kentucky by 9

(24) Missouri at Nebraska - Nebraska by 2

Prediction Results - 28 Feb

NBA: 5-0 (1.000) 505-204 overall (.712)

College Basketball: 1-1 (.500) 505-123 overall (.804)

Upsets: 2-0 (1.000) 134-83 overall (.618)

College Basketball Rankings - 23 Feb

1. Duke (2-0) (25-2) -23.21 (1)
2. Kansas (2-0) (26-2) -23.08 (3)
3. Ohio State (1-1) (26-2) -22.76 (2)
4. BYU (1-0) (25-2) -20.38 (6)
5. Texas (2-1) (24-4) -19.86 (4)
6. Washington (2-1) (19-8) -19.45 (7)
7. Purdue (2-0) (22-5) -19.20 (8)
8. Kentucky (1-0) (19-7) -18.82 (11)
9. Pittsburgh (1-1) (24-3) -18.61 (5)
10. San Diego State (2-0) (27-1) -17.63 (9)
11. Wisconsin (1-1) (20-6) -17.40 (10)
12. Georgetown (1-1) (21-6) -16.29 (12)
13. Arizona (2-0) (23-4) -15.92 (13)
14. North Carolina (1-0) (20-6) -15.71 (14)
15. Louisville (2-1) (21-7) -15.62 (24)
16. Syracuse (2-0) (23-6) -15.59 (17)
17. Belmont (2-0) (25-4) -15.33 (15)
18. Notre Dame (0-1) (21-5) -14.45 (16)
19. Maryland (1-0) (17-10) -14.42 (20)
20. Illinois (1-2) (17-11) -14.40 (19)
21. Missouri (1-0) (21-6) -14.03 (NR)
22. West Virginia (1-0) (17-9) -13.96 (NR)
23. George Mason (1-0) (23-5) -13.84 (21)
24. UNLV (1-0) (20-7) -13.643 (NR)
25. Villanova (1-1) (21-7) -13.641 (22)

Dropping out:
Vanderbilt (2-1) (20-7) -13.56 (23)
Connecticut (1-1) (20-6) -13.51 (25)
Saint Mary's (0-2) (22-6) -12.62 (18)

Ranked teams by conference:
Big East: 7
Big 12: 4
ACC: 3
Big 12: 3
MWC: 3
Pac 10: 2
SEC: 1
Atl Sun: 1
Col: 1

Bouncing In

There are some new Gaels in town. Iona is making a very strong late-season push, winning its two games this week by a combined 57 points, with both wins coming on the road. Neither opponent was very good, but the way they beat them is what's important, and they showed that they may deserve a spot in the tournament, especially if they can play as well as they did in December, when they nearly beat Syracuse on the road. Keep your eye on this team.

Utah State finally won a game over a good opponent for the first time this season, beating Saint Mary's on the road in BracketBusters last weekend. The 10-point victory helps their case for an at-large bid just in case they don't win the WAC, especially since they only have one bad loss this season, two weeks ago at Idaho.

Cincinnati has not lost a bad game all year, with all 6 of its losses coming to probable tournament teams from the Big East, and this week they strengthened their case with a big win over Louisville and a road win at Providence. They could clinch it this week with an upset of UConn.

Louisville may have lost that game to Cincinnati to start this week, but they followed up that disappointment with a huge upset of UConn and a blowout of Rutgers on the road. Look for them to continue their winning ways this week against Pitt.

Kentucky showed this week that they are not done with a huge road blowout of the South Carolina Gamecocks. They are still 3 games out of first with 4 to go, and their game with Florida this week should go a long way toward determining the SEC East champ.

Bubble Bursting

Saint Mary's was looking like they had put it all together again before they went to San Diego and lost to the San Diego Toreros, one of the worst teams in the entire country. It would have been a different story if they had been facing the top-10 ranked Aztecs from San Diego State, and maybe that's who they thought they were playing. They followed that up with a big home loss to Utah State in a game they needed in order to prove that they're March material.

Notre Dame's loss to West Virginia probably won't keep them out of March Madness, but their first loss in over a month was not even close. I've been saying for a while that the Irish are not a top 10 team, but if they get a good seed they may be setting themselves up for a second-round upset.

Kansas State may have followed up their big upset of #1 Kansas with another victory, but explain to me how the same team that beat Kansas by 16 last week only beat Oklahoma by 15 this week. Looks like that win over the Jayhawks may have been a fluke.

Minnesota spent a great deal of time on top of my overrated rankings earlier this season, and over the past month they have shown everyone exactly why. They have now lost 6 of their past 7 games, and are not looking like they have enough left to get back into the tournament picture.

Vanderbilt had been looking so good lately, pulling off huge wins over Alabama and Kentucky in their 5-game winning streak, but they again fell victim to their in-state rival Tennessee last night, the one SEC team they can't seem to play with. The Commodores fell back out of my top 25 this week, but they do have two chances left to impress the panel, closing the season against Kentucky and Florida.

NBA Player of the Day

Kevin Garnett - BOS - 24 pts, 12 reb, 6 ast, 2 blk, 11-16 FG, 2-2 FT
The Boston Celtics showed no ill effects from the long All-Star Weekend, with all of their stars playing well, with Garnett in particular having his best game in quite a while. The Celtics pulled away from Golden State in the second half, not allowing the Warriors to continue their hot streak or sneak back into the game.

Predictions - 23 Feb

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Rockets at Cavaliers - Rockets by 8
Pistons at Pacers - Pacers by 7
Kings at Magic - Magic by 14
Wizards at 76ers - 76ers by 11
Thunder at Spurs - Spurs by 7
Bulls at Raptors - Bulls by 8
Bucks at Knicks - Knicks by 4
Grizzlies at Timberwolves - Grizzlies by 4
Jazz at Mavericks - Mavs by 7
Hawks at Suns - Suns by 2
Clippers at Hornets - Hornets by 8
Lakers at Trail Blazers - Lakers by 2

College Basketball

(24) Temple at (1) Duke - Duke by 18
Colorado State at (7) BYU - BYU by 18
(8) Purdue at Indiana - Purdue by 6
(9) Notre Dame at Providence - Notre Dame by 4
Cincinnati at (11) Georgetown - Georgetown by 9
(12) Wisconsin at Michigan - Wisconsin by 2
Oklahoma at (17) Texas A&M - Texas A&M by 15
(19) North Carolina at North Carolina State - North Carolina by 3
Baylor at (21) Missouri - Missouri by 12
(22) Kentucky at Arkansas - Kentucky by 8
DePaul at (25) Saint John's - Saint John's by 19
UNLV at New Mexico - New Mexico by 2
Florida State at Maryland - Maryland by 9

Prediction Results - 22 Feb

NBA: 9-0 (1.000) 468-194 overall (.707)
College Basketball: 4-1 (.800) 473-109 overall (.813)

College Basketball Overrated and Underrated - 22 Feb

Only one team left my overrated rankings this week, and that was Utah State, which was very impressive in beating Saint Mary's on the road in its BracketBusters matchup. This week will hopefully be a different story, with all 5 overrated teams projected to lose a game. Here are this week's rankings, with previous ranking in parentheses.

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)

College Basketball Tournament Predictions - 17 Feb

Joe Lunardi of ESPN has a regular feature he calls Bracketology, in which he predicts which teams will be chosen to participate in the NCAA Tournament and where they will be seeded, and he has a very high success rate. Based on his predictions for teams and seeding, I have applied my formula to determine which teams are most likely to win each game, and I'm sharing the results with you. The number in parentheses is the team's seed, and any team in italics represents an upset.

Round of 32

(1) Ohio State

(8) Xavier

(5) Arizona

(4) Louisville

(6) Missouri

(3) Florida

(7) Illinois

(2) Duke

(1) Kansas

(8) Florida State

(5) Vanderbilt

(4) Connecticut

(11) Michigan State

(3) Georgetown

(7) Washington

(2) BYU

(1) Pittsburgh

(8) George Mason

(5) Syracuse

(4) North Carolina

(11) Kansas State

(3) Purdue

(7) Saint John's

(2) San Diego State

(1) Texas

(8) Saint Mary's

(5) Kentucky

(4) Villanova

(6) West Virginia

(3) Wisconsin

(10) Virginia Tech

(2) Notre Dame

Sweet 16

(1) Ohio State

(5) Arizona

(6) Missouri

(2) Duke

(1) Kansas

(5) Vanderbilt

(3) Georgetown

(2) BYU

(1) Pittsburgh

(4) North Carolina

(3) Purdue

(2) San Diego State

(1) Texas

(5) Kentucky

(3) Wisconsin

(2) Notre Dame

Elite Eight

(1) Ohio State

(2) Duke

(1) Kansas

(2) BYU

(1) Pittsburgh

(3) Purdue

(1) Texas

(3) Wisconsin

Final Four

(2) Duke

(1) Kansas

(3) Purdue

(1) Texas

Championship

(2) Duke

(1) Texas

Champion

(1) Texas

I have predicted 12 upsets over the course of this tournament, but that does not mean that there will only be 12. These are just the most likely ones, but history has shown that there will be other unexpected ones, and many of the winners I picked were very close to losing. When the actual bracket is announced, I plan to do a full rundown of each team's chance of winning it all.

NBA Player of the Day

LaMarcus Aldridge - POR - 34 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast, 13-18 FG, 8-9 FT

Aldridge has the Trail Blazers on fire heading into the All-Star break, with 6 straight wins (the league's longest streak) and 5th place in the West currently. Aldridge should come back from the break well-rested and ready to continue his march to the playoffs, although had he made the All-Star team like he deserved, he wouldn't be getting this important weekend of rest.

Predictions - 17 Feb

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Spurs at Bulls - Bulls by 1

Mavericks at Suns - Mavs by 1

College Basketball

Washington State at (13) Arizona - Arizona by 12

Richmond at (25) Temple - Temple by 10

East Tennessee State at Belmont - Belmont by 17

Washington At Arizona State - Washington by 11

Prediction Results - 16 Feb

NBA: 6-6 (.500) 457-194 overall (.702)

College Basketball: 10-1 (.909) 442-102 overall (.813)

Upsets: 5-3 (.625) 117-77 overall (.603)

College Basketball Rankings - 16 Feb

The final undefeated team finally lost this week, and as a result there is a new #1 for the 4th straight week. A couple of mid-major teams are finally making their move, with two entering the top 25 this week and 5 in the next 15 spots. Any one of the top 10 teams still has a real possibility at winning the championship this year, which pretty much makes this a wide-open field. Here are this week's rankings, with team name followed by weekly record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.

1. Duke (2-0) (23-2) -23.00 (3)
2. Ohio State (1-1) (25-1) -22.04 (1)
3. Kansas (1-1) (24-2) -21.47 (2)
4. Texas (2-0) (22-3) -19.02 (5)
5. Pittsburgh (1-0) (23-2) -18.92 (4)
6. BYU (2-0) (24-2) -18.77 (6)
7. Washington (2-0) (17-7) -18.55 (9)
8. Purdue (1-0) (20-5) -18.45 (10)
9. San Diego State (1-0) (25-1) -17.67 (11)
10. Wisconsin (2-0) (19-5) -17.52 (8)
11. Kentucky (1-1) (18-7) -17.12 (7)
12. Georgetown (2-0) (20-5) -16.18 (15)
13. Arizona (1-0) (21-4) -15.97 (16)
14. North Carolina (2-1) (19-6) -15.70 (12)
15. Belmont (1-0) (23-4) -15.69 (18)
16. Notre Dame (2-0) (21-4) -15.17 (23)
17. Syracuse (1-2) (21-6) -14.84 (13)
18. Saint Mary's (2-0) (22-4) -14.79 (NR)
19. Illinois (1-1) (16-9) -14.54 (14)
20. Maryland (1-2) (16-10) -14.53 (21)
21. George Mason (2-0) (22-5) -14.19 (NR)
22. Villanova (1-2) (20-6) -14.16 (17)
23. Vanderbilt (2-0) (18-6) -14.09 (20)
24. Louisville (1-1) (19-6) -13.88 (22)
25. Connecticut (1-1) (19-5) -13.53 (19)

Dropping out:
Missouri (2-0) (20-6) -13.10 (24)
Marquette (1-2) (15-11) -11.69 (25)

Making a Push

Saint John's is on fire lately. They have now won 5 of their last six games, including a big win over Duke 2 weeks ago, and the last three wins have all come over Big East teams that are likely to be playing games that matter in March. The last two wins, over Cincinnati and Marquette, were especially impressive, because they came on the road, and Saint John's now has 7 wins over teams that are likely to participate in March Madness, with only 2 bad losses against them.

Kansas State's win over Kansas this week after their in-state rivals had been named #1 earlier in the day was a huge boost to a team still hoping for a tournament berth. Their previous game, a two-point loss at Colorado, was also somewhat impressive, because the Buffaloes have been one of the toughest teams to beat this year in the Big 12. If they win the games they're expected to the rest of the way, they're in.

Saint Mary's took care of business on the road this week, winning at both Santa Clara and San Francisco, and their biggest win this season, over Saint John's in November, is starting to look even better after the week the Red Storm had. It also helps that three of the 4 teams that have beaten them (BYU, San Diego State, and Vanderbilt) have also been playing very well lately.

Notre Dame had two very impressive victories over Louisville and South Florida this week, and have also been helped out by their 8 wins over likely tournament teams, including an early-season victory over Wisconsin, the latest team to upset a #1. They still have a tough road ahead, but they have established themselves as one of the best in the very tough Big East.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs may have only one quality win this year, over Marquette back in November, but three of their losses were to the other teams on this hot list, Saint Mary's, Notre Dame, and Kansas State. They appeared to be out of the running last week after they lost to Memphis, but what is March Madness without the Zags?

Stepping Back

Marquette barely beat South Florida this week before losing consecutive games to Georgetown and Saint John's, but even with those two losses contributing to their total of 11, the Golden Eagles should not be counted out. All 11 of those losses have come to teams currently ranked above 36 in my rankings, and they have managed to get three wins against teams in that same range.

Kansas celebrated their move back to #1 by losing to Kansas State the very same day, and it didn't help that the game wasn't even close. The Jayhawks are probably still a #1 seed in the tournament, but they chose a bad time to have their second letdown of the season. The toughest challenge they have left is the last game of the season against Missouri.

Kentucky's loss to Vanderbilt was not unexpected, but their win over Mississippi State last night was much closer than it should have been. I have had the Wildcats ranked in the top 10 all season, but that narrow escape knocked them to #11 for the first time all season.

Two weeks ago, Duquesne was on an 11-game winning streak and had spent a couple days in the top 25, but they followed that up with two surprising losses at Saint Bonaventure and against Xavier at home. The Dukes must beat Richmond to end the regular season to strengthen their case for making it to March.

After one week as one of the hottest teams in the country, Syracuse returned to the cold list this week, where it had spent the previous two weeks. Their win over West Virginia on Valentine's Day saved them from being named the coldest team of the week, but losing to Georgetown and Louisville didn't help them, especially now that they've lost 6 of their last 9.

NBA Player of the Day

Dwyane Wade - MIA - 41 pts, 12 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 16-29 FG, 1-4 3P, 8-10 FT
Channing Frye may have scored a career-high 31 points for Phoenix last night, but Wade matched that total in the first half alone as Miami beat the Indiana Pacers on the road last night. Not only was he the best player yesterday, but he had the play of the day also, with a court-length alley-oop pass to LeBron James that has been running on SportsCenter all morning.

Predictions - 16 Feb

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Wizards at Magic - Magic by 14
Heat at Raptors - Heat by 10
Nets at Celtics - Celtics by 15
Lakers at Cavaliers - Lakers by 13
Pacers at Pistons - Pacers by 1
Hawks at Knicks - Knicks by 2
Clippers at Timberwolves - Wolves by 1
Kings at Mavericks - Mavs by 12
76ers at Rockets - Rockets by 3
Nuggets at Bucks - Bucks by 1
Warriors at Jazz - Jazz by 5
Hornets at Trail Blazers - Blazers by 2

College Basketball

Oklahoma State at (2) Texas - Texas by 19
South Florida at (4) Pittsburgh - Pitt by 25
(5) Duke at Virginia - Duke by 16
New Mexico at (6) San Diego State - San Diego State by 13
(9) Georgetown at (12) Connecticut - UConn by 3
(10) Wisconsin at (11) Purdue - Purdue by 7
(16) Louisville at Cincinnati - Cincinnati by 3
Iowa State at (17) Texas A&M - Texas A&M by 10
(18) Vanderbilt at Georgia - Vandy by 1
(23) Saint Mary's at San Diego - Saint Mary's by 18
Michigan at Illinois - Illinois by 12

Prediction Results - 15 Feb

NBA: 5-1 (.833) 451-188 overall (.706)
College Basketball: 6-0 (1.000) 432-101 overall (.811)
Upsets: 1-0 (1.000) 112-74 overall (.602)

College Basketball Overrated and Underrated - 15 Feb

It was a strange week for the teams in these rankings. Only one team from the overrated rankings lost, and it wasn't the one I predicted. The overrated teams did themselves no favors, with 3 of them losing this week, two of them to teams they shouldn't have lost to. Only one team exited the rankings this week, Notre Dame, who responded to the label of overrated by beating Louisville and then dumping South Florida on the road, earning their way off the list the hard way. Here are the updated rankings, with previous ranking in parentheses.

Overrated

1. Xavier

2. Texas A&M (1)

3. Florida (2)

4. Temple (5)

5. Utah State (4)

Xavier moved into the AP poll this week after two impressive victories over Georgia and Duquesne, both top 65 teams. The problem I have with them being ranked is that they lost just one week before that to Charlotte, currently ranked 175th in my rankings. The only victories they have earned over top 50 schools so far were that win over Duquesne and their earlier win over Temple, but neither is a top 30 team, which makes two losses to teams ranked below 170 (they also lost to Miami-Ohio) more important, and basically cancels out the good those wins have done. They probably won't lose again this season, with the toughest game coming February 27 at Dayton.

This week, Texas A&M moves down a spot after pulling off a tough overtime victory at Colorado, a game I predicted they would lose, but it's not enough to prove they're not overrated. They beat Texas Tech 3 nights later by the same margin, 3 points, which shows me that they still have some work to do. They still have 3 losses left this season, one for each week, and this week's loss will come Saturday at Oklahoma State.

Florida stayed in the overrated ranks this week after a single-point home victory over Tennessee, which negated the effect of the huge road win at South Carolina earlier in the week. They still have to face Kentucky and Vanderbilt on the road, and a win in either of those games would convince me to take them off this list, but I don't see that happening.

Temple had the misfortune of having to play Duquesne and Xavier, the other two power teams in the Atlantic 10, on the road, losing both of the very important games. They still have to face off with Duke on the road, but the rest of the schedule is relatively smooth sailing. This week's test is against Richmond, but they'll have the home court advantage, which should be enough for them to win.

The Idaho Vandals shocked the world this week when they took down the mighty Utah State Aggies up in Moscow. I, for one, did not see it coming, but it did not knock Utah State from the national rankings, which seems mighty strange considering that they play in the WAC, a conference that is criticized for being weak. I thought that any loss would knock them out, but I expected that loss to come this weekend at Saint Mary's, which is still looking like a good possibility.

Underrated

1. Washington (2)

2. Belmont (4)

3. Illinois (3)

4. Maryland (1)

5. Kentucky (5)

Washington bounced back nicely after their surprising 3-game losing streak, beating Cal and Stanford soundly to take back the momentum they had lost, and just in time. This weekend they head to Tucson to face the Arizona Wildcats in a game that will be very important in deciding the regular season conference champion. Although I'm picking them to lose that game, a win is not out of the question, and would help them make their way back toward the top 25.

Belmont is still flying under the radar, and that is unlikely to change before the tournament. The Bruins have made only 3 tournament appearances in their history, losing in the first round each time, but I predict that they will win at least one game this year, most likely an upset of a much higher seed, since they are currently projected as a 12th seed.

Illinois upset Minnesota this week, just as I predicted, then blew a golden opportunity to gain some momentum by losing to Purdue in their next game. Two upsets in a row would have thrust them back into the national spotlight, but all that people are seeing right now is 6 losses in 9 games, which is not as bad as it sounds when you consider that 4 of those losses came on the road to teams they should have lost to. Expect more of the same this week when they visit Michigan State.

Maryland is another team that is not helping its own cause by losing games they should be winning. This week Boston College was the team taking advantage of the Terps, and tonight it will be Virginia Tech's turn. If Maryland somehow survives, they would certainly be deserving of at least a few votes in the polls.

Kentucky has lost 3 of their last 4 games, but all three of those losses were on the road to good teams in the SEC. I still believe that Kentucky is the best team in the conference, but that the gap is much closer than most people thought earlier this season. Their tough road tests are pretty much a thing of the past, so now it's time to finish strong.

NBA Player of the Day

Courtney Lee - HOU - 22 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 8-14 FG, 5-7 3P, 1-1 FT

Lee took control of Houston's upset win over Denver off the bench yesterday, scoring 22 points in just 25 minutes of action, including 5 for 7 from 3-point range. Lee probably won't be a fixture in this spot like some other players, but he should definitely enjoy the night that he was the league's best player.

Predictions - 15 Feb

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Heat at Pacers - Heat by 4

Bobcats at Bulls - Bulls by 10

Kings at Thunder - Thunder by 10

76ers at Grizzlies - Grizzlies by 3

Jazz at Suns - Suns by 3

Hornets at Warriors - Hornets by 3

College Basketball

Michigan State at (3) Ohio State - Ohio State by 17

(14) Villanova at Seton Hall - Nova by 1

Wake Forest at (19) North Carolina - UNC by 30

Texas Tech at (21) Missouri - Mizzou by 20

Mississippi State at (22) Kentucky - Kentucky by 25

Maryland at Virginia Tech - VTech by 5

Prediction Results - 14 Feb

NBA: 5-1 (.833) 446-187 overall (.705)

College Basketball: 1-1 (.500) 426-101 overall (.808)

Upsets: 1-0 (1.000) 111-74 overall (.600)

College Basketball Rankings - 9 Feb

Two conference favorites lost games unexpectedly this week and hurt their chances at getting a good seed in the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky lost at Florida, dropping them 2 games behind the Gators for the SEC East lead. Washington lost consecutive road games to Oregon and Oregon State, which dropped them 2 games behind Arizona for the conference lead and third overall in the Pac 10. Most of the other favorites were able to take care of business this week, and a couple of familiar Big East faces have rejoined the top 25. Each team's record is followed by this week's record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.

1. Ohio State (2-0) (24-0) -23.09 (2)
2. Kansas (2-0) (23-1) -23.02 (1)
3. Duke (2-0) (21-2) -22.80 (3)
4. Pittsburgh (2-0) (22-2) -19.36 (7)
5. Texas (1-0) (20-3) -19.08 (4)
6. BYU (2-0) (22-2) -18.73 (8)
7. Kentucky (1-1) (17-6) -18.48 (6)
8. Wisconsin (1-0) (17-5) -17.97 (12)
9. Washington (0-2) (15-7) -17.65 (5)
10. Purdue (1-0) (19-5) -17.508 (11)
11. San Diego State (3-0) (24-1) -17.506 (9)
12. North Carolina (1-0) (17-5) -16.69 (10)
13. Syracuse (2-0) (20-4) -15.96 (NR)
14. Illinois (0-1) (15-8) -15.38 (15)
15. Georgetown (1-0) (18-5) -15.25 (13)
16. Arizona (2-0) (20-4) -15.17 (17)
17. Villanova (2-0) (19-4) -15.13 (25)
18. Belmont (2-0) (22-4) -14.71 (19)
19. Connecticut (1-1) (18-4) -14.23 (20)
20. Vanderbilt (1-0) (16-6) -14.17 (22)
21. Maryland (1-1) (15-8) -13.95 (16)
22. Louisville (1-0) (18-5) -13.74 (14)
23. Notre Dame (2-0) (19-4) -13.68 (21)
24. Missouri (1-2) (18-6) -13.66 (24)
25. Marquette (0-1) (14-9) -13.52 (NR)

Dropping out:

West Virginia (1-2) (15-8) -13.23 (18)
Saint Mary's (2-0) (20-4) -13.16 (23)

Ranked teams by conference:

Big East: 8
Big 10: 4
Big 12: 3
ACC: 3
MWC: 2
SEC: 2
Pac 10: 2
Atl Sun: 1

Feeling the Love

After spending the last 2 weeks on the cold list, the Syracuse Orange came back to life this week as they pulled off a huge upset at UConn and blew out South Florida on the road 3 days later. While the 4-game losing streak will be hard to forget, they're getting hot at just the right time, with games this week against Georgetown and Louisville.

Duke fought off a very tough Maryland team on the road this week in a game that I thought would be much closer than it was. Duke's victory gave them a very firm hold on a top 3 spot, and they have joined Kansas and Ohio State in pulling away from the rest of the pack this week.

Utah State still has not beaten a good team, but their two losses were to Georgetown and BYU, both of which are currently in my top 15, and they won their two conference games this week by an average of 25 points. They have now won 17 straight games and are making their move at just the right time.

Wisconsin only played one game this week, but what a game it was. They blasted preseason conference favorite Michigan State 82-56 in their highest scoring game in over two months. Coming up this week is a shot at taking down #1 Ohio State, an outcome that I think will most likely happen.

Villanova played two home games this week against teams that have been hanging right around the bottom of the top 25 for several weeks, and instead of winning by 6 or 7, like I expected, they won the two games by a combined 31 points, not giving either one of the challengers a chance to pull off the upset. This week they'll get the chance to impress even more as they take on conference-leading Pitt at home.

Broken Hearts

Washington's collapse this week was completely unexpected and very disturbing. The Ducks and Beavers have absolutely no hope of playing in the NCAA Tournament, and Washington was looking at getting a favorable seed, but now they may need to win the conference tournament just to ensure that they even get in the field.

Louisville did not lose a game this week, but a comeback win over DePaul, the only Big East team without a conference win this season, does not sound like a real victory. They Cardinals were missing several of their best players, but playing the conference doormat at home should be a recipe for an easy victory, no matter who takes the floor.

Washington State joins their in-state rivals on the cold list this week after they were also upset by the Oregon Ducks, 69-43. They did bounce back against the Beavers, winning the game by 6, but with the struggles coming from the two schools this week, it's starting to look doubtful that both will make the tournament anymore.

West Virginia continued their up-and-down play of the past few weeks with back-to-back losses to Villanova and Pitt this week. The Mountaineers are still looking like they will probably make it to March Madness, but they haven't beaten a ranked team in 3 weeks, which is like 3 months in Big East time.

Texas won the only game they played this week, at home over Texas Tech, 76-60. It may seem odd that they earned a spot on the cold list with that performance, but a national title contender should be blowing out any team with a losing record, especially at this point in the season, and 16 points just doesn't cut it at home.

NBA Player of the Day

LeBron James - MIA - 41 pts, 13 reb, 8 ast, 3 stl, 15-23 FG, 2-5 3P, 9-13 FT
The Indiana Pacers came out hot last night, shooting over 60% for more than half of the game, but they were no match for the MVP, who had an amazing game. James is just the 4th player to record those numbers in the past 25 years, and the others are very good company: David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Larry Bird.

Predictions - 9 Feb

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Pistons at Cavaliers - Pistons by 3
Bobcats at Pacers - Pacers by 6
Hornets at Nets - Hornets by 6
Magic at 76ers - Magic by 1
Bucks at Wizards - Bucks by 3
Spurs at Raptors - Spurs by 10
Clippers at Knicks - Knicks by 6
Bulls at Jazz - Bulls by 2
Mavericks at Kings - Mavs by 6
Nuggets at Warriors - Nuggets by 3

College Basketball

(3) Texas at Oklahoma - Texas by 12
(21) North Carolina at (5) Duke - Duke by 12
(15) Louisville at (7) Notre Dame - Notre Dame by 6
(8) BYU at Air Force - BYU by 9
(10) Villanova at Rutgers - Nova by 3
(11) Georgetown at (13) Syracuse - Syracuse by 6
(14) Wisconsin at Iowa - Wisconsin by 6
(17) Utah State at Idaho - Utah State by 6
(19) Florida at South Carolina - Florida by 4
(22) Texas A&M at Colorado - Colorado by 5
Longwood at Maryland - Maryland by 34
Marquette at South Florida - Marquette by 6

Prediction Results - 8 Feb

NBA: 4/7 (.571) 419/588 overall (.713)
College Basketball: 3/3 (1.000) 394/484 overall (.814)

I have now picked 9 straight college basketball games correctly, and we'll see if I can double that streak today.

College Basketball Overrated and Underrated - 8 Feb

There are three new teams in the overrated rankings this week, which means that three of last week's teams finally made an exit from that list. Two of them, Minnesota and UConn, left in the way I like to see, by being upset by lower-ranked or unranked teams, Minnesota to Indiana and UConn to Syracuse. Villanova, however, is no longer as overrated as before, thanks to impressive wins over Marquette and West Virginia showed that they are one of the best in the Big East. There is only one team exiting my underrated rankings this week, and it's a team that been with me almost the entire season: Saint Mary's. Their close wins over Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount this week made it clear that they are not the same team they were early in the season, although I still consider them a team with upset potential in the first round. Here are the new rankings, with last week's ranking in parentheses.

Overrated

1. Texas A&M (3)

2. Florida

3. Notre Dame

4. Utah State (2)

5. Temple

Texas A&M is still ranked, despite the fact that they have now dropped 4 of their last five games, including two losses to unranked teams, the last one on their home court. The other two losses were both 20-point blowouts against Texas, and even though Texas is good, no ranked team should be losing by 20 to anyone. Their losing streak should continue this week against Colorado before a visit to last-place Texas Tech allows them to stop the bleeding momentarily.

The Florida Gators' two wins over ranked teams (Kentucky and Vanderbilt) this week would seem to make them worthy of a spot in the rankings, but those victories would have been much more impressive three weeks ago when both of those teams were still playing their best basketball. I don't see them losing again until they go to Kentucky at the end of the month, so maybe they'll convince me to take them off this list by then.

Notre Dame has been just outside these rankings for week's now, and it's not that they aren't a good team, because they are, but they are not a top 10 team. They are just another average Big East team, but if there's a conference you want to be average in, it's the Big East. Last month they lost to Marquette and Saint John's, both unranked, and this week they narrowly escaped Rutgers, a team that is not even being considered for the tournament. I see their next loss coming at West Virginia on the 19th, but tomorrow against Louisville could also be close.

Utah State worked their way down these rankings last week the hard way, by obliterating weak competition. They won consecutive games over Nevada and Boise State by 22 and 28, respectively, and their biggest challenge the rest of the way will be their BracketBuster matchup with Saint Mary's on the 19th.

Temple made it back into the AP top 25 this week by virtue of having the best overall record in the Atlantic 10, but if you look at this week's results (which the voters obviously didn't), it doesn't make any sense. They beat LaSalle, a team with a losing record, by a measly four points, then beat Rhode Island, an average team at best, by 13 at home. If any team from the Atlantic 10 deserves to be ranked, it's Duquesne, the current conference leader and its best team.

Underrated

1. Maryland (1)

2. Washington (4)

3. Illinois (5)

4. Belmont (2)

5. Kentucky

Maryland didn't play nearly as well against Duke as they should have, so it's understandable that they don't have any votes in the polls, but they did blow out Wake Forest this week, a sign that they are a good team, but they will have to do the same to Longwood this week to maintain their spot in these rankings.

Washington lost to both Oregon and Oregon State, two of the worst teams in the Pac 10, this week, which is the cause of their drop from the national rankings, but by dropping them the voters are overlooking the fact that they beat Arizona handily and blew out some other very good teams, such as Portland, earlier in the year. If they lose to Cal or Stanford this week, my stance on them may begin to soften.

Illinois continued their descent in the polls this week with a loss to unranked Northwestern, their fifth loss in 7 games, but after they "upset" Minnesota and Purdue this week, I think the voters will be singing a different tune.

Belmont's win over North Florida this week was a little too close for comfort, but they are still 14-1 in conference play and don't look likely to slip up again before the regular season ends.

Two 2-point losses on the road to good SEC teams this week sent Kentucky flying down the rankings, but should it have? Kentucky is still the best team in the conference, even if the standings don't show it right now, and I'm worried that the voters won't forgive another loss, which is quite likely when they face Vanderbilt on the road this weekend.

NBA Player of the Day

LaMarcus Aldridge - POR - 42 pts, 8 reb, 2 blk, 15-23 FG, 12-14 FT

Yes, Carmelo Anthony was better than Aldridge in nearly every category last night, including points, rebounds, blocks, and shooting percentage, but there was one very important category where Aldridge beat Anthony last night - wins. The All-Star snub's 42 points were a career high, and Portland pulled within 2 games of passing Denver for the 7th seed in the playoffs.

Predictions - 8 Feb

NBA

76ers at Hawks - Hawks by 4

Clippers at Magic - Magic by 10

Spurs at Pistons - Spurs by 7

Pacers at Heat - Heat by 10

Raptors at Bucks - Bucks by 6

Grizzlies at Thunder - Thunder by 5

Timberwolves at Rockets - Rockets by 9

College Basketball

Utah at (6) San Diego State - San Diego State by 20

Indiana at (12) Purdue - Purdue by 15

Tennessee at (18) Kentucky - Kentucky by 15

Prediction Results - 7 Feb

NBA: 3/8 (.375) 415/581 overall (.714)

College Basketball: 2/2 (1.000) 391/481 overall (.813)

Upsets: 0/1 (.000) 102/167 overall (.611)

College Basketball Rankings - 2 Feb

We're now down to one undefeated team, the Ohio State Buckeyes, and they haven't been without their share of close calls. Only one team left the top 25 completely, but there was a lot of movement this week as upsets happened left and right, especially on Saturday. In all, 14 of last week's top 25 teams lost at least once this week, and two of the others avoided that fate by not playing. Here are the new rankings, with each team's name followed by this week's record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.

1. Kansas (2-0) (21-1) -22.85 (3)
2. Ohio State (1-0) (22-0) -22.49 (1)
3. Duke (1-1) (19-2) -21.12 (2)
4. Texas (3-0) (19-3) -20.84 (5)
5. Washington (0-1) (15-5) -19.91 (4)
6. Kentucky (1-1) (16-5) -18.84 (6)
7. Pittsburgh (1-0) (20-2) -18.61 (9)
8. BYU (1-1) (20-2) -18.13 (7)
9. San Diego State (1-1) (21-1) -17.83 (12)
10. North Carolina (3-0) (16-5) -17.15 (22)
11. Purdue (1-1) (18-5) -17.04 (10)
12. Wisconsin (1-1) (16-5) -16.74 (8)
13. Georgetown (3-0) (17-5) -16.44 (17)
14. Louisville (2-1) (17-5) -15.76 (21)
15. Illinois (1-1) (15-7) -15.74 (15)
16. Maryland (2-0) (14-7) -15.16 (24)
17. Arizona (2-0) (18-4) -15.13 (16)
18. West Virginia (1-1) (14-6) -15.04 (NR)
19. Belmont (2-0) (20-4) -14.96 (20)
20. Connecticut (0-1) (17-3) -14.67 (14)
21. Notre Dame (0-0) (17-4) -14.61 (23)
22. Vanderbilt (1-2) (15-6) -14.56 (11)
23. Saint Mary's (1-1) (18-4) -14.50 (19)
24. Missouri (0-1) (17-4) -14.03 (18)
25. Villanova (0-2) (17-4) -13.94 (13)

Dropping out:
UNLV (0-0) (16-5) -12.66 (25)

Ranked teams by conference:

Big East: 7
Big 10: 4
Big 12: 3
ACC: 3
Pac 10: 2
SEC: 2
MWC: 2
Atl Sun: 1
WCC: 1

Early Spring

North Carolina went 3-0 this week, which included a 20-point win over North Carolina State and a 32-point win at Boston College, who may have just played their way out of the tournament picture. This week they take on Florida State, the first team to take down Duke this year, and if they handle them the way they've handled their other recent opponents, they may have a chance at Duke next week.

West Virginia performed much better than expected this week, especially considering that their leading scorer has been suspended by the team. They nearly pulled out a win at heavy favorite Louisville, then knocked off the Cincinnati Bearcats on the road over the weekend. I guess that I proclaimed their demise a little too early.

Saint John's had an interesting week. First, they went to DC and got blown out by the resurgent Georgetown Hoyas, then they hosted Duke 4 days later and blew out the defending national champions. They were expected to lose big to the Hoyas, so it didn't hurt them that much, but the huge win over Duke has them very much in the discussion to be the Big East's 11th tournament team in March.

The Colorado Buffaloes nearly pulled off an upset victory at Baylor this week before coming home and totally dismantling Iowa State, who had been ranked around #50 all season long. Colorado hasn't been this good since Chauncey Billups left school over 13 years ago, and they may be looking to make the tournament in their final year as a member of the Big 12.

Maryland got two impressive conference road victories this week, beating Virginia and Georgia Tech by a combined 35 points on their home courts. Next up for the Terrapins is a huge game against Duke tonight, and I would not be one bit surprised to see the Blue Devils go down again.

Six More Weeks of Winter

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are just not as good as their ranking would suggest, and for proof, you only need to look at their loss to a struggling Purdue team this past weekend. Yes, the Gophers are missing their starting guards, but you don't get wins based on the players who should have played, and Minnesota is looking at a couple more big losses this week.

Richmond was looking like a conference contender until they played Xavier on Saturday. The 23-point blowout on their home court probably removed them from the Atlantic 10 title picture, but they still have a chance at an at-large berth, especially if they can beat Temple on the road in two weeks.

Vanderbilt was down all week, starting with a squeaker of a victory over the usually noncompetitive Mississippi State Bulldogs. They followed that up with a home loss to Arkansas, a team that hasn't been good in years, then lost in overtime to Florida last night. For a while I've thought the Commodores would have a chance to beat Kentucky this month, but if they don't rebound this week, I'm not so sure about that.

Duke's cold week is the result of one very bad game, the same game that put Saint John's among the week's hottest teams. The Blue Devils only have one win against a team currently ranked in my top 25, and they'll have to repeat that feat tonight against Maryland if they don't want to find themselves back out in the cold next week.

Villanova lost two games that they should have won this week, first against Providence, who is ranked #14 in the Big East, then at home against Georgetown. The Wildcats have now lost 3 of their last 4, and unless they can protect their home court this week against serious challenges from West Virginia and Marquette, they will fall out of my top 25.

NBA Player of the Day

LaMarcus Aldridge - POR - 40 pts, 11 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 16-23 FG, 8-9 FT
Aldridge seems to be making a very strong case for a spot on the All-Star team, setting a career-high in scoring against the best team in the NBA. Aldridge led the Blazers in points, rebounds, blocks, and steals in Portland's surprising upset victory over the top-ranked Spurs.

Predictions - 2 Feb

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Raptors at Hawks - Hawks by 10
Pacers at Cavaliers - Pacers by 7
76ers at Nets - 76ers by 3
Bobcats at Pistons - Pistons by 2
Mavericks at Knicks - Knicks by 1
Grizzlies at Timberwolves - Grizz by 3
Hornets at Thunder - Thunder by 1
Bucks at Suns - Suns by 2
Trail Blazers at Nuggets - Nuggets by 4
Rockets at Jazz - Jazz by 2
Bulls at Clippers - Bulls by 4

College Basketball

(5) Duke at Maryland - Duke by 1
(6) San Diego State at Colorado State - San Diego State by 5
(17) Syracuse at (7) Connecticut - UConn by 7
(9) BYU at Wyoming - BYU by 18
Marquette at (12) Villanova - Nova by 6
(15) Missouri at Oklahoma State - Missouri by 3
(20) Minnesota at Indiana - Indiana by 7
Nevada at (21) Utah State - Utah State by 16
Seton Hall at West Virginia - West Virginia by 13

Prediction Results - 1 Feb

NBA: 3/4 (.750) 385/534 overall (.721)
College Basketball: 5/6 (.833) 354/437 overall (.810)
Upsets: 1/1 (1.000) 95/152 overall (.625)

College Basketball Overrated and Underrated - 1 Feb

This week, two teams each exited my overrated and underrated rankings, and all went the right direction. Florida State was blown out by Clemson, just as I predicted, and lost their standing in the national polls. Syracuse lost to Marquette, which I saw coming, but what I didn't see was the loss to Seton Hall. North Carolina entered the AP top 25 this week after blowing out NC State on Saturday, and Marquette also made a big move in the polls after upsetting Syracuse and nearly beating UConn also. Here are this week's updated rankings, with last week's ranking in parentheses.

Overrated

1. Minnesota (1)

2. Utah State

3. Texas A&M (2)

4. Connecticut (3)

5. Villanova

Minnesota lost at Purdue by 12 this week, just like I said, but still maintained the spot in the rankings they "earned" by beating the same Purdue team by 3 a week earlier. After they lose twice this week, to unranked Indiana and top-ranked Ohio State, they should move back to the ranks of the unranked, where they should remain.

I hate to put a mid-major here, especially one with a 20-2 record that plays in a town called Logan, but Utah State has yet to beat anybody of worth this season. I do think they are a good team that should definitely make the tournament this season, but I don't think they're quite ready for the top 25. Blowouts of Nevada and Boise State this week could change my mind.

Texas A&M lost by 9 to unranked Nebraska this week, yet somehow was kept at #16 by the national voters. To repay the voters' confidence, they played one of their worst games of the entire season last night against the Texas Longhorns, getting blown out by 20 points by their in-state rival for the second straight week. They may be able to beat Baylor this week, but it may be so close that the Aggies can't handle it.

Just when I thought UConn had earned their way out of my overrated rankings with their huge road win at Marquette, they lost a home game to Louisville, a team that has struggled on the road all season. They should be able to beat struggling Syracuse this week, but a road game at Seton Hall could be a trap if the Huskies aren't careful.

Villanova has now lost 3 of their last 4 and is still ranked at #12 in the AP poll. The one win in that stretch was against Syracuse, a win that is losing strength with every day, yet they are not falling down the rankings like they should. They play Marquette and West Virginia this week, both at home, but chances are they will not be able to beat both of these very solid conference rivals this week.

Underrated

1. Maryland (4)

2. Belmont (1)

3. Saint Mary's

4. Washington (5)

5. Illinois

Maryland beat two decent teams on the road this week, including a 24-point blowout at Virginia, yet they are not receiving votes. Tomorrow is the biggest game of the season for the Terrapins, with Duke coming to town, and as of right now, the game is too close for me to call, but don't be surprised if Duke loses again.

Belmont's loss at Lipscomb took a little bit of the bloom off the rose, but the Bruins roared back with huge wins over Florida-Gulf Coast and Stetson. Their next opponent, Jacksonville, may be the best opponent they have left, but I don't see them blowing another conference game.

I wasn't too impressed by the Gaels' loss at Portland either, but the win Saint Mary's posted at Gonzaga should have been enough to keep them ranked. The loss may not look as good as their other 3, but Portland is in the top 25% of college basketball teams and a possible threat to pull off an upset in the WCC Tournament. If the Gaels lose again this week, I may have to eat my words.

Washington's loss at rival Washington State wasn't that big of a surprise, but it's being treated that way, despite the fact that the Cougars have been sitting just outside my top 25 for a month. Washington should rebound nicely this week with a road trip to the Oregon schools, who represent the dregs of the Pac 10, but they need to beat Arizona and Washington State later this season for anybody to notice them.

Illinois has now lost 4 of their last 5 games and was dropped from the top 25 after being ranked for most of the season. I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose to Northwestern this week too, but that doesn't mean they were overrated. They are just going through a tough section of the schedule, and when they upset Minnesota and Purdue in two straight games next week, people will say that they are back, but they really never left.

NBA Player of the Day

Blake Griffin - LAC - 32 pts, 11 reb, 6 ast, 13-20 FG, 6-6 FT

This sort of stat line is starting to look normal for Griffin, who has the Clippers on a 9-game home winning streak, the 3rd-longest in team history. Despite leading scorer Eric Gordon sitting out, the Clippers have continued to win, and the team just received news that Gordon may be back much earlier than expected.

Predictions - 1 Feb

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Wizards at Hornets - Hornets by 12

Spurs at Trail Blazers - Spurs by 4

Celtics at Kings - Celts by 9

Rockets at Lakers - Lakers by 8

College Basketball

(2) Kansas at Texas Tech - Kansas by 17

(10) Purdue at (18) Wisconsin - Wisconsin by 5

(11) Kentucky at Mississippi - Kentucky by 8

(24) Vanderbilt at (23) Florida - Florida by 3

Penn State at (24) Illinois - Illinois by 13

North Carolina at Boston College - North Carolina by 1

Prediction Results - 31 Jan

NBA: 5/7 (.714) 382/530 overall (.721)

College Basketball: 2/2 (1.000) 349/431 overall (.810)

Upsets: 2/2 (1.000) 94/151 overall (.623)

College Basketball Rankings - 26 Jan

We're down to two undefeated teams, and only 3 teams have one loss. The Big East was full of upsets this week, and as a result they lost a few ranked teams. Ohio State remained undefeated, the only team from a major conference remaining, and it finally paid off with the #1 ranking becoming theirs for the first time in a month. Here are this week's rankings, with team name followed by weekly record, overall record, rating, and previous ranking.

1. Ohio State (3-0) (21-0) -23.90 (4)
2. Duke (2-0) (18-1) -23.34 (2)
3. Kansas (1-1) (19-1) -21.64 (1)
4. Washington (2-0) (15-4) -20.27 (3)
5. Texas (2-0) (16-3) -19.75 (13)
6. Kentucky (1-0) (15-4) -19.73 (6)
7. BYU (1-0) (19-1) -19.25 (9)
8. Wisconsin (2-0) (15-4) -18.78 (14)
9. Pittsburgh (1-1) (19-2) -18.20 (7)
10. Purdue (2-1) (17-4) -17.38 (5)
11. Vanderbilt (2-0) (14-4) -16.88 (17)
12. San Diego State (1-0) (20-0) -16.73 (11)
13. Villanova (1-0) (17-2) -16.10 (23)
14. Connecticut (2-0) (17-2) -15.82 (NR)
15. Illinois (0-1) (14-6) -15.72 (16)
16. Arizona (1-1) (16-4) -15.70 (21)
17. Georgetown (0-0) (14-5) -15.51 (20)
18. Missouri (1-0) (17-3) -15.46 (25)
19. Saint Mary's (1-1) (17-3) -15.40 (8)
20. Belmont (2-1) (18-4) -15.38 (10)
21. Louisville (1-1) (15-4) -15.07 (22)
22. North Carolina (0-0) (13-5) -14.35 (NR)
23. Notre Dame (3-0) (17-4) -14.27 (NR)
24. Maryland (1-1) (12-7) -13.46 (18)
25. UNLV (2-1) (16-5) -13.29 (15)

Dropping out

Marquette (0-2) (13-8) -13.19 (24)
West Virginia (1-1) (13-5) -13.08 (19)
Syracuse (0-2) (18-3) -12.61 (12)

Ranked teams by conference

Big East: 6
Big 10: 4
ACC: 3
Big 12: 3
MWC: 3
Pac 10: 2
SEC: 2
WCC: 1
Atl Sun: 1

Three Big East teams dropped out this week, but they were replaced by 2 Big East teams and an ACC team, so the Big East still remains the best conference, but with different contenders.

Hot

UConn has finally earned my respect, jumping clear up to #14 in my rankings after beating Marquette on the road last night in a game I had picked them to lose. I now have the Huskies ranked at #3 in the Big East, behind only Pitt and Villanova.

Villanova shook off a loss to UConn last week with a huge upset win at Syracuse, a win that sent Syracuse plunging and eventually out of the top 25. A difficult road win, especially in a tough conference, is a sure sign of a good team.

I may be starting to sound like a broken record here, but Notre Dame also proved themselves this week with a tough road win at Pitt on Monday. For some reason, the home court advantage seemed to be working in reverse this week in the Big East.

The Texas Longhorns went from thrashing their in-state rival Aggies last week to knocking off the previously undefeated Kansas Jayhawks this week, beating a top 10 team by double-digits for the second straight game. The upset over Kansas ended their home winning streak at 69 games, a streak that had started years ago.

Missouri beat a very good Iowa State team this week by a score of 87-54, not the type of score you'd expect between 2 good teams. Missouri faces off with fellow Big 12 hot team Texas on Saturday in a game that will be very important to the conference standings and tournament seeding.

Not

It's hard to believe that Syracuse was undefeated just 10 days ago, now that they have lost three in a row. The first two, against top 10 teams Pitt and Villanova, were forgiveable, but losing at home by 22 points to Big East doormat Seton Hall proves that there is something much bigger wrong with the Orange.

Saint Mary's started the week by overlooking San Diego and having to hold on for a victory, then went to Nashville and got blown out by Vanderbilt. Tomorrow they get to face off with perennial conference favorite Gonzaga, so they picked the absolute worst time to go cold.

Belmont has fallen from good graces this week by playing far beneath their potential twice, first in a 5-point win over a terrible USC-Upstate team, then losing last night at Lipscomb, a team that shouldn't have had much of a chance against the Bruins. Hopefully they can turn it around before March.

After UNLV lost to Colorado State last week, they seemed to lose their fight. They escaped with narrow victories over New Mexico and Wyoming this week, two average teams with very slim NCAA Tournament hopes, not the resume they'll need coming from the Mountain West.

West Virginia lost to in-state rival Marshall this week, a team that always seems to be their Achilles' heel, then announced that leading scorer Casey Mitchell has been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. They may have permanently punched their ticket out of the top 25.

NBA Player of the Day

None. There was no NBA player who played at a star level last night in any of the 5 games, and I don't want to water down the award, so it will go down as vacant for today.

Predictions - 26 Jan

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Magic at Pacers - Magic by 3
Grizzlies at Nets - Grizz by 4
76ers at Raptors - 76ers by 2
Nuggets at Pistons - Nuggets by 4
Hawks at Bucks - Bucks by 1
Thunder at Timberwolves - Thunder by 5
Clippers at Rockets - Rockets by 6
Bobcats at Suns - Suns by 5
Spurs at Jazz - Spurs by 4
Hornets at Warriors - Hornets by 4

College Basketball

(4) San Diego State at (9) BYU - BYU by 8
(7) Villanova at Providence - Nova by 5
(8) Texas at Oklahoma State - Texas by 8
Northwestern at (18) Minnesota - Minnesota by 7
West Virginia at (19) Louisville - Louisville by 8
Saint John's at (20) Georgetown - Georgetown by 12
North Carolina at Miami - North Carolina by 1

Prediction Results - 25 Jan

NBA: 4/5 (.800) 349/483 overall (.720)
College Basketball: 2/6 (.333) 322/391 overall (.824)
Upsets: 0/3 (.000) 86/139 overall (.619)

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)