Week 7 Rankings

I know that a lot of you are busy with the holidays, so I went ahead and posted this thread early to give you guys some time to work on them ahead of time, but remember, there are two crucial games still to come: Wichita State/USC and Dayton/Pitt. Thanks

1) UCLA
2) Wisconsin
3) North Carolina
4) Arizona
5) Oregon
6) Butler
7) Notre Dame
8) Duke
9) Kansas
10) Tennessee
11) Florida
12) Washington
13) Purdue
14) Ohio State
15) Oklahoma State
16) Alabama
17) Pittsburgh
18) Texas A&M
19) Wichita State
20) Maryland
21) Illinois
22) Florida State
23) Nevada
24) Connecticut
25) Georgia Tech

 

1. UCLA
2. North Carolina
3. Wisconsin
4. Arizona
5. Oregon
6. Florida
7. Duke
8. Alabama
9. Ohio State
10. Kansas
11. Washington
12. Oklahoma State
13. Butler
14. Notre Dame
15. Texas A&M
16. Pittsburgh
17. Wichita State
18. Connecticut
19. Nevada
20. Tennessee
21. Washington State
22. Florida State
23. Michigan State
24. Marquette
25. Purdue

 

1. UCLA
2. UNC
3. Wisconsin
4. Florida
5. Duke
6. Arizona
7. Oregon
8. Ohio State
9. Oklahoma State (I know, I know, they lost to Tennessee, but UT is a real solid team, too. I think this was about as impressive a 1-1 week as you can have)
10. Butler
11. Alabama
12. Notre Dame
13. Texas A&M
14. Washington
15. Kansas
16. Marquette
17. Purdue
18. Tennessee
19. LSU
20. Pittsburgh
21. Wichita State
22. UConn
23. Illinois
24. Florida State
25. Michigan State

 

(not directed at anyone in particular)

You know, I was looking at it, and Tennessee's having a much better season than I realized. Two losses: one to Butler and one to North Carolina. Quality wins? Memphis, Oklahoma State, and now Texas. Probably the most legit two loss team out there, and Chris Lofton is like diet J.J. Redick. The kid is unconscious from beyond the arch. Bruce Pearl has really turned around the campus too. My friend called me from the game and it was ROCKIN. I couldn't hear myself think, just a bunch of noise going through my brain when I was on the phone.

 

Duke Crews -

Heard he looked real good today, knocked down a couple threes even

 

<div class="quote_poster">Schaddy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Duke Crews -

Heard he looked real good today, knocked down a couple threes even</div>

Plus, you've got to respect a man with a beard like that. That's the look Hakim Warrick wishes he could pull off.

Michigan St. > Texas > LSU

that is all

war Joakim Noah, war John Calipari, war Canada

 

Here's what we got before Shape gets his to us tomorrow:

1) UCLA – 75 (3)
2) North Carolina - 71
3) Wisconsin – 70
4) Arizona - 64
5) Oregon - 61
6) Duke - 60
7) Florida – 57
8) Ohio State – 49
9) Butler – 48
<font color=""Red"">10) Alabama - 46
11T) Notre Dame - 44</font>
11T) Washington – 44
12) Kansas - 43
13) Oklahoma State – 41
14) Texas A&M – 32
15T) Pittsburgh – 25
15T) Tennessee – 25
17) Purdue – 22
18) Wichita State – 21
19) Connecticut – 18
20T) Marquette - 12
20T) Nevada – 12
22) LSU – 7
23T) Florida State – 6
23T) Illinois – 6
25) Washington State – 5

Others Receiving Votes:

Maryland (4), Michigan State (4), Georgia Tech (2), Kansas State (1)
<font color=""red"">
* = Don't get that one.</font>

 

<font size=""5"">Mel wanted us to start adding brief explanations. Feel free to help out:</font>

1) UCLA – 75 (3)

The Bruins are enjoying their fourth straight week at the top of our rankings, earning first place votes from every one of our voters. If wins over Kentucky, Georgia Tech, and Texas A&M weren’t enough to convince you that they’re legit, then this past weekend’s 37 point blowout over Michigan should have.

2) North Carolina – 71

This young Tar Heels stumbled early on in the year to a very respectable Gonzaga team but have since been playing with great chemistry, winning games over the likes of Tennessee, Ohio State, and Kentucky, claiming the highest spot of any one-loss teams in our rankings.

3) Wisconsin – 70

The Badgers are currently maintaining a ranking higher than any they’ve ever held in our poll before, coming off of a blowout win against our seventeenth ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. Bo Ryan’s swing offense is the perfect offense for Alando Tucker, and right now he’s the leading Naismith Player of the Year candidate because of it.

4) Arizona – 64

The Wildcats took a big hit early on, losing their first game of the season at Virginia, but ever since they’ve been on a tear, winning their past nine games by an average of about fifteen points. The ‘Cats have the perfect cast of athletic, NBA caliber prospects to fit their up-tempo system and have a true superstar in the making in freshman Chase Budinger.

5) Oregon – 61

The ‘national’ polls might be gun shy about ranking the Ducks this high, but we feel they deserve it. Not only are they one of only four remaining unranked teams, but they’ve gotten to that point with wins over some of the nation’s top teams on all coasts. Spurring this attack has been one of the nation’s biggest surprises, Tajuan Porter, an overlooked freshman recruit who stands at only 5’6” but has a big heart, as well as a cast of experienced, NBA quality veterans.

6) Duke – 58

With their youth and inexperience, the Blue Devils haven't exactly been the model of consistency, and pretty much every one of their young stars has failed to live up to their individual expectations, but when you look at their entire body of work, including a decisive victory over Gonzaga this past week, you'll see that the 11-1 Dukies deserve to be this high.

7) Florida – 57

The defending national champs failed to meet the lofty expectations set before them to start the season, dropping two early ones to Kansas and Florida State, but this weekend they put any doubts about their capabilities to rest with a blowout victory over the fourth ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Al Horford was particularly impressive, playing through an injured left ankle to record his fourteenth career double-double.

8) Butler – 49

The Bulldogs shocked the world at the start of the season by winning the preseason N.I.T., taking out Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee, and Gonzaga in the process, and they haven't skipped a beat since, recently beating a very respectable Purdue team. It looks like things can only go up from here for the Bulldogs too, because they only play one team over .500 until the postseason.

9) Ohio State – 47

After being absolutely embarrassed like the Buckeyes were this past Saturday, most teams would have dropped much further in our rankings than the Buckeyes have, but then again, most teams don't have Greg Oden. With their youth and inexperience, the Buckeyes are bound to lose more games in this fashion, but they've also got the talent to be on the other end of the blowouts in the future.

10) Notre Dame - 45

Owners of one of the nation's few one-loss records, the Irish appeared to be in store for another long season after losing to Butler at the buzzer at the start of the season, but with the way the Bulldogs have been playing, that loss doesn't look so bad for Notre Dame anymore, and they've had some quality wins of their own, beating two very respectable programs in Maryland and Alabama.

11) Kansas - 44

The collegiate scene is dominated by youth more than ever this season with the NBA's new age limit, and no team exemplifies this youth moreso than the Kansas Jayhawks, who are unpredictable at this point. They've dropped games against 5-6 Oral Roberts and 8-5 DePaul this season, yet they've also won big games against #7 Florida and Boston College. As a result of this inconsistency, both in terms of team success and the success of individual players like Brandon Rush, the Jayhawks failed to crack our top ten this week, but make no mistake, they're one of the most dangerous teams in the NCAA when they're clicking.

12) Alabama - 43

Even with Ronald Steele struggling early on, the Tide have been one of college basketball's hottest teams. This past Wednesday they ran North Carolina State right out of their home gym. Don't let the score fool you; the game was a blowout, much more humiliating for the Wolfpack than the seven point margin would indicate.

13) Oklahoma State – 42

The Cowboys moved up four spots in our rankings despite going 1-1 this week. The reason for that does somewhat have to do with the fact that a lot of the other top teams fell this week, but the fact of the matter is that Oklahoma State looked like a top fifteen team this week, even in defeat: they lost in overtime to a solid Tennessee team and rebounded from that with a convincing victory over Pittsburgh.

14) Washington – 41

At 10-1, the Huskies are one of the more surprising teams this year. Romar could be well on his way to a National Coach of the Year award, after getting his group of inexperienced, underclassmen to play like veterans early on in the season. Greg Oden may be the most dominant freshman in the game, but in any other year, that title would go to Spencer Hawes, who is coming off of a 23 point, 12 rebound performance over Glen Davis' LSU Tigers.

15) Texas A&M – 32

More was expected from Acie Law IV and Joseph Jones at the beginning of the season than what they've given us so far, but the Aggies' cast of unsung roleplayers have stepped up and kept them in our top fifteen. Upperclassmen Antanas Kavaliauskas and Dominique Kirk are having career seasons, whereas the entire Aggies' freshman class has been much better than expected.

16) Tennessee – 30

The Vols could be the hottest team in college basketball right now, coming off of wins over Memphis, Oklahoma State, and Texas. As is the case with Notre Dame, their early season loss to Butler doesn't look to bad at this point either. Plus, senior guard Chris Lofton is playing like an All-American, averaging an impressive 22.5 ppg on the season.

17) Pittsburgh – 25

Led by Aaron Gray, arguably the nation's best big man, the Panthers have worked their way to a 11-2 record to start the season, but recently their lack of depth has been exploited in two consecutive losses to Wisconsin and Oklahoma State. To their credit though, the Panthers did rebound with a very impressive 30 point victory over the Dayton Flyers this past Saturday, keeping them in our top twenty.

18) Purdue – 23

Yet another team which the national media seems reluctant to report on, the Purdue Boilermakers are actually one of the most experienced and battle-tested teams out there. They had a very disappointing season a year ago, but the reappearance of All-Big Ten bigman Carl Landry has given the team new life.

19) Wichita State – 21

The Shockers were shocked twice this week, once by New Mexico and once by USC, but their overall body of work still warrants a ranking this high. They're not going to just get a free pass through the rest of the season for being in a mid-major conference like Butler is though, because this year the Missouri Valley Conference is one of the top in the nation. In fact, they've got a tough test coming up this Saturday against an under-the-radar Northern Iowa team.

20) Connecticut – 14

The Huskies aren't ranked nearly as high in our poll as they are in the national polls, because while they're undefeated, they have yet to be tested against legit competition. They're talented, but they're also very young, and Jim Calhoun is hiding his team's weaknesses through scheduling a bunch of cupcakes like Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart.

21) Marquette - 12

The Golden Eagles fell to the bottom of our poll after losing two games in one week during Week 5 and have since struggled to regain their high ranking, playing only a couple of sub-.500 mid-majors these past few weeks, but with Dominic James at the helm, they stand to have a great season in the Big East.

22) Nevada – 11

The Wolf Pack moved up a few spots in our rankings this week despite struggling this past Friday against Akron. We'll be able to see how good this team truly is this Thursday though as Nevada, anchored by Nick Fazekas' All-American play (20.9 ppg, 12.6 rpg, 2.0 apg), take on the WCC's Gonzaga Bulldogs.

23) Florida State – 10

One of two new entries to our top twenty-five, the Florida State Seminoles' only two losses on the season are road games against #3 Wisconsin and #17 Pittsburgh, and while most of their wins at this point have come against sub-.500 teams, they do have one statement win over a Brewer-less Florida.

24) Illinois – 8

After a long absence from our poll, the Fighting Illini are finally back. Most of the 'experts' wrote them off after Dee Brown and James Augustine graduated, but Jamar Smith and Warren Carter have significantly stepped up their level of play and now have Illinois sitting at a very respectable 12-2, the second best record in the Big Ten at this point.

25) LSU – 7

The Tigers took one of the biggest hits in our poll this week after being blown out in Washington's gym. The loss marked the first time this season that Glen "Big Bay" Davis was held under ten points, and it was also just his fourth performance of the year with less than ten rebounds.

Others Receiving Votes:

Maryland (6), Washington State (5), Michigan State (4), Georgia Tech (2), Kansas State (1)

 

Why don't we just flip Bama and ND? The point totals are so similar, and I was thinking about switching 'em myself

 

<div class="quote_poster">Schaddy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Why don't we just flip Bama and ND? The point totals are so similar, and I was thinking about switching 'em myself </div>

Well, I don't want to force you to have to do anything bro'. It was probably out of line for me to highlight that, but I'm just a huge Notre Dame fan and hate 'Bama, so that's always kinda bugged me.

If you do want to make any changes to your rankings though (not necessarily ND/Bama, but in general, and for future referrence), please post the changes in red so I know what you did.

 

If Shape doesn't have his in by 8 CT, I'm going to save these on the blog.

It's X'mas, so it's a little unrealistic to expect them from any of us really, so it's completely understandable.