Monday, March 8, 2010

Mr. T's Top 25 Power Rankings (3/8)

I'm putting these up after St. Mary's thrashing of Gonzaga in the WCC tournament. I've been a tad suspicious of Gonzaga all year, espeically after personally watching them get their asses handed to them by Duke at the Garden in December. I've dropped em to 20th, but I'm sure there are those out there that would think they should be dropped further. Frakly, I'm not ready to jump to that conclusion yet because this is the weakest group of NCAA teams I can ever remember seeing. There are so many mediocre teams out there that I can't necessarily say any team I placed after Gonzaga is any better than them. Does this all even matter with the bracket coming out in a week?

And yes I still have Syracuse over Kentucky because I still think they're the better team with more quality wins.

(Last week's rankings on my ballot in parenthesis)

  1. Kansas (1)
  2. Syracuse (2)
  3. Kentucky (3)
  4. Ohio St. (6)
  5. West Virginia (8)
  6. Duke (5)
  7. Kansas St. (4)
  8. Purdue (9)
  9. Wisconsin (11)
  10. Baylor (14)
  11. Michigan St. (12)
  12. Vanderbilt (13)
  13. Villanova (7)
  14. Tennessee (16)
  15. Georgetown (10)
  16. New Mexico (16)
  17. Butler (17)
  18. Pittsburgh (18)
  19. Maryland (25)
  20. Gonzaga (11)
  21. Temple (20)
  22. Xavier (24)
  23. Marquette (21)
  24. Texas A&M (25)
  25. Brigham Young (23)

Dropped from the rankings: None


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Monday, March 1, 2010

Mr. T's Top 25 Power Rankings (3/1)

The AP and Coaches polls have spoken and have made Syracuse the #1 overall team in the country. I'm not as heated about that as I am seeing New Mexico at #8 in the AP poll, but I don't agree myself. Since neither team has very high quality non-conference wins, you have to look at their losses and their conference strength. Kansas' both losses were on the road, while Cuse's two losses were at home. The quality of the losses (Tennessee and Oklahoma St. for Kansas vs. Pittsburgh and Louisville for Cuse) are basically the same. Finally, the Big 12 is a better conference this year top to bottom. The Big East may have more elite teams, but they also have a lot more garbage sitting at the bottom of the conference.

(Last week's rankings on my ballot in parenthesis)

  1. Kansas (1)
  2. Syracuse (3)
  3. Kentucky (2)
  4. Kansas St. (5)
  5. Duke (6)
  6. Ohio St. (8)
  7. Villanova (7)
  8. West Virginia (9)
  9. Purdue (4)
  10. Wisconsin (11)
  11. Gonzaga (12)
  12. Michigan St. (13)
  13. Vanderbilt (14)
  14. Baylor (15)
  15. Georgetown (10)
  16. New Mexico (20)
  17. Butler (21)
  18. Tennessee (16)
  19. Pittsburgh (14)
  20. Temple (22)
  21. Marquette (24)
  22. Maryland (25)
  23. Brigham Young (18)
  24. Xavier (NR)
  25. Texas A&M (NR)

Dropped from the rankings: Texas (19) and Richmond (23)


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Monday, February 22, 2010

Mr. T's Top 25 Power Rankings (2/22)

It's rather amazing how nutty the college basketball season is this year. There are so many damn teams that seem to lose every week. Take a look at the heart of my rankings to see how many teams lost this week: Villanova, Ohio St., West Virginia, Georgetown, Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Michigan St., Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Baylor, and Texas. I know there's no logic in college basketball, but that's just ridiculous. It's also amazing how Pittsburgh has responded from a midseason lapse to come back strong. There are very few teams in the country as productive as Pittsburgh with less talent. Finally, I'd like to give Kentucky some props for making it through a tough week. They're definitely earning their stripes.

My rankings are also being posted after the AP poll came out, so I have a comment there. There's no way New Mexico is the 10th best team in the country. If they played Georgetown or Michigan State in a 10 game series, do you think they win a majority of those games? Neither do I. I know the Mountain West Conference is strong, but that's just stupid.

(Last week's rankings on my ballot in parenthesis)

  1. Kansas (1)
  2. Kentucky (2)
  3. Syracuse (3)
  4. Purdue (5)
  5. Kansas St. (6)
  6. Duke (9)
  7. Villanova (4)
  8. Ohio St. (7)
  9. West Virginia (6)
  10. Georgetown (5)
  11. Wisconsin (13)
  12. Gonzaga (14)
  13. Michigan St. (8)
  14. Pittsburgh (19)
  15. Vanderbilt (14)
  16. Tennessee (18)
  17. Baylor (15)
  18. Brigham Young (17)
  19. Texas (16)
  20. New Mexico (20)
  21. Butler (21)
  22. Temple (23)
  23. Richmond (25)
  24. Marquette (23)
  25. Maryland (NR)


Dropped from the rankings: Wake Forest (24)
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Monday, February 15, 2010

Mr. T's Top 25 Power Rankings (2/15)

I only truly understand how difficult it is to put together a Top 25 now that I'm actually putting one together every week. I still see a clear top three, with eight other really competitive, yet flawed teams. After that it's a complete crap shoot. The bottom of the rankings continue to fluctuate as different teams play themselves in and out. I dropped Maryland from the rankings because that game at Duke was just too embarrassing.

(Last week's rankings on my ballot in parenthesis)

  1. Kansas (1)
  2. Kentucky (3)
  3. Syracuse (2)
  4. Villanova (4)
  5. Purdue (9)
  6. Kansas St (7)
  7. Ohio St (10)
  8. Michigan St. (8)
  9. Duke (11)
  10. Georgetown (5)
  11. West Virginia (6)
  12. Gonzaga (14)
  13. Wisconsin (13)
  14. Vanderbilt (19)
  15. Baylor (18)
  16. Texas (16)
  17. Brigham Young (20)
  18. Tennessee (12)
  19. Pittsburgh (24)
  20. New Mexico (NR)
  21. Butler (NR)
  22. Temple (23)
  23. Marquette (NR)
  24. Wake Forest (NR)
  25. Richmond (NR)

Dropped from the rankings: Maryland (15), Georgia Tech (17), Missouri (21), UNLV (22), Florida St. (25)


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Monday, February 8, 2010

Mr. T's Top 25 Power Rankings (2/8)

Here's my Rivalry Week column for BroBible.com.

Mr. T's Top 25:

  1. Kansas
  2. Syracuse
  3. Kentucky
  4. Villanova
  5. Georgetown
  6. West Virginia
  7. Kansas St
  8. Michigan St
  9. Purdue
  10. Ohio St
  11. Duke
  12. Tennessee
  13. Wisconsin
  14. Gonzaga
  15. Maryland
  16. Texas
  17. Georgia Tech
  18. Baylor
  19. Vanderbilt
  20. Brigham Young
  21. Missouri
  22. UNLV
  23. Temple
  24. Pittsburgh
  25. Florida State

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