College Basketball: Top 25 Polls Commentary

    
December 15th, 2008 by Matthew Ryter
» Tags

 

 

The Story: The Big East continues to show its dominance in both polls this week by having 8 teams earn Top 25 honors. North Carolina was once again the unanimous choice at No. 1 for the fourth consecutive week. Big East’s top two teams, Connecticut and Pittsburgh, remained at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively. Gonzaga’s loss to Arizona enabled Oklahoma (No. 4) and Texas (No.5) to move up one spot each to round out the top 5. The Zags dropped four spots to No. 8 in this week’s AP Poll. Kansas dropped out of both Polls this week after suffering a tough one point loss to UMass. Replacing Kansas in the AP Top 25 is undefeated Clemson (No. 25). Georgetown, after an impressive overtime home win against Memphis, jumped four spots from No. 19 to No. 15 in the AP Poll and jumped six spots in the Coaches’ poll from No. 19 to No. 13. Undefeated Syracuse continues to move up in the AP rankings from No. 13 to No. 11.

 

AP Top 25


1. North Carolina (72) 9-0 1,800
2. Connecticut 8-0 1,715
3. Pittsburgh 10-0 1,646
4. Oklahoma 10-0 1,585
5. Texas 8-1 1,473
6. Duke 8-1 1,347
7. Xavier 9-0 1,233
8. Gonzaga 7-1 1,225
9. Louisville 6-1 1,176
10. Wake Forest 9-0 1,101
11. Syracuse 9-0 1,005
12. Notre Dame 7-2 992
13. Purdue 8-2 765
14. UCLA 6-2 756
15. Georgetown 7-1 750
16. Tennessee 6-2 683
17. Ohio State 6-0 576
18. Villanova 10-1 571
19. Michigan State 6-2 506
20. Arizona State 8-1 431
21. Baylor 8-1 420
22. Davidson 8-1 398
23. Memphis 5-2 350
24. Marquette 8-1 240
25. Clemson 10-0 196


Others Receiving Votes
Michigan 132, Miami (FL) 64, Missouri 44, Brigham Young 37, Butler 23, Dayton 23, Florida State 21, LSU 21, Illinois 15, Kansas 15, Wisconsin 15, Maryland 10, Arizona 10, Florida 8, Northwestern 7, Texas A&M 6, Saint Mary's 3, Temple 2, Minnesota 2, Navy 1, West Virginia 1.

ESPN/USA Today Poll


1. North Carolina (31) 9-0 775
2. Connecticut 8-0 737
3. Pittsburgh 10-0 713
4. Oklahoma 10-0 676
5. Texas 8-1 642
6. Duke 8-1 574
7. Gonzaga 7-1 552
7. Xavier 9-0 552
9. Louisville 6-1 467
10. Wake Forest 9-0 466
11. Syracuse 9-0 406
12. UCLA 6-2 369
13. Georgetown 7-1 358
14. Notre Dame 7-2 345
15. Villanova 10-1 313
16. Ohio State 6-0 275
17. Arizona State 8-1 272
18. Purdue 8-2 252
19. Tennessee 6-2 246
20. Davidson 8-1 194
21. Memphis 5-2 166
22. Michigan State 6-2 147
23. Marquette 8-1 130
24. Baylor 8-1 119
25. Clemson 10-0 65


Others Receiving Votes
Brigham Young 62, Miami (FL) 48, Michigan 31, Dayton 27, Butler 19, Arizona 15, Missouri 15, Wisconsin 14, Kansas 14, Saint Mary's 11, Illinois State 3, LSU 2, Florida 2, Maryland 1.


Dropped From Rankings
Kansas 23, Miami (FL) 25.

 

Ryter’s Block: This week is the first week that I think the Coaches’ Top 25 is starting to get some things right. Both the AP and Coaches’ Poll seem to finally be somewhat on the same page. The top 5 teams in the country are spot on. I was at Madison Square Garden this past week for the Texas vs. Villanova game. It was virtually a home game for Villanova and Texas proved to be the better team and they deserve the top 5 ranking after a loss by Gonzaga. Syracuse, despite the Devendorf scandal, is getting the love that they deserve. Notre Dame should be a few spots lower with their loss to Ohio State. Ohio State (No.17), 6-0, has beaten Miami FL and the Irish but yet the Irish are ranked 5 spots better. I believe that Missouri, 8-1, should be ranked this week. The Tigers only loss came to No. 7 Xavier.

 

Here are the games this week that could shake up the rankings…

 

Tuesday, 12/16:             No. 23 Marquette vs. No. 19 Tennessee

Thursday, 12/18:            Mississippi vs. No. 9 Louisville

 

Saturday, 12/20:           

No. 2 Connecticut vs. No. 7 Xavier

No. 22 Michigan St. at No. 5 Texas

No. 11 Syracuse at No. 21 Memphis

No. 20 Davidson at No. 18 Purdue

Brigham Young at No. 17 Arizona State

 

Matthew Ryter keeps you up to date on the world of college basketball with his "Ryter's Block" column.  What do you think about this story? Post your comments below:

»