Ryter's Block: Top 25 Thoughts

The Story: North Carolina is the unanimous No. 1 team in this week’s ESPN/USA Today’s coaches’ poll. After receiving 30 out of 31 first place votes last week, UNC regained its unanimous status at No. 1 this week. Connecticut and Louisville remain No. 2 and No. 3 respectively. Pittsburgh jumped up two spots to No. 4 to give the Big East majority rule among the top 5. Pittsburgh took UCLA’s place at No. 4 after UCLA, 11^th in this week’s poll; fell to Michigan at Madison Square Garden. The Big East has four teams in the top 10 and seven in the top 25—No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 15 Marquette, No. 16 Georgetown, and No. 22 Villanova. Xavier, No. 20, is the sole newcomer to the poll this week. They upset Memphis 63-58 in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off championship game. Here is a look at both the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll as well as the AP poll:

Ryter’s Block: The season is still young but the Big East has been impressive so far. They have almost half of their teams ranked in the top 25. I think Syracuse can also make a case to be the 8^th team from the Big East to get into the top 25. UCLA is ranked a little high for my liking. I think they should have fallen lower after losing to Michigan.

Here are some games worth watching that may impact the rankings next week:

Monday 11/24: No. 2 UConn at No. 19 Wisconsin

Monday 11/24: No. 23 Kansas vs. Washington

Monday 11/24: Syracuse at No. 18 Florida

Wednesday 11/26: Boston College vs. No. 9 Purdue

Wednesday 11/26: UAB vs. No. 13 Oklahoma

Thursday 11/27: Maryland vs. No. 16 Michigan State

Thursday 11/27: Oklahoma St. vs. No. 10 Gonzaga

Friday 11/28: No. 4 Pittsburgh vs. Texas Tech