A Letter From Jesus About College Basketball

Well, it seems like no one can hold on to the #1 spot for very long and we've come full circle with Kansas Jayhawks back atop the rankings. Personally, I think Syracuse is currently playing as well as anyone and Villanova could also make a strong argument for the top spot. This week I decided to include a look-see at the upcoming games for this week (as of Monday night when I'm writing this). So, let's break it down!

1. Kansas
This Week: 2/3 at Colorado (11-10), 2/6 vs. Nebraska (13-8)
Two snoozers. If they're not #1 next week you know something went very wrong.

2. Villanova
This Week: 2/6 at #7 Georgetown (16-4)
Big test this week will be a very physical Gerogetown Hoyas squad. Can Reynolds and gang finesse and outsmart their way to a win? They'll need to if they want to be #1.

3. Syracuse
This Week: 2/2 vs. Providence (12-9), 2/7 at Cincinnati (14-7)
The 'Cuse need to avoid an upset this week. PC at home and Cincy on the road are both possible trap games, but the way they've been ballin' you have to figure they'll be fine.

4. Kentucky
No notable games this week. I heard Coach Cal on Stephen A's show this morning and he seems thoroughly confident in his boys, and as I mentioned earlier he welcomed the loss as a learning lesson for the very young Kentucky crew.

5. Michigan State
This Week: 2/2 at #16 Wisconsin (16-5)
Wisconsin is as good a home team as there is, don't be surprised if there's an upset in Madison this week.

6. West Virginia
This Week: 2/3 vs. Pittsburgh (16-5), 2/6 at St. John's (12-8)
Both tough games for this team. Pitt is coming off some tough recent losses, looking to rebound with a big win. St John's is very capable and probably the best Johnny team in recent years. Don't overlook them. (Coach Huggybear gets a few extra lines here for his seriously questionable sideline attire. Someone please tell him he's not at practice. It's a game! Where's the tie??? At least a nice polo!)

7. Georgetown
This Week: 2/3 vs. South Florida (14-7), 2/6 vs. #2 Villanova (19-1)
I almost forgot USF was in the Big East in baseketball until last night's Sportscenter. Georgetown should handle them at home, but Dominique Jones dropped 46 in a win over Pitt. He can ball! Obviously, 'Nova will be the big game of the week.

8. Purdue
This Week: 2/4 at Indiana (9-11)
Rivalry game. These two schools hate each other as much as any two schools. I have family from Indiana, and trust me...this is not friendly. IU sucks, but coach Creen will have 'em ready for this one. I bet they'll compete, but Purdue should win.

9. Texas

10. Duke
This Week: 2/4 vs. #21 Georgia Tech (16-5), 2/6 at Boston College (12-10)
Two big games for Duke. I hope they lose both. They suck.

11. Kansas State
No notable games. Recently lost to KU, looking to rebound with a nice week.

12. Brigham Young
No notable games. Mormons.

13. Ohio State
No notable games. Should pick up two wins and maybe climb into Top 10 next week.

14. Tennessee
No notable games.

15. New Mexico
No notable games.

16. Wisconsin
This Week: 2/2 vs. #5 Michigan State (19-3)
See above. Upset alert!!!

17. Gonzaga
No notable games.

18. Vanderbilt
No notable games.

19. Temple
No notable games.

20. Baylor
No notable games. Beat a reeling Texas team last week. Have come a long way from the Coach Bliss era/murder scandal.

21. Georgia Tech
This Week: 2/4 at #10 Duke (17-4)
See above. Go Jackets!!!

22. Pittsburgh
This Week: 2/3 at #6 West Virginia (17-3)
See above. Backyard brawl in football, not such a rivalry in BB, but should be a good game.

23. Butler
No notable games. Fuck this team. I hate them and their boring fundamental basektball.

24. Northern Iowa
No notable games. Seriously? Again with this? Are you kidding me?

25. Mississippi
This Week: 2/2 at #1 Kentucky (20-1)

In closing I just want to point out that URI is 11 in RPI, 17-3 with 2 losses to the Top 25 and 1 other fairly quality road loss, and 2 quality wins against Dayton and OK State. Yet, Northern Iowa with no quality win and nowhere to be seen in the RPI is in the Top 25. I guess the writers are just as skeptical as most Ram fans that Coach Baron can maintain the current pace. Only time will tell, but I think playing like at Top 25 team. At least give a team that hasn't been in there a shot. UNI was already in and out once, and it is not like they did much to get back in there. Probably just beat some teams I've never heard of.

Go Rams!

Hold Up, Jesus Has Something To Say About College Basketball

Well they're definitely not sleepers anymore. The Kansas State Wildcats that is. They put a beatdown on #1 Texas over the holiday weekend on their home court. Frank Martin has his boys playing some great basketball right now. You might think that beating the #1 team in the land would jump you up a bit higher than 3 spots to #10, but it is hard to put Kansas State ahead of any of the other top 10 teams at this point. I think that Kentucky, Kansas and Texas are the cream of the crop this season, though I don't think that any of them would be immune to a loss on the road to any of the other top 10 teams. Texas is good and deep but definitely struggled in the hostile environment the other night. Kansas is also very good when they want to be but has been on life-support an few times this season only to be rescued by Sherron Collins' brilliant play. That luck might run out against a good team (like it did against Tennessee). And Kentucky has looked good but has played all their big games on the comfort of their home floor (or a neutral site), and even Coach Cal has admitted that his team is lacking in overcoming adversity, because they haven't really faced any.

A couple other things stood out to me while looking at these rankings and wondering just what the fuck the writer's are looking at.
One is Northern Iowa at #20! Northern Iowa? What the hell? I had to pull up their schedule. I was hoping to find a defining upset win over a good team, but was disappointed. They had a win over an overrated Boston College and a win against a Big 10 rival in Iowa. I couldn't even tell you if Iowa is any good this year, which probably means they are not. Iowa is for wrestling...not basketball. This is just a case of writer's not knowing anything and thinking because a team only has one loss they must be top 25 worthy. I guarantee they won't last long in here.

The other thing was that North Carolina is still ranked. Do we really still need to have them in the Top 25? I know, I know. They have 3 losses to top 5 teams, but those are still losses. And they have 6 altogether...too many at this point in the season. One of those 6 was to College of Charleston! Ugh. How are they still getting votes?

Which brings me to my final point. The Rhode Island Runnin' Rams are again receiving votes. Was it the whooping they laid on the terrible Fordham team? The St. Joe's win was nice, but that is a game they have to win this year. What is it this week that those 11 writers saw that none of them saw the previous weeks after beating Oklahoma State on a neautral (kinda) site and an overtime loss to #17 Temple? I just want some consistency. I hope the Rams keep it up and I hope they crack the Top 25 soon. Lord knows they've got to be as good as Northern Iowa.


Watch out for Wisconsin. They beat EVERYONE at home. And the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets just might be the class of the ACC (aside from Duke, but they don't count because I hate them.)

AP Top 25 (#1 votes, record, points accumulated and previous ranking)

1 Texas (57) 17-1 1617 1
2 Kentucky (8) 18-0 1568 2
3 Kansas 16-1 1457 3
4 Villanova 16-1 1442 4
5 Syracuse 18-1 1376 5
6 Michigan State 15-3 1259 7
7 Duke 15-2 1249 8
8 Tennessee 14-2 1163 9
9 Pittsburgh 15-2 1015 16
10 Kansas State 16-2 989 13
11 West Virginia 13-3 922 10
12 Georgetown 13-3 873 11
13 Purdue 14-3 799 6
14 Brigham Young 18-1 763 18
15 Gonzaga 14-3 748 17
16 Temple 15-3 581 19
17 Clemson 15-3 568 24
18 Wisconsin 14-4 542 13
19 Georgia Tech 13-4 380 20
20 Northern Iowa 16-1 252 27
21 Ohio State 13-5 228
22 Mississippi 13-4 211 21
23 Mississippi State 15-3 189 29
24 North Carolina 12-6 161 12
25 Baylor 14-2 147 22

NCAA News

The Longhorns, who I have been promoting as the best team in the land for a while now are finally atop the Top 25 rankings, after Kansas' loss to Tennessee on the road. Apparently no one told Kansas they were playing a Tennessee team that had just lost 4 players, including Tyler Smith, to dismissal/suspension from the team when they were found in a rental car with handguns, alcohol and marijuana. The Vols, sporting a handfull of walk-ons and bench warmers upset the #1 Jayhawks on their home-floor in a very exciting, back-and-forth contest. If they can finish the season strong one can only imagine the feel good stories that CBS' Clark Kellogg and Jim Nantz will be featuring during March Madness. Kill me.

Kentucky still sits quietly at #2 and like the 'Horns are undefeated.

Villanova, led by Scottie Reynolds is looking very strong and had a nice win against Louisville on Monday night. I always bank on guard play when it is time to fill out my bracket, and this year I'll be putting big money on 'Nova and the Reynolds to go deep in the tourney.

The Big East still looks great with 6 teams in the Top 25 and Marquette and Notre Dame both receiving votes. Georgetown is coming on strong, having recently turned in a nice victory over the UConn Huskies this past weekend.

Temple remains the only A-10 team in the Top 25 at # 19, with Dayton getting 39 votes. But this kinda pisses me off, because URI lost to Temple in OT and beat Oklahoma State who got 26 Top 25 votes, yet URI gets no votes? What's more they are currently #8 in RPI! Yea...#8! I know it is a little early for RPI and once conference season really gets going they should drop a bit, but c'mon...they've gotten votes each of the last 3 or 4 weeks, and now nothing?
At least Butler is out of the Top 25 because I can't stand them.

Fucking Siena got a vote. Must have been that huge win over Canisius!

Anyway...here' the Top 25 for this week. (#1 votes, record, points and prevoius ranking)

1 Texas (56) 15-0 1616 2
2 Kentucky (9) 16-0 1569 3
3 Kansas 14-1 1441 1
4 Villanova 15-1 1426 6
5 Syracuse 15-1 1353 7
6 Purdue 14-1 1317 4
7 Michigan State 13-3 1191 10
8 Duke 13-2 1178 5
9 Tennessee 12-2 1030 16
10 West Virginia 12-2 1006 8
11 Georgetown 12-2 934 12
12 North Carolina 12-4 844 9
13 Kansas State 13-2 746 11
14 Wisconsin 13-3 746 17
15 Connecticut 11-4 633 13
16 Pittsburgh 13-2 565 23
17 Gonzaga 12-3 559 19
18 Brigham Young 16-1 456 25
19 Temple 13-3 388 21
20 Georgia Tech 12-3 342 20
21 Mississippi 12-3 326 14
22 Baylor 13-1 301 30
23 Miami (FL) 15-1 189 31
24 Clemson 13-3 167 26
25 Florida State 13-3 155 18

Others Receiving Votes: Texas A&M 126, Northern Iowa 91, Missouri 64, Mississippi State 61, New Mexico 59, Dayton 39, UAB 35, UNLV 28, Oklahoma State 26, Vanderbilt 21, Notre Dame 18, Wake Forest 14, Cornell 12, Butler 10, Texas Tech 10, Marquette 9, Virginia Tech 9, William & Mary 8, Louisiana Tech 2, Florida 2, Harvard 1, Missouri State 1, Siena 1

NCAA Update

The Jayhawks still reign supreme, even though strong arguments could be made for the Longhorns and the Wildcats of Kentcuky. Texas didn't help their cause much by sleepwalking through a close win against TAMU Corpus Christi. (That should be a pornstar's name...Corpus Christi or Christi Corpus...she could do the whole nun thing...nevermind.)

Kansas continues to impress by blowing opponents out of the water. The latest victim? A-10's Temple Owls who somehow managed to stay at #21 despite a 32 point loss at Kansas. It will be interesting to see how they hold up in conference play against the likes of Oklahoma, Kansas State and of course Texas. I predict they finish with about 2-3 losses this season. Going through a conference season without a loss is damn near impossible these days. Especially in the Big12. A10 (ala St Joe's or Memphis ala Conference USA is one thing...Big12 is another animal.)

As for Temple...they play the Runnin' Rams of Rhody on January 10. A win against Akron tonight and a win over Temple Sunday and the Rams should finally see the Top 25 again. They had a nice win at Mohegan Sun arena the other night over Oklahoma State. A win over a Big12 squad, albeit a down year for the Cowboys, still a nice win.

Kentucky continues to be studly with John Wall and now Demarcus Cousins playing some serious ball...and throwing some serious elbows to boot! They start conference play against the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday. How long before recruiting violations surface about Wall and/or Cousins? Will Kentucky be next on the trail of schools behind Coach Cal? Where would he possibly go after that? Back to NBA??? Stay tuned...it's only a matter of time with this guy.

The Big East has already started beating up on each other with Syracuse going down to Pitt the other night.
'Nova still looks good, beating Marquette by two last Saturday.

The Mountaineers went down at the hands of Purdue who continues to impress as well. I may have underrated that squad a bit, as they're a bit more athletic than I anticipated. Robbie Hummel continues to win the "Shoulda Gone to Duke" award...so I hate him. Fuck Purdue.

The Tar Heels had an abysmal loss to College of Charleston! (WHO?!) It was already noted on this site, so I need not say more.

A couple sleeper teams could be Kansas State (though they're starting to enter that weird "Everyone's calling them a sleeper, so can they still be a sleeper?" phase, and Georgetown. I always liked Georgetown...I don't know why. Maybe it was all the cool players like, Iverson and 'Zo. Plus I think I always secretly wanted to be a black basketball player, kinda like Bill "Jamaal Abdul" Simmons. And Georgetown seems to be the go-to gangsta basketball school, ever since UNLV fell off the map and Chris Webber took money from Michigan. (I even wore black socks and baggy shorts in my youth league, just like the Fab 5!)

1. Kansas (56)
Last game: at Temple, W 84-52 (1/2)
Next game: Cornell (1/6)
13-0
2. Texas (8)
Last game: vs TAMU Corpus Christi, W 76-70 (1/2)
Next game: Arkansas (1/5)
13-0
3. Kentucky (1)
Last game: vs Louisville, W 71-62 (1/2)
Next game: Georgia (1/9)
15-0
4. Purdue
Last game: vs West Virginia, W 77-62 (1/1)
Next game: Minnesota (1/5)
13-0
5. Duke
Last game: vs Clemson, W 74-53 (1/3)
Next game: Iowa St. (1/6)
12-1
6. Villanova
Last game: at Marquette, W 74-72 (1/2)
Next game: DePaul (1/6)
12-1
7. Syracuse
Last game: vs Pittsburgh, L 72-82 (1/2)
Next game: Memphis (1/6)
13-1
8. West Virginia
Last game: at Purdue, L 62-77 (1/1)
Next game: Rutgers (1/6)
11-1
9. North Carolina
Last game: at Charleston, L 79-82 (1/4)
Next game: Virginia Tech (1/10)
11-4
10. Michigan St.
Last game: at Northwestern, W 91-70 (1/2)
Next game: Wisconsin (1/6)
11-3
11. Kansas St.
Last game: vs South Dakota, W 91-69 (1/3)
Next game: Missouri (1/9)
13-1
12. Georgetown
Last game: at DePaul, W 67-50 (1/3)
Next game: Marquette (1/6)
11-1
13. Connecticut
Last game: vs Notre Dame, W 82-70 (1/2)
Next game: Seton Hall (1/6)
10-3
14. Mississippi
Last game: vs Jacksonville St., W 90-75 (12/29)
Next game: UCF (1/5)
11-2
15. New Mexico
Last game: vs Dayton, W 68-66 (1/1)
Next game: San Diego St. (1/5)
14-1
16. Tennessee
Last game: at Memphis, W 66-59 (12/31)
Next game: Charlotte (1/6)
10-2
17. Wisconsin
Last game: at Penn St., W 63-46 (1/3)
Next game: Michigan St. (1/6)
12-2
18. Florida St.
Last game: vs TAMU Corpus Christi, W 94-54 (1/4)
Next game: Maryland (1/10)
13-2
19. Gonzaga
Last game: at Illinois, W 85-83 (1/2)
Next game: Portland (1/9)
11-3
20. Georgia Tech
Last game: at Charlotte, W 76-67 (1/2)
Next game: Georgia (1/5)
11-2
21. Temple
Last game: vs Kansas, L 52-84 (1/2)
Next game: St. Joseph's (1/6)
11-3
22. Texas Tech
Last game: vs UTEP, W 86-78 (1/3)
Next game: Oklahoma St. (1/9)
12-2
23. Pittsburgh
Last game: at Cincinnati, W 74-71 (1/4)
Next game: Connecticut (1/13)
13-2
24. Washington
Last game: vs Oregon, L 79-90 (1/2)
Next game: Arizona St. (1/8)
10-3
25. BYU
Last game: vs Eastern New Mexico, W 95-49 (1/2)
Next game: UNLV (1/6)
14-1

Dropped Out: No. 15 Ohio St., No. 21 Clemson, No. 24 UAB, No. 25 Northwestern
Others Receiving Votes: Clemson 139, Texas A&M 86, Cincinnati 76, Florida 75, Baylor 73, Miami (FL) 70, Rhode Island 52, USC 46, Dayton 45, Wake Forest 42, Ohio St. 42, William & Mary 37, Northern Iowa 35, UAB 29, Mississippi St. 26, Virginia Tech 20, Oklahoma St. 16, California 15, UNLV 12, Cornell 9, Butler 6, VCU 5, Oregon 4, Minnesota 3, Vanderbilt 1