15. OHIO STATE (21-7). After getting embarrassed at Wisconsin, the Buckeyes have gotten back on track by beating Minnesota and Michigan State. Considering that a top five team has lost to an unranked opponent 19 times already this season, Ohio State's lack of any bad losses is impressive.
Last week: unranked
14. KANSAS STATE (24-5). Having the quietest good season of any team in the country. Kansas State is tied with Kansas atop the Big 12 with wins over Florida, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma (twice). On Saturday, Rodney McGruder hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to secure a win at Baylor.
Last week: unranked
13. SAINT LOUIS (23-5). VCU and Butler are the new headliners of the Atlantic 10 conference,but Saint Louis has beaten those teams a combined three times and is ahead of both of them in the conference standings.
Last week: #13
12. OKLAHOMA STATE (22-6). This defense ranks as the 7th-most efficient in the country. Marcus Smart, Le'Bryan Nash, and Markel Brown are all averaging at least 13 points per game. They beat Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse and pushed them to double overtime in their second meeting. Why is nobody talking about the Cowboys?
Last week: #12
11. NEW MEXICO (25-4). The Lobos held Wyoming to 28% shooting in a win that secured New Mexico its fourth Mountain West title in five years.
Last week: #15
10. FLORIDA (23-5). Caveat: the Gators are not fully healthy. Still, they've lost the five toughest games they've played away from home, including three to SEC opponents. If Florida doesn't win its conference tournament, then we'll know there's a problem here.
Last week: #9
9. MICHIGAN (24-5). Well done on beating Michigan State, but we're not going to forget that loss to previously-winless-in-the-Big-Ten Penn State so easily.
Last week: #8
8. MICHIGAN STATE (22-7). The Florida Gators of the Big Ten. Michigan State's late-game execution has been horrid, which became even more painfully obvious when the Spartans fumbled away a chance to steal a win at Michigan.
Last week: #7
7. GEORGETOWN (23-4). An Otto Porter basket with ten seconds left in overtime at Connecticut kept Georgetown in first place in the Big East. Porter got to the line 18 times (making 15 of them) en route to 28 points; not one of his teammates scored in double figures. Here's your National Player of the Year.
Last week: #10
6. MIAMI (23-5). Torched by Ryan Kelly, got nothing from Reggie Johnson, and the Hurricanes still had two shots to send a game against Duke at Cameron to overtime. Of all the potential conference tournament championship games, a third Miami-Duke game on a neutral floor would probably be the tastiest.
Last week: #4
5. LOUISVILLE (24-5). This defense is so good that point guard Peyton Siva went 0-for-9 from the field against Syracuse at the Carrier Dome and Louisville still won. Imagine if Siva actually starts playing well.
Last week: #6
4. KANSAS (25-4). The Jayhawks don't have a Trey Burke -- someone you can count on for steady performances every night. What they do have is a handful of guys who each assume the 'star' role in different games. At Iowa State, it was Elijah Johnson willing the team to a comeback overtime win; then it was Ben McLemore scoring more points than any Kansas freshman has ever scored in a blowout of West Virginia.
Last week: #3
3. DUKE (25-4). After two months of hearing about Ryan Kelly, it was only natural to start wondering if maybe his impact had been overstated. Then Kelly single-handedly saved Duke from being swept by Miami and it's only natural to wonder if maybe he makes an even bigger difference than anyone had thought.
Last week: #5
2. GONZAGA (29-2). The Zags undertook a challenging nonconference schedule and beat some good teams. Then they played 16 conference games -- getting their opponent's best shot in each one -- and won them all. In this season, that's more than enough to earn a #1 seed.
Last week: #2
1. INDIANA (25-4). It should take a lot more than a loss at Minnesota to convince anyone that Indiana isn't the best team in the country.
Last week: #1
No comments:
Post a Comment