RTC Top 25: Week 4
Posted by rtmsf on November 30th, 2009Lots of movement in this week’s poll, as nearly every team of consequence played in some kind of holiday tournament last week. Analysis follows the jump…
QnD Analysis.
- New to the Neighborhood. With all the games last week, there was bound to be some new faces moving into the poll, and without question, there was. The highest new arrivals are Cincinnati and Clemson tied at #19. Even though both teams lost last week — Cincy in the finals of the Maui to Gonzaga, and Clemson in the quarters of the 76 Classic to Texas A&M — the pollsters must have seen enough they liked to add them to their ballot this week. UNLV, on the heels of its upset win over Louisville, also enters the poll at #21 along with the aforementioned Texas A&M Aggies, and Oklahoma State brings its unbeaten record of 6-0 to the poll as well. Florida State, despite its previous loss to Florida, was given the benefit of winning the Old Spice Classic and moved into a tie with two others at #25.
- Movers & Shakers. Florida moved up ten spots to #13 after defeating formerly #2 Michigan State in the semis of the Legends Classic on Friday night. Gonzaga also moved up four spots due to its Maui championship earlier last week. As for teams moving in the opposite direction, Michigan fell precipitously from #14 to a tie at #25 after neutral court losses to Marquette and Alabama. Honestly, it’s unclear how they’re still hanging around this poll. Quite a few teams fell out completely, including Illinois, Vanderbilt, Minnesota and Maryland.
- Variance. Gonzaga was the team this week that people were the most unsure about, with pollsters voting the Zags in a range from #13 to #25. Washington also inspires a good amount of debate, ranking from #7 to #16. Two of the teams tied at #25, Louisville and Michigan, had only one pollster vote them in, coincidentally at #19 in each case. The top ten was fairly settled this week, but two Big East powers, West Virginia and Syracuse seemed to have the most disagreement. WVU drew votes from #2 to #10, while Syracuse ranked between #4 to #12.
- Conference Call. Big East (7), ACC (4), Big 12 (4), Big 10 (4), SEC (3), Pac-10 (2), Horizon (1), Mountain West (1), WCC (1).
I just don’t see what you guys see in Georgetown. They have not been impressive at all and weren’t very good last year. I think they will end up in the NCAA Tournament but I can’t see how they’re a top 25 team.
Here’s how I see it this week through Sunday’s games with my rank last week in ( ):
1. Kansas 5-0 (1)
2. Texas 5-0 (4)
3. Duke 6-0 (3)
4. Kentucky 6-0 (2)
5. Villanova 6-0 (5)
6. Purdue 5-0 (7)
7. West Virginia 5-0 (9)
8. Tennessee 5-1 (8)
9. Syracuse 6-0 (11)
10. Michigan State 5-1 (6)
11. Washington 5-0 (13)
12. Ohio State 5-1 (17)
13. Gonzaga 5-1 (NR)
14. North Carolina 6-1 (15)
15. Cincinnati 4-1 (21)
16. Clemson 6-1 (22)
17. Connecticut 4-1 (18)
18. Florida 6-0 (NR)
19. Texas A&M 5-1 (NR)
20. Mississippi 5-1 (23)
21. Louisville 4-1 (16)
22. Michigan 3-2 (10)
23. Minnesota 4-2 (14)
24. Memphis 3-1 (NR)
25. Butler 4-2 (19)
New Additions: Gonzaga, Florida, Texas A&M, Memphis.
Dropped Out: #12 Illinois, #20 Maryland, #24 Oklahoma, #25 Wake Forest.
Also Considered: Oklahoma State, BYU, UNLV, Illinois, Kansas State, Miami, Georgia Tech.