There was almost no movement within the top 10 of the rankings, but that was certainly not the case for the rest. A big rebound week for Syracuse and disappointing ones for Kentucky and Texas A&M highlight what is always an eventful week of college hoops. Quick n’ dirty after the jump…
QnD Analysis.
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Number one, again—Ohio State, for the fourth straight week, comes in at number one in the rankings. There is little debate that they should be the top-ranked team in the nation right now, but all that may change when they head to #11 Wisconsin this weekend.
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High Risers and Big Droppers—Texas A&M has entered a midseason funk as they have lost three straight games and four of their last five. Remember, this team began the year 16-1 and looked as if they would be one of the top teams in the Big 12. They currently find themselves sitting at 4-4 in the conference and right in the middle of the pack. John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats find themselves in a similar situation when compared to A&M. Kentucky is also 4-4 in their league, and lost both of their games last week in gutwrenching fashion. As for the two teams that rose the most, that would be Syracuse and North Carolina who both moved up eight slots in the rankings. The Orange needed to beat UConn to avoid a five game losing skid—the longest of Jim Boeheim’s career at Syracuse—and went on to defeat the Huskies. Later in the week, they breezed past South Florida by 23 points. Further south in Tar Heel country, North Carolina dismantled Boston College and Florida State by a combined 52 points. In doing so, the Heels have separated themselves from the rest of the ACC as the second-best team behind Duke.
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Where to rank Arizona?—The Wildcats have won five straight games and are now 9-2 in the Pac-10. There is some disagreement, however, with where to rank U of A. The Cats are ranked as high as 12 in one poll, and as low as 20 in another.
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Not your typical top 25—In this week’s poll, there are 28 teams that are in it rather than your standard 25. Using the average rank between five of the pollsters—not six this week—the mean between George Mason, Minnesota, St. Mary’s, and UNLV all ended up being 25.20. I may be slightly impartial, but I have no problem including an additional three teams that represent the Other 26.
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New to the Rankings—A total of five new teams has entered the rankings. The preceding three teams save Minnesota are all fresh faces this week, along with Florida and Temple. Florida has put themselves in a good position in the SEC after defeating Kentucky over the weekend, and Temple has won four straight in the A10 and is a game behind Duquesne and Xavier for first place.
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Others Receiving Votes—Only four teams in the ORV category. This largely has to do with that logjam of four teams ranked in the number 25 position this week.
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Conference Call—Big East (7), Big 10 (4), Big 12 (4), MWC (3), SEC (3), ACC (2), Pac-10 (1), WAC (1), Atlantic 10 (1), CAA (1), WCC (1).