2017-18 National Rankings

[WuShock Reaper]

“Borges Top 25: Villanova back on top as Big East continues to impress” – New haven Register

By David Borges
Published: 10:33 pm, Sunday, January 7, 2018

http://www.nhregister.com/sports/article/Borges-Top-25-Villanova-back-on-top-as-Big-East-12480563.php

"...The Wildcats take over for Michigan State, which got popped at Ohio State on Sunday afternoon....

1. Villanova: Wildcats have scored at least 93 points in each of their last four games.
2. Michigan State: Before getting spanked by Ohio State on Sunday, Sparty had won 14 straight, by an average margin of 28.5 points.
3. West Virginia: Mountaineers “held” Trae Young to 29 points the other night.
4. Duke: Should be known as Uke. No “D” with this team.
5. Arizona State: Despite committing season-high 31 fouls, Sun Devils won at Utah Sunday night.
6. Wichita State: Shockers are finding the American easy pickins so far.
7. Purdue: Boilermakers have won 11 straight.
8. Xavier: Loss at Providence drops Musketeers down a few spots.
9. Texas Tech: Only blemish is a three-point loss to Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden.
10. Virginia: A loss at West Virginia is Cavs’ lone blemish.

Others:
13. Oklahoma: Fellow frosh Brady Manek isn’t too bad, either.
16. Cincinnati: Bearcats boast longest active home winning streak — even though their home this year is Northern Kentucky...."

[AZ Shocker]

I'm thinking we come in at 5 or 6. Arizona St. dropped 2 in a row so bounce them. Duke has lost twice to less than stellar competition so buh-bye top-5 right??? Right?????

My Top-10

1. West Virginia
2. Virginia
3. Villanova
4. Oklahoma
5. Wichita St.
6. Xavier
7. Michigan St.
8. Texas Tech
9. Clemson
10. Duke

[shocker3]

“Borges Top 25: Villanova back on top as Big East continues to impress” – New haven Register

By David Borges
Published: 10:33 pm, Sunday, January 7, 2018

http://www.nhregister.com/sports/article/Borges-Top-25-Villanova-back-on-top-as-Big-East-12480563.php

"...The Wildcats take over for Michigan State, which got popped at Ohio State on Sunday afternoon....

1. Villanova: Wildcats have scored at least 93 points in each of their last four games.
2. Michigan State: Before getting spanked by Ohio State on Sunday, Sparty had won 14 straight, by an average margin of 28.5 points.
3. West Virginia: Mountaineers “held” Trae Young to 29 points the other night.
4. Duke: Should be known as Uke. No “D” with this team.
5. Arizona State: Despite committing season-high 31 fouls, Sun Devils won at Utah Sunday night.
6. Wichita State: Shockers are finding the American easy pickins so far.
7. Purdue: Boilermakers have won 11 straight.
8. Xavier: Loss at Providence drops Musketeers down a few spots.
9. Texas Tech: Only blemish is a three-point loss to Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden.
10. Virginia: A loss at West Virginia is Cavs’ lone blemish.

Others:
13. Oklahoma: Fellow frosh Brady Manek isn’t too bad, either.
16. Cincinnati: Bearcats boast longest active home winning streak — even though their home this year is Northern Kentucky...."

I think he had us 6th last week too. He just moved Xavier behind us and WVA ahead of us.

[WuShock Reaper]

"Jerry Carino's Associated Press Top 25 basketball ballot: Another leap for Seton Hall" - Ganett News

Jerry Carino, AP Voter
Published 7:24 a.m. ET Jan. 8, 2018

http://www.app.com/story/sports/coll...ll/1011456001/

"Some Sunday nights, voters in the Associated Press Top 25 poll tear their hair out.

This was one of them.

It was the season’s hardest ballot because 15 of the 25 teams in last week’s poll lost, including four of the top five. Conference play tangles things up and it becomes harder and harder to use head-to-head as a decisive measuring stick.

Seton Hall was one of the unscathed, and added a quality road win at Butler, which is why the Pirates will move up from No. 21 and have a chance to return to the top 15.

Here’s my ballot, followed by some explanation.

1. Villanova (14-1)
2. West Virginia (14-1)
3. Michigan State (15-2)
4. Virginia (14-1)
5. Duke (13-2)
6. Oklahoma (12-2)
7. Wichita State (13-2)
8. Purdue (15-2)
9. Arizona State (13-2)
10. Xavier (15-2)

Others:
13. Cincinnati (14-2)

Analysis: Still think Michigan State will win it all, but you’ve got to weigh the resume, so Sparty drops to third after a loss at Ohio State and Villanova has a clear lane to No. 1. Anyone who ranks MSU worse than fifth is nuts. A lot of folks will want to punish Duke for losing at N.C. State but, like Michigan State, you can’t go crazy about conference road losses. And N.C. State (like Boston College) is top 80 in Kenpom so these are not atrocious results for the Blue Devils.

The biggest winners were Texas Tech and Seton Hall, both of which I moved up seven spots from their place in last week’s poll. Until now I had been ranking the Pirates ahead of the Red Raiders because of their November neutral-court meeting. But Tech’s double-digit win at Kansas, their Kenpom ranking (4, compared to the Hall’s 18) and their lack of questionable losses gives them a resume edge that overrides the head-to-head result.

Still, Seton Hall deserves to jump up several spots after five straight wins capped by the thriller at Butler — no small feat. If the Pirates do check in at 14th it would be the program’s highest AP ranking since Jan. 2, 2001 (when they were 11th).

A word about the RPI: Seton Hall is 4th in the RPI, but in my opinion (and I’ve said this every year) the RPI doesn’t become a true measuring stick until early February, when teams are about halfway through conference play. For now, Kenpom is closer to reality. I’ll leave it at this: The RPI has Michigan State at 23rd. Enough said...."

[Stickboy46]

He had us 7 last week also. So no change.

[WuShock Reaper]

"Blog: West Virginia tops my new AP Top 25 ballot" - The Roanoke Times

By Mark Berman, AP Voter
Posted: 01/08/18, 1:00am cst

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/blog-w...9013e1139.html

"It is time to send a new Top 25 men's basketball ballot to the Associated Press -- and it's time for a new No. 1.

I went with West Virginia, not Villanova. More on that in a bit.

I kicked out Texas A&M after it lost to Florida and LSU.

I evicted Arkansas after it lost to Miss. State and Auburn.

I booted Baylor after it lost at home to TCU in OT and beat Texas. It was a tough call, though.

Here is the ballot:

1. West Virginia (14-1) moves up a spot after beating Kansas State and Oklahoma. Villanova will likely be No. 1 on more folks' ballots Monday, but WVU is the only team to beat UVa this season. It also owns another marquee win -- over Oklahoma. It has won two road games in the Big 12. And it has not lost since falling to Texas A&M in the opener overseas. WVU has a better resume than Villanova, which is why I had WVU higher than Villanova last week and why I have WVU as No. 1 on the new ballot. Next for WVU: huge game Tuesday against Baylor and a huge game Sat. at Texas. Tech.

2. Villanova (14-1) moves up three spots after beating Marquette. Next: huge game Wed. against Xavier and a Sat. game at St. John's.

3. Virginia (14-1) moves up five spots after squashing Virginia Tech and North Carolina. Next: Tues. against Syracuse and Sun. against N.C. State.

4. Texas Tech (14-1) moves up 14 spots after winning at Kansas and beating Kansas State. Texas Tech owns wins over Kansas, Baylor and Nevada. And there is no shame in the loss to Seton Hall. Texas Tech deserves the No. 4 spot over Michigan State. Next: huge game Tues. at Oklahoma and the huge game Sat. with WVU.

5. Michigan State (15-2) falls four spots after beating Maryland and losing at Ohio St. Next: Wed. against Rutgers and a big game Sat. against Michigan.

6. Purdue (15-2) moves up six spots after beating Rutgers and Nebraska. Next: a good game Tues. at Michigan and a Sat. game at Minnesota.

7. Oklahoma (12-2) stays here after beating Oklahoma State and losing at WVU. Next: the huge game Tues. against Texas Tech and a huge game Sat. against TCU.

8. Wichita State (13-2) moves up one spot after beating Houston and South Florida. Wichita State is staying behind the OU team that it lost to. Next: Thurs. at ECU and Sat. at Tulsa.

9. Duke (13-2) falls six spots after losing at N.C. State. Next: Wed. against Pitt and Sat. against Wake Forest.

10. Arizona State (13-2) falls six spots after losing in OT at Colorado and beating Utah. Arizona State is staying ahead of the Kansas and Xavier teams that it has beaten. Next: Thurs. against Oregon and Sat. against Oregon St...."

Others:
16. Cincinnati (14-2) moves up seven spots after beating Temple and SMU. Next: Sat. at South Florida...."

[CBB_Fan]

It will be interesting to see if we jump Oklahoma, or if they become our ceiling. For instance, I could imagine a decent number of pollsters keeping up right behind Oklahoma at 7-8 like Brennan, even if moving Purdue up 6 slots for beating up Rutgers and Nebraska by 20 PPG makes little since when we only move up 1 slot for beating UCF and Houston by nearly 30.

[WuShock Reaper]

"College hoops Power Rankings: What happens when everyone loses?" – ESPN

Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer
Posted: 01/08/18, 7:30 AM CT

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/21994747/college-basketball-power-rankings-mess-ensues-everyone-loses

“If everyone loses, does anyone move down?

While the task at hand isn't that deep, a wild first full week of conference play has brought the most changes to Power Rankings since the beginning of the season.
Teams ranked No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7, No. 9 and No. 10 all lost at least once in the past week, including North Carolina (7) and Texas A&M (10) falling twice. Villanova and Purdue were the only top-10 teams not to lose this week. Six other top-25 teams also lost at least once….

1. Villanova Wildcats - Record: 14-1 - Last week: 4
2. West Virginia Mountaineers - Record: 14-1 - Last week: 13
3. Purdue Boilermakers - Record: 15-2 - Last week:8
4. Michigan State Spartans - Record: 16-1 - Last week: 1
5. Virginia Cavaliers - Record: 14-1 - Last week: 15
6. Texas Tech Red Raiders - Record: 14-1 - Last week: 19
7. Oklahoma Sooners - Record: 12-2 - Last week: 6
8. Duke Blue Devils - Record: 13-2 - Last week: 2
9. Arizona State Sun Devils - Record: 13-2 - Last week: 3
10. Xavier Musketeers - Record: 15-2 - Last week: 5

Others:
11. Wichita State Shockers - Record: 12-2 - Last week: 11
Dominating Houston from the opening tip is more impressive than it looks on paper, but it was tough for the Shockers to make inroads up the rankings. They simply don't have the marquee wins that other teams do. From the committee's perspective, their two best wins are over Marquette and at Oklahoma State.

21. Cincinnati Bearcats - Record: 14-2 - Last week: 25
Cincinnati picked up its most impressive win of the season on Sunday, beating SMU at home. And that's the lone problem with the Bearcats' profile right now. There's not much meat to it, and that's unlikely to change until mid-February, when they play Wichita State twice in the span of two weeks….”

[Stickboy46]

The "resume" comments are already starting ... nevermind having one of the toughest SOS of any of the top 10

[shocks02]

That is 100% ridiculous.

[ShockerFever]

Are you kidding me?

Check out Michigan State’s SOS.

Also, is Baylor chipped liver?

[MadaboutWu]

Sometimes, one needs to set aside a school's name or conference and look at who they actually beat and have accomplished. I believe this is something that we've been wanting outsiders to do for years when looking at WSU.

WSU's best win so far is Houston. Not Baylor, OSU, or Marquette. They are all 50-100 RPI range teams. Actually, SDSU is projected to be a better Top 100 win than OSU. Houston is top 50. Both losses are also top 50, but 1 was a team more our equal, the other is "below" us in the 25-50 range.

TCU has 2 losses. The same OU team we lost to. Their other loss is KU, another Top 20 team. Hate to say it, but, yes, better losses than ours by a little bit. They also won at Baylor, one of our best wins. Their other wins are 1 Top 25 (Nevada), 2 Top 50 ( SMU and St. Bonaventure), and 3 more Top 100 (all above our next best win against UConn, just outside the Top 100). They have 2 better wins than us.

So, WSU has played 7 Top 100 teams going 5-2, best win Houston (lower Top 50) and losing to a team ranked below them on a neutral court.

TCU has played 8 Top 100 teams going 6-2, best win is Nevada, a Top 25 (higher ranked than ND, one of our losses). Also, SMU is ranked above/same as ND.

There's not that much difference at this time.

This is a good breakdown, but it overlooks that we were missing one of our best players for the two losses.

[shocks02]

Jon Rothstein has us at #3: https://www.fanragsports.com/fanrag-...ary-8-edition/

[Stickboy46]

Had us at 6 last week

[WuShock Reaper]

Last week, Brant Wilkerson of the The News & Record (Greensboro, NC) had Wichita State at #3. Ahead of the Shockers were his #1 Michigan State and #2 Duke.

Will he have the courage to place the Shockers at #1?

[Stickboy46]

He posted a tweet last night that had us at 4.

[wichshock65]

Could we have a first place vote? Say it ain't so Joe!

[pogo]

no

[Stickboy46]

If this is his official vote, Dick Vitale has us at 5 ... up from 9 last week

[Stickboy46]

Chris Dachille with us at 3 up from 6

[Cdizzle]

For all the voters out there, Duke's only road win thus far (in 3 tries) is over a team rated roughly the same as Loyola. I've been told that means you have a terrible schedule and are a bubble team. They do hold a couple of road losses to teams rated roughly between Missouri State and South Dakota State. Which I've been told means you are not good against a terrible schedule and shouldn't make the tournament.

[Stickboy46]

Also Home wins vs Nebraska (KenPom 81) and Rutgers (KP 123) apparently carry WAY more weight than a home win vs Houston (KP 42)

[Stickboy46]

Luke Decock with us unchanged at 8. Got jumped by Purdue, Texas Tech and Virginia

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article193508329.html

[Stickboy46]

Unchanged at 9 on Justin Ferguson's ballot. Jumped by Texas Tech and Purdue

https://www.seccountry.com/auburn/au...nsas-tennessee