The Predictor Top 25: 2/05/08

The latest Top 25…sorry for the lateness, I’m going to try and do these on Monday’s from now on.

1. Memphis (21-0), LW: 2 – Here by default. It’s certainly not because of that last second win against UTEP
2. North Carolina (21-1), LW: 3 – Probably won’t beat Duke without the country’s best point guard. However, I’ll take notice of that injury and will judge UNC accordingly.
3. Kansas (21-1), LW: 1 – Loss at Kansas State not surprising in the least, nor is it in any way a bad loss.
4. UCLA (20-2), LW: 4 – Again, this is a team that will be even more dangerous than they are now when they actually get healthy.
5. Tennessee (19-2), LW: 7 – Big game against Florida coming up today. Since it’s at home, I like their chances. Their two road wins from last week vault them over the Dookies.
6. Duke (19-1), LW: 6 – Yet to play a complete game, but they’re playing at least one good half.
7. Stanford (18-3), LW: 11 – Nice win against Washington State on the road. Temporarily steal title of 2nd best team in the Pac-10 away from the Cougars.
8. Georgetown (18-2), LW: 10 – Move up because everyone else around them is losing. This team isn’t worthy of a ranking this high…if only someone in the Big East could play 40 solid minutes and knock them off.
9. Indiana (18-3), LW: 8 – Not all that worried about the loss to Wisconsin in Madison. It will be a different story if they lose to the Badgers again in two weeks.
10. Texas A&M (18-4), LW: 18 – Same on me for dropping to them to 18th last week. A huge blowout win over Texas shows how much talent this team has.
11. Washington State (17-4), LW: 5 – Here because of two straight losses. On the other hand, one bad week does not deserve a fall to 17th (which is where they are in the other polls).
12. Butler (19-2), LW: 13 – 1st mid-major on the list because they aren’t winning close games against inferior opponents. They’re just blowing them out.
13. Xavier (18-4), LW: 14 – Mid-major madness! Xavier moves here because I honestly don’t know what to do with them. I’d like to think they’d be better than Butler in the long run, but they haven’t shown it yet.
14. Vanderbilt (18-4), LW: 9 – Ok, so maybe I went a little crazy with Vanderbilt at the 9th spot last week. Just remember they’ve had a very tough starting schedule in the SEC. All of their remaining big games are at Memorial Gym, where they’re almost impossible to beat.
15. Texas (17-4), LW: 12 – Blowout loss at Texas A&M was followed by a less than stellar performance at home against Baylor. Despite the talent, I’m still not impressed with what I’ve seen from the Horns so far.
16. Michigan State (18-3), LW: 14 – That loss to Penn State is not as bad as it seems. PSU is better than they have been in recent seasons. They ugly loss to Iowa a few weeks ago was much, much worse.
17. Drake (20-1), LW: 19 – Lots of close wins, but in the Missouri Valley, that’s pretty much par for the course.
18. Kansas State (15-5), LW: 20 – Win over Kansas is more important to me than the loss at Missouri. However, at 15-5, KSU can’t suffer many more setbacks and get away with it.
19. Baylor (16-4), LW: 16 – Held their own at Texas and faded down the stretch. Some of that may have to do with the effects of their 5-OT game against A&M.
20. St. Mary’s (19-3), LW: 24 – One benefit of doing this on Tuesday is I’m able to account for the Gaels win over Gonzaga last night. And Marquette’s ugly loss as well.
21. Wisconsin (18-3), LW: 23 – If they didn’t play in such a lousy conference, I’d have them higher. But I refuse to rank a team too high that we all know will be bounced early in March.
22. Notre Dame (16-4), LW: NR – Starting to emerge from the mess that is the middle of the pack in the Big East.
23. Connecticut (16-5), LW: 25 – I really think the Huskies are a team that can make a deep run. All they are missing is experience. Which means next year’s team will be even better.
24. UNLV (17-4), LW: NR – Starting to emerge as the best team in the Mountain West. Again.
25. Clemson (16-5), LW: NR – On the list because I felt I had to include a third ACC team. Yeah, I’m biased.

Next up: Florida, Purdue, Arkansas, BYU, Houston