The Predictor Top 25: 2/11/08

Third Top 25 of the year, and I even managed to do it before Monday’s games. Ah laziness...

1. Memphis (23-0), LW: 1 – Ho hum. Two beatdowns of SMU and UCF. Here until they lose.
2. Kansas (23-1), LW: 3 – Solid win over Mizzou and a better win against Baylor. In the game against the Bears, Kansas scored 100 points without making a three.
3. Tennessee (21-2), LW: 5 – Despite the escape against a motivated LSU team, the Vols move up because some other teams moved down.
4. Duke (21-2), LW: 6 – It would be nice if someone could beat these bums, because they’ve still yet to play a complete a game. They stay high until some team decides to play two halves against them (a team that plays them Wednesday, perhaps).
5. North Carolina (22-2), LW: 2 – Last week I said I’d be gentle towards Carolina until Ty Lawson comes back. But if they keep playing like they did in the first 35 minutes against Clemson, my leniency won’t last long.
6. UCLA (21-3), LW: 4 – Suffered their first bad loss of the season at Washington on Sunday. They didn’t look interested most of the way through. Still, this is an extremely talented team that won’t fall far, because you can convince me that there are more than six to seven teams better than the Bruins.
7. Stanford (20-3), LW: 7 – Blew out both Oregon teams this past week. While OSU is awful, Oregon has underachieved but still has talent. No way the Cardinal should have beaten the Ducks by 30.
8. Texas A&M (20-4), LW: 10 – Moved the Aggies up quickly. Not necessarily because they easily won both of their games this week. Not necessarily because other teams around them fell. I do it because they’ve seemed to fix their point guard issues. As long as their backcourt plays respectably, there’s no doubt A&M is a top 10 team.
9. Indiana (20-3), LW: 9 – Their escape in Champaign was much worse than Tennessee’s escape at LSU. There is no way Illinois should have been in that game. I don’t care how tough it is to play there.
10. Vanderbilt (20-4), LW: 14 – I know the 5-4 conference record isn’t great. However, six of Vandy’s last eight have come on the road. Now the tables turn and the Commodores get four straight home games. I expect four straight wins or this team will drop to where the other two polls have them located.
11. Georgetown (19-3), LW: 8 – The only good teams they’ve faced have beaten the Hoyas soundly. Just waiting for the losses to mount so they can drop out of the rankings completely.
12. Butler (21-2), LW: 12 – They trailed Valparaiso for the entire game before pulling out a last second win. Not impressive considering Bryce Drew no longer plays for Valpo.
13. Xavier (20-4), LW: 13 – Would have moved past Butler if it wasn’t for an awful performance and near loss to Saint Louis.
14. Washington State (18-5), LW: 11 – Loss to UCLA showed me that they’re not ready to be in the top 10. Convincing win against USC shows me that they should be in the top 20 somewhere.
15. Texas (19-4), LW: 15 – Sweated out a win at Iowa State, but I kinda saw that one coming. I’ve still seen nothing impressive or disparaging about the Longhorns so far.
16. Kansas State (17-5), LW: 18 – Finally, a team that took care of business this past week with two huge wins. Good to see that someone other than Memphis still does that.
17. Connecticut (18-5), LW: 23 – Nice win on the road at Syracuse and then a good out-of-conference win against pesky Georgia Tech. I’ll keep saying it, UConn is for real. Time to stop overlooking them.
18. Drake (22-1), LW: 17 – 22-1 in the Missouri Valley this season is not the same as 22-1 in the Missouri Valley two years ago. Sure they’re winning, but they have squeaked out an awful lot of close victories.
19. Michigan State (19-3), LW: 16 – MSU moves down because teams like UConn and Kansas State did enough to jump the Spartans. A win over Northwestern doesn’t get it done for me.
20. St. Mary’s (20-3), LW: 20 – I had the Gaels this high on Tuesday and that included the win over Gonzaga. Since then they’ve only played San Francisco, who they beat handedly. I know they handed Drake their only loss, but I can’t put them over the Bulldogs because of the two game difference in record.
21. Notre Dame (18-4), LW: 22 – Not exactly a convincing win over Marquette, but it got the job done. Road game at UConn this week will tell us a little more about the Irish.
22. Purdue (19-5), LW: NR – Just embarrassed Wisconsin on their home floor. That and a nine-game winning streak gets the Boilers in the rankings.
23. Arkansas (17-5), LW: NR – The Razorbacks are biding their time in the SEC. They have a nice little winning streak of their own, but they aren’t getting the attention that Tennessee and Vandy are receiving.
24. Baylor (17-5), LW: 19 – Predictable and necessary split against Texas Tech and Kansas. Played the Jayhawks tough on the road so they stay in the poll. Now the Bears have a bunch of winnable games in front of them.
25. Wisconsin (19-4), LW: 21 – I can’t get rid of the Badgers yet. Wish I could, but that 19-4 overall record is too good to ignore. A loss this week to Indiana might do the trick.

Next Up: BYU, Houston, Florida, Clemson, Rhode Island