The Predictor Top 25: 1/25/10

The first official Top 25 of the season, and you’ll notice it looks somewhat different than the AP’s and certainly much different than the joke poll ESPN insists on continuing (even though they are the only ones who use it). I think doing it this late in the season allows me to watch as many teams as possible, and doesn’t necessarily force me to go by records or pre-season expectations alone.

1. Kansas (18-1): Despite the one loss, I think this is a much more complete team than Kentucky and they’ll have veteran leadership when it counts.
2. Kentucky (19-0): I know they’re undefeated. But they haven’t played anyone. Their two best wins came against UNC and UConn…and neither one of those teams are close to first in their conferences. SEC isn’t going to offer UK many challenges.
3. Villanova (18-1): Very well could be ahead of Kentucky. May be ahead of them next week.
4. Texas (17-2): Had a rough week, but lost twice on the road in tough atmospheres. Still one of the Top 5 overall teams in the country.
5. Michigan State (17-3): The Spartans started slow (as they usually do), but have dominated the Big 10 (again, as they usually do). Win at Minnesota was a great road victory.
6. Syracuse (19-1): Like Kentucky, just not sold on these guys. They are too young to win games down the stretch this season. Wouldn’t be surprised if they fell on their face today against Georgetown.
7. Kansas State (16-3): The Big 12 is unquestionably the best conference in basketball this season. K-State owns the best conference win so far. That’s why they are this high.
8. Purdue (16-3): Not sure why the Boilers fell off the radar. Like many teams, they went through a little bit of a slump. They recovered this week with two solid conference wins.
9. Georgetown (15-3): Hate to admit it, and I will punish the Hoyas in this poll after their next loss, but this could be the best team in the Big East. Little Racist III is finally allowing the offense to center around Greg Monroe. Only took him a year-and-a-half.
10. BYU (20-1): Stormin’ Mormons probably not going to move up too high in this poll, but the overall record is hard to ignore. Other than their recent game against San Diego State, they’ve been blowing teams out for the past month.
11. West Virginia (15-3): No bad losses, but I would love to see these guys put together a full 40 minutes. They played a good 2nd half against and underrated Marshall team and Ohio State this past week. Otherwise they would have been 13-5.
12. Temple (17-3): Two of their losses have been to Kansas and Georgetown. They’ve handed Villanova their only loss. The Owls may play the best defense in the country. This team is for real.
13. Duke (16-3): Point to that win over Clemson all you want…I’m gonna keep pointing to that 14-point loss to NC State. The same NC State that lost by 24 at Maryland three days later.
14. Gonzaga (16-3): Impressive start for a squad that lost everyone in the offseason. I just don’t see this group of Bulldogs being better than last year’s. Between Matt Bouldin and Elias Harris, this is essentially a two-man team.
15. Tennessee (15-3): The Vols will pad their stats and record in the lousy SEC, but this team won’t scare anyone by the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
16. Wisconsin (16-4): They play ugly basketball, but they keep winning. Like Tennessee, they won’t scare most teams by the first weekend of the tourney.
17. Pittsburgh (15-4): Starting to come back down to Earth after their hot start. Still the same team that lost to Indiana earlier this season.
18. Georgia Tech (14-5): Go ahead, try to figure out the best three or four teams in the ACC. I dare you. Hopefully Paul Hewitt gets out of the way and lets Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors dominate the rest of the season.
19. Clemson (15-5): Blew their chance for a statement win against Duke. The “statement” win over UNC isn’t looking too good right now.
20. Vanderbilt (15-3): Probably the second best team in the SEC behind Kentucky. Hopefully I’ll have an excuse to bump them above Tennessee soon.
21. New Mexico (18-3): The Mountain West is easily better then Pac-10 and probably better than the SEC this season. No reason the polls should have only one MWC team in. A minimum of three should make the NCAA Tournament.
22. Baylor (15-3): I would understand the criticism of my ranking Baylor at all. They’ve had it easy out of conference, and have struggled a bit inside of it. They’ll try to prove me right this week with games against KSU and Texas.
23. Missouri (15-4): Same can be said of Missouri. They’ll get a litmus test game this week at Kansas.
24. UAB (17-2): With Memphis down, the Blazers have stepped up in Conference USA. They own wins over Cincinnati and Butler. They host Tulsa this week in a battle for first in CUSA.
25. Wake Forest (14-4): I’ve really liked what I’ve seen from Wake the last two weeks. This team is only going to get better as the season progresses. They got through a killer part of their schedule at 14-4 and 4-2 in conference. That deserves a ranking.

Next 5: Tulsa, Butler, Mississippi State, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma State