Rank (Last Week) | Record | Comment |
1. Kentucky (1) | 25-1 | A March 4 date in Gainesville is the last significant obstacle to an unbeaten SEC regular season. |
2. Syracuse (2) | 25-1 | Jim Boeheim has coached three teams into national championship games, with the Orange winning it all in 2003. This squad may be better than any of those. |
3. Missouri (4) | 23-2 | Can we just fast-forward to Feb. 25 and the Tigers’ game with Kansas in Lawrence? |
4. Kansas (6) | 20-5 | If for nothing else, the improvement of Jeff Withey would be enough to get Bill Self serious National Coach of the Year consideration. |
5. Michigan State (8) | 20-5 | The Spartans’ victory in Columbus Saturday evening stacks up comfortably as the most impressive road win of the season (although Wichita State fans might suggest otherwise). |
6. Ohio State (3) | 21-4 | Remember how secure a No. 1 seed felt for the Buckeyes? The Spartans jolted that assumption Saturday night. |
7. Duke (9) | 21-4 | How many times between now and when he finally makes his NBA debut will we see Austin Rivers’ game-winning 3 at North Carolina? |
| 8. North Carolina (5) | 21-4 | Even in the gut-wrenching loss to the Blue Devils, Tyler Zeller looked like he may be evolving into the front-runner for ACC POY. |
9. Baylor (7) | 21-4 | After four losses to Kansas and Missouri by a collective 48 points, it’s safe to assume that the Bears aren’t one of the two best teams in the Big 12. |
10. UNLV (15) | 22-4 | The Rebels’ defense really strapped it on when it counted Saturday against San Diego State. |
11. Florida State (11) | 17-7 | The Seminoles’ loss at Boston College and its predominantly freshmen crew was nearly as flabbergasting as was the Seminoles’ 33-point shellacking of North Carolina a month ago. |
12. San Diego State (14) | 20-4 | Unless New Mexico upsets the MWC applecart, the Aztecs and UNLV seem likely to meet for a third time this season on March 10 in the Thomas & Mack Center |
13. Indiana (16) | 19-6 | I don’t know about you but I haven’t stopped thinking about how cool a Zeller vs. Zeller matchup would be in, say, the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament. |
14. Wichita State (NR) | 24-2 | What this team did in Omaha on Saturday bordered on the truly shocking. Sorry, I couldn’t resist! |
15. Gonzaga (NR) | 20-4 | Could a freshman (Kevin Pangos) be the WCC Player of the Year? It wouldn’t be startling, that’s for sure. |
16. St. Mary’s (12) | 23-3 | Then, again, the Gaels have two pretty good WCC POY candidates themselves in Rob Jones and Matthew Dellavedova. |
On the cusp: Creighton 21-5, Murray State 24-1, Georgetown 19-5, Virginia 19-5, Wisconsin 19-6, Michigan 19-7, Notre Dame 17-8 Marquette 21-5, Louisville 20-5, Cal 20-6, North Carolina State 18-7, Temple 19-5, Florida 19-6, Harvard 21-3, Iowa State 18-7, Vanderbilt 17-8, Long Beach State 19-6, Virginia Commonwealth 22-5 and Southern Mississippi 21-4.
THE TOP PERFORMANCES OF FEBRUARY 6-12
TEAMS: Kentucky (knocked off two SEC opponents that will be in the NCAA Tournament: Florida, by 20 points, and Vanderbilt, by six); Duke (rallied from 10 points down late to edge North Carolina at the buzzer in Chapel Hill via a 3-pointer by freshman Austin Rivers and Maryland by 18 in Durham); Syracuse (pulled off home Big East victories over Georgetown and Connecticut); Kansas (hammered Big 12 foes Baylor and Oklahoma State by 14 and 15 points, respectively); Michigan State (went 3-0 in Big Ten with wins over Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State); Temple (extended A-10 winning streak to eight with home victories over George Washington and Xavier).
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Kentucky
PLAYERS: Anthony Davis (Kentucky/31 points, 14 rebounds and 11 blocked shots in the wins over Florida and Vanderbilt); Jeff Withey (Kansas/43 points, 25 rebounds and 10 blocked shots against Baylor and Oklahoma State); Draymond Green (Michigan State/49 points, 37 rebounds and 11 assists in Big Ten wins over Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State); Kevin Pangos (Gonzaga/48 points, seven rebounds, 11 assists and zero turnovers for the freshman guard in the Bulldogs’ WCC wins over Saint Mary’s and Loyola-Marymount); Casper Ware (Long Beach State/career-high 38 points, on eight of 15 3s, at Pacific in Big West action); Ramone Moore (Temple/55 points in Atlantic 10 wins over George Washington and Xavier); Tyler Zeller (North Carolina/48 points and 20 rebounds in ACC games with Duke and Virginia).
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Withey
Frank Burlison has been covering hoops for 30+ years for a variety of publications.
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FYI
Wichita State is actually 22-4. Poor proof reading.
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Why would somebody give that a thumbs down? Merely trying to give Wichita State the credit they deserve.
Thanks for the february
Thanks for the february ranking. It’s a pity I didn’t have enough time to enjoy the games(( But I now have a lot of hopes for april! Does anyone know where I can find some details and rankings for April games? If yes, please, contact me!
You an find me here pdf viewer