Looking for some post-Christmas gifts for you favorite college basketball fans?
Remind them to watch that CBS-televised set of games that will be played Saturday:
*The first (at 2 p.m. ET) has a showdown of unbeatens when No. 3-ranked Syracuse (11-0) plays host to another 11-0 club, Villanova.
*National champion and No. 7 Louisville (11-1) and Kentucky (9-3) follow at 4 o’clock or so from Lexington.
Lock those two contests into your DVR indefinitely. They’re going to be dandies.
Rank (Last Week) | Record | Comment |
1. Ohio State (1) | 12-0 | The Arizona Wildcats seemed well on the way to moving atop these ratings before the Buckeyes pulled the game out down the stretch against Notre Dame Saturday in Madison Square Garden. |
2. Arizona (2) | 12-0 | The Wildcats have three games to avoid overlooking before their Jan. 9 venture in Westwood. |
3. Syracuse (3) | 11-0 | It will be another of those “old-time Big East affairs” on tap for Saturday in Carrier Dome. |
4. Wichita State (5) | 12-0 | Few point guards are playing as effectively as is sophomore Fred VanFleet. |
5. Michigan St. (6) | 10-1 | The Spartans’ effort at Texas was their best since knocking off Kentucky. |
6. Duke (7) | 9-2 | There should be some sort of “best 1-2 punch” hardware handed out in college basketball. Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood would be the frontrunners for sure. |
7. Louisville (8) | 11-1 | The last six victories have come by an average margin of 30 points or so. The comp gets tougher on Saturday. |
| 8. Oklahoma State (9) | 11-1 | The Cowboys picked up another RPI chip with the win over Colorado in Las Vegas. |
9. Iowa State (10) | 9-0 | The Cyclones could and maybe should be unbeaten prior to Jan. 7 home contest with Baylor. |
10. Wisconsin (11) | 12-0 | A game against a 2-9 team on Saturday is a pretty decent definition of a “pre-start of Big Ten tune-up”. |
11. Villanova (12) | 11-0 | The four victories in December have come by an average margin of 23.8 points. |
12. Connecticut (4) | 10-1 | Kevin Ollie’s crew hung tough in its first “real road game” in Seattle. |
13. Florida (15) | 9-2 | It takes no huge leap in faith to think the Gators could be 19-2 going into Feb. 4 game with Missouri. |
14. Kansas (16) | 8-3 | The Jayhawks put together 40 minutes of pretty good play vs. Georgetown. |
15. Oregon (NR) | 11-0 | Unless Morgan State pulls off a humongous shocker in Eugene on Sunday, the Ducks will take a 12-zip record into their Pac 12 opener on Jan. 2 in Salt Lake City. |
16. North Carolina (14) | 8-3 | When “expect the unexpected” becomes the “expected”, you’ve got this Tar Heels’ club. |
THE NEXT 16 (alphabetical): Baylor 10-1, Butler 9-2, Cincinnati 9-2, Colorado 10-2, Gonzaga 10-2, Harvard 10-1, Kentucky 9-3, Illinois 10-2, Iowa 11-2, Massachusetts 10-1, Memphis 8-2, Missouri 10-1, Oklahoma 11-1, Pittsburgh 11-1, Saint Mary’s 9-1 and San Diego State 9-1.
TEAMS OF THE WEEK
*Duke. The Blue Devils turned in one of their better performances of the season while pulling away from UCLA in the second half in Madison Square Garden Thursday night.
*Illinois. The Illini picked up their most significant win of season by knocking off Missouri in St. Louis.
*Kansas State. A win against Gonzaga gives strong suggestion that the Wildcats will be more of a force to be reckoned with in Big 12 play than some might have thought.
*Michigan State. The Spartans looked like the team that could win a national title during their trip to Austin.
*Oregon. The Ducks stayed unbeaten after rallying from a 10-point deficit to knock off BYU in Eugene in overtime Saturday.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
*Tracy Abrams (Illinois). The junior guard had 22 points and six assists and hit the tying and deciding free throws in the win over Missouri.
*Jason Calliste (Oregon). The senior transfer from Detroit came off the bench to score 31 points with three rebounds, two assists and two steals in the win against BYU.
*Aaron Harrison (Kentucky). The freshman guard had 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the come-from-behind victory at home against Belmont.
*Jabari Parker (Duke). The freshman continued to look like a John R. Wooden Award frontrunner with a 23-point, 10-rebound and five-assist performance in MSG against the Bruins.
*Adreian Payne (Michigan State). The senior center had 33 points and nine rebounds in the 92-78 win at Texas on Saturday.
Frank Burlison has been covering hoops for 30+ years for a variety of publications.
Follow Frank on twitter @FrankieBur. Also make sure to follow his website at www.burlisononbasketball.com. College coaching staffs interested in Burlison’s scouting service should contact him at [email protected].
this list is far off from the end of the season
Even if Wichita State won out couldn’t see them going any higher than a 3rd seed. A lot of the top teams right now aren’t really the top teams and they aren’t in the right order. Right now were in the land of you play somebody and you lose then you significantly fall down. If you win it doesn’t help you much, it’ll put you over the teams with the same record that hasn’t played anybody. Right now is the time that you see 5 or 6 teams on there that weren’t suppose to be good and most likely are not and will drop straight down once they play a real top tier team and get blown out.
this list is far off from the end of the season
Even if Wichita State won out couldn’t see them going any higher than a 3rd seed. A lot of the top teams right now aren’t really the top teams and they aren’t in the right order. Right now were in the land of you play somebody and you lose then you significantly fall down. If you win it doesn’t help you much, it’ll put you over the teams with the same record that hasn’t played anybody. Right now is the time that you see 5 or 6 teams on there that weren’t suppose to be good and most likely are not and will drop straight down once they play a real top tier team and get blown out.