College Basketball: Weekly Top 25 Commentary
The Story: The top six teams in both the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ and AP Top 25 polls remain the same from last week. The same cannot be said for last week’s No. 7 team, Gonzaga. The Bulldogs lost to Portland State this past week giving them three losses on the season (8-3), and dropping them to No. 16 in this week’s Top 25 AP Poll. Gonzaga’s loss enabled Notre Dame, Texas, Purdue, and Michigan State to climb up one spot each and round the AP’s Top 10. Another team to stumble this week was Xavier after their loss against Butler. Xavier fell 8 spots in the AP poll and 10 spots in the Coaches’ poll to land them at No. 22 in both. Missouri is replaced at No. 25 in the AP Poll by Butler. Michigan, ranked in last week’s AP poll, is ranked in the Coaches’ poll this week (No. 24) for the first time since February 6, 2006.
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AP Top 25
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ESPN/USA Today Poll
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Ryter’s Block: There is no question about the top 6 teams in the nation, after those 6 squads however there is some debate. Gonzaga’s tough schedule, losing to Connecticut and Arizona this season, may be wearing the players down a little. There are two unbeaten teams, Clemson and Minnesota that should be ranked above Gonzaga in the AP poll. I don’t care about strength of schedule for right now; no one has beaten either team. Tennessee should be ranked above Gonzaga in the Coaches' poll and the fact that Butler is only the third highest team receiving votes in the Coaches Poll is absurd. Butler should be ranked in both polls after beating Xavier last week. Finally there is something I agree with in the Coaches’ poll. I like where Georgetown is in the Coaches’ poll and think they should be one or two spots higher in the AP.
As we enter conference play, here are some games to watch this week that should impact next week’s polls.. (rankings are Coaches’ poll)
Monday, 12/29: No. 8 Georgetown at No. 2 Connecticut
Monday, 12/29: Portland State at No. 20 Baylor
Tuesday, 12/30: No. 4 Oklahoma at Arkansas
Tuesday, 12/30: Illinois at No. 11 Purdue
Wednesday, 12/31: No. 15 Michigan State at No. 21 Minnesota
Wednesday, 12/31: Wisconsin at No. 24 Michigan
Thursday, 1/1: No. 13 Villanova at No. 25 Marquette
Friday, 1/2: No. 14 Arizona State at Stanford
Saturday, 1/3: No. 3 Pittsburgh at No. 8 Georgetown
Saturday, 1/3: No. 23 Ohio State at No. 21 Minnesota
Saturday, 1/3: No. 18 Tennessee at Kansas
Saturday, 1/3: No. 6 Wake Forest at BYU
Sunday, 1/4: Kentucky at No. 19 Louisville
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About Matthew Ryter
Contact
matthew.ryter@gmail.com
Background
Matt Ryter is a graduate of Providence College. He is a life long college basketball junkie. Although his Friars may not be atop the Big East, he follows the conference religiously. When Matt worked at ESPN he was a part of the Stats and Analysis team where he mainly covered college basketball. Matt wears black Nike socks whenever he can to honor the Fab Five.
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