Ryter's Block: Top 25 Commentary

    
December 22nd, 2008 by Matthew Ryter
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The Story: The top four teams in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ and AP polls all remained unchanged and unbeaten. North Carolina retained the top spot once again earning all 31 first-place votes. Duke rejoined the top 5, taking Texas No. 5 spot after the Longhorns fell to Michigan State this past week. Texas fell to No. 9 in the AP poll. Louisville fell 10 spots in both polls to No. 19 this week after losing at Minnesota on Saturday. Unbeaten Wake Forest has jumped up to No. 6 winning at Richmond. Davidson, Memphis, and Marquette all fell from the AP rankings. They are replaced by Minnesota (No. 23), Michigan (No. 24), and Missouri (No. 25).

 

AP Top 25
1. North Carolina (71) 11-0 1,775
2. Connecticut 10-0 1,693
3. Pittsburgh 12-0 1,618
4. Oklahoma 11-0 1,580
5. Duke 10-1 1,486
6. Wake Forest 10-0 1,294
7. Gonzaga 8-2 1,154
8. Notre Dame 8-2 1,116
9. Texas 9-2 1,108
10. Purdue 9-2 1,083
11. Michigan State 8-2 907
12. Georgetown 8-1 880
13. UCLA 8-2 873
14. Xavier 9-1 861
15. Ohio State 8-0 766
16. Tennessee 8-2 758
17. Syracuse 11-1 742
18. Villanova 10-1 594
19. Louisville 7-2 521
20. Arizona State 9-1 477
21. Baylor 9-1 466
22. Clemson 12-0 462
23. Minnesota 10-0 198
24. Michigan 8-2 183
25. Missouri 9-1 71


Others Receiving Votes
Memphis 70, Marquette 69, Davidson 66, Butler 40, Dayton 25, Saint Mary's 25, Illinois 20, Brigham Young 18, Maryland 16, Texas A&M 11, Kansas 10, Florida 8, Florida State 8, Stanford 8, Miami (FL) 6, Wisconsin 5, UNLV 1, West Virginia 1, Western Kentucky 1, George Mason 1.


Dropped From Rankings
Davidson 22, Memphis 23, Marquette 24.

ESPN/USA Today Poll
1. North Carolina (31) 11-0 775
2. Connecticut 10-0 737
3. Pittsburgh 12-0 715
4. Oklahoma 11-0 683
5. Duke 10-1 651
6. Wake Forest 10-0 552
7. Gonzaga 8-2 499
8. Texas 9-2 486
9. Georgetown 8-1 476
10. UCLA 8-2 465
11. Notre Dame 8-2 398
12. Xavier 9-1 392
13. Ohio State 8-0 371
14. Syracuse 11-1 368
15. Purdue 9-2 341
16. Villanova 10-1 324
17. Arizona State 9-1 306
18. Michigan State 8-2 254
19. Louisville 7-2 231
20. Clemson 12-0 218
21. Tennessee 8-2 215
22. Baylor 9-1 163
23. Minnesota 10-0 78
24. Memphis 6-3 60
25. Marquette 9-2 58


Others Receiving Votes
Brigham Young 44, Davidson 39, Michigan 38, Missouri 28, Dayton 26, Butler 14, Saint Mary's 14, Miami (FL) 10, Kansas 10, Arizona 9, Wisconsin 9, West Virginia 5, Florida 4, Illinois State 3, LSU 3, Stanford 3.

 

Ryter’s Block: This week started with one of the wildest endings I have ever seen. Cleveland State’s Cedric Jackson heaved a 60 footer as time expired to beat Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. My continuous praising of the Big East took another hit on Tuesday with Marquette losing to Tennessee. Louisville then lost at Minnesota on Saturday. The top 6 teams are spot on and continue to impress. Between the top 6 teams they have one loss among them. Wake Forest is continuing to impress me and deserves their No. 6 spot. Louisville is ranked too high at No. 19 in both polls. I believe that they should be at No. 23 and Arizona State, Baylor, Clemson, and Minnesota should all move up one spot. The Coaches’ poll and AP poll once again cannot agree on things. How is Memphis still ranked in the Coaches’ poll? I understand that they have lost to 3 very good teams (Xavier, Georgetown, and Syracuse) but Missouri (9-1) deserves to be on that poll. Purdue is No. 10 in the AP and No. 15 in the Coaches’ poll. You would think that their rankings would be similar, 5 spots in any Top 25 poll is a big difference. Somehow these two polls need to get on the same page.

 

Here is a look at this week’s games that could shake up the rankings…

 

Tuesday, 12/23                        No. 8 Texas at Wisconsin

Tuesday, 12/23                        Butler at  No. 12 Xavier

 

Saturday, 12/27                       West Virginia at No. 13 Ohio State

 

Not such a great week because of the Holidays...enjoy your week of College Bowl games and the final week of the NFL…then the real fun begins!

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