Monday, January 15, 2007
Top 25: The Big Least
Only three teams from the Big East are ranked. Syracuse, Providence overlooked.
Not that it means anything at this point of the season, but the Top 25 released today (see our sidebar - we update every Monday) is somewhat of a joke. Florida deserves to have the #1 spot again, since they're simply crushing people in the SEC, though Arkansas - also not ranked - deserves a real look. They played the Gators tough this past week and beat Alabama the week before, but also lost at Mississippi on Saturday by a deuce, so at 12-5, maybe they aren't ready for ranking.
On the other hand, Alabama got pumped up to #10 with a home win over LSU (overrated). The Razorbacks play LSU this Saturday. Stay tuned.
The real travesty is the lack of Big East teams in the Top 25. Now, the Big East is the largest conference in the country with 16 teams, so they should be more than 3 teams representing. To say that Pitt is #6 and the next best team in the conference is Notre Dame, all the way down at #20, is kind of silly, really. Syracuse (3-1 conference, 14-4 overall) and Providence (2-1, 12-4) come to mind, since they both beat #24 Marquette.
A couple of teams that probably won't be in the Top 25 a few weeks from now but are getting the nod based on the suspect vagueries of the AP Poll: Kentucky, Butler, Air Force, and probably Duke, which lost to a pair of Techs, Virginia and Georgia over the past 10 days. They're just in there on reputation, not actual ability.
Well, like I said at the start, the rankings are pretty meaningless right now.
Not that it means anything at this point of the season, but the Top 25 released today (see our sidebar - we update every Monday) is somewhat of a joke. Florida deserves to have the #1 spot again, since they're simply crushing people in the SEC, though Arkansas - also not ranked - deserves a real look. They played the Gators tough this past week and beat Alabama the week before, but also lost at Mississippi on Saturday by a deuce, so at 12-5, maybe they aren't ready for ranking.
On the other hand, Alabama got pumped up to #10 with a home win over LSU (overrated). The Razorbacks play LSU this Saturday. Stay tuned.
The real travesty is the lack of Big East teams in the Top 25. Now, the Big East is the largest conference in the country with 16 teams, so they should be more than 3 teams representing. To say that Pitt is #6 and the next best team in the conference is Notre Dame, all the way down at #20, is kind of silly, really. Syracuse (3-1 conference, 14-4 overall) and Providence (2-1, 12-4) come to mind, since they both beat #24 Marquette.
A couple of teams that probably won't be in the Top 25 a few weeks from now but are getting the nod based on the suspect vagueries of the AP Poll: Kentucky, Butler, Air Force, and probably Duke, which lost to a pair of Techs, Virginia and Georgia over the past 10 days. They're just in there on reputation, not actual ability.
Well, like I said at the start, the rankings are pretty meaningless right now.
Labels: Big East basketball, Providence College
