March 01--This was another week of confusion for Top 25 teams -- and voters.
Xavier comes up with a significant victory against last week's No. 1 Villanova, only to fall to Seton Hall. Virginia stumbles against Miami then triumphs against North Carolina.
Iowa, Maryland and Arizona took major hits this week. Can anyone figure out this season?
Here's how I voted in this week's Associated Press Top 25.
(Last week's ranking in parentheses; records through Sunday)
1. Kansas 25-4 (2)
2. Michigan State 24-5 (4)
3. Villanova 25-4 (1)
4. Miami 23-5 (9)
5. Virginia 22-6 (3)
6. Xavier 25-4 (5)
7. Oklahoma 22-6 (7)
8. North Carolina 23-6 (6)
9. West Virginia 22-7 (13)
10. Indiana 23-6 (17)
11. Oregon 23-6 (18)
12. Louisville 22-7 (11)
13. Utah 23-7 (20)
14. Purdue 27-7 (21)
15. Maryland 23-6 (12)
16. Wisconsin 19-10 (24)
17. Texas 19-10 (NR)
18. Iowa 20-8 (10)
19. Duke 21-8 (15)
20. Baylor 21-8 (16)
21. Arizona 22-7 (8)
22. Iowa State 20-9 (19)
23. Kentucky 21-8 (14)
24. St. Mary's 24-4 (22)
25. SMU 24-4 (25)
Dropped out: Notre Dame (23).
Hurricane warning: I've given Miami more love than many voters. Since Week 7, I've only kept the Hurricanes out of my top 10 twice. This week, Miami proved me right with praise-worthy victories against Virginia and Louisville. Yes, the Hurricanes have three ugly losses, including an inexplicable November loss to Northeastern, but they own an 8-2 record against the nation's top 50 RPI teams. Sure, their best wins were all at home (except for a neutral-site game against Utah). But with a ragtag Top 25, Miami deserves to be in the top five after an impressive week.
Big Ten mess: Consistency has been hard to come by in the conference as teams change places. Remember when Iowa and Maryland were ruling the Big Ten? Iowa plummeted from No. 10 to No. 18 with three straight losses. The Terrapins are struggling with three losses in four games. Michigan State has found some consistency with four straight victories to rise to No. 2. Indiana is proving to be among the class of the league and jumped seven spots into the top 10. Wisconsin has rounded into form, having won 10 of 11 to creep eight spots to No. 16. Purdue might finally be figuring things out again; the victory against Maryland bumps the Boilermakers up to No. 14.
Hook 'em: Texas' strength of schedule is ranked No. 2 and the Longhorns rank No. 20 in RPI. Their victory against Oklahoma highlights recent strong play that vaulted them to No. 17 in my rankings this week after they were unranked last week. They're 8-6 against the top 50 RPI.
sryan@tribpub.com
