NCAA rankings - Feb 6

Yeah, yeah, Super Bowl. I picked the Steelers before the season. I'm sticking with them. Pitt by 5. Not nearly as much turmoil at the top of the rankings this week, but a lot more happening among the masses and bubble goodness everywhere. Let's get to it.

1. Pitt (2) - I'm not actually sure how I ranked Texas over Pitt last week. Pitt has one less loss, one more big win, and hey - they actually beat the Longhorns earlier this year.
2. Texas (1) - Hard to argue with the results. This team should be a double digit favorite until the Sweet 16 unless they meet KU in the Big XII finals.
3. Ohio St (4) - Still not a lot of big wins but looking impressive all the way. This weekend in Wisconsin is their biggest chance for a big road win - or a first loss.
4. Kansas (5) - Those early season wins over Arizona and UCLA are starting to look pretty solid. Unfortunately they probably don't have a win over a tourney time since. That should change tomorrow when Mizzou visits, assuming the Tigers right the ship after this rough stretch.
5. UConn (3) - Yeah so they lost at home this week, but to a desperate Cuse team that was top 3 in the nation only two weeks ago. Not exactly a bad loss. But the team is starting to fall off a bit and needed a huge comeback to escape a 3 game losing streak. Danger zone?

6. Notre Dame (6) - The schedule really opens up over the next 6 before the Irish close against Nova and UConn in games that could propel them to a surprise Big East title.
7. BYU (9) - They still have one more loss than SD St but they also have a pretty impressive slate of wins. In addition to SD St, they have now swept UNLV and also have wins over Arizona, St Mary's, and Utah St that each look better and better by the day.
8. Georgetown (7) - The schedule is about to get real. It's road trips to Cuse and UConn with a tough home game against WVa sandwiched in between. Could be rough.
9. San Diego St (8) - A whole lot of wins, 23 to be exact, but I'm beginning to feel a bit underwhelmed by the schedule. They got St Mary's too, but Gonzaga and Wichita are clear downgrades from Zona and Utah St, and they haven't beat UNLV yet either. They'll get their chance this Saturday in Vegas. But I bet they'll move down my rankings before they move up.
10. Duke (12) - This Wednesday is the first UNC-Duke game of the year. As far as I'm concerned, that marks the beginning of the real NCAA season every year. Giddyup.

11. Villanova (11) - The game of the week might be this Saturday when Pitt comes to town. Nova doesnt have any tough roadies until the final two games of the season. If they can get this home win and the one over Cuse in a week, they'll be back to the top 5 soon enough.
12. Syracuse (17) - A win at UConn can go a long way toward righting a losing ship. But they get Georgetown this week and then a trip to Louisville, so never a day to rest in the Big East.
13. Florida (NR) - Hard to overlook those nasty early losses to UCF and Jacksonville that just won't go away, but the good wins are really piling up. That's 6 or 7 wins now against likely tourney teams, easily the most of anyone in the SEC.
14. Kentucky (10) - Two road losses in a week, even both in the final seconds, leaves the Cats at 4-4 and well behind Florida in the SEC race and actually tied for last in the SEC East. Doesn't get any easier this week either with a visit from a desperate Vols team and then an always tough trip to Vandy.
15. Arizona (19) - Almost the best Cats in the nation suddenly. Still hard to know much about this team since they haven't really had a big win yet, but the four losses are all quite excusable.

16. Louisville (20) - Nice to lose a game and jump 4 spots, but the crap is about to hit the fan. At Notre Dame, home Cuse, at Cincy, home UConn should tell us plenty. I'm still not really sold on these Cards, but it'd be hard to ignore some of those Ws should they come.
17. Tennessee (14) - Losses like the OT one yesterday against Bama are losses Tennessee just can't afford. 7 of the final 8 games are against tourney or bubble teams, starting with road trips to UK and Florida this week. Time to find out if my faith will be rewarded.
18. Marquette (15) - Life in the Big East is never easy, but there are a lot of winnable games left on the schedule against bottom tier teams. Can they get that one big road win over Georgetown this week or UConn in two weeks to put them over the top? If not, beating all the bad Big East teams just might not matter.
19. UCLA (NR) - Why hello Ben Howland. Not so much on the road yet, but being the only team to beat BYU is looking better and better, and an easy win over the same St Johns that beat Duke a week ago looks good too.
20. UNC (NR) - Interesting that these two schools pop back in together. We may have given Roy Williams up for dead a bit too soon. These kids are really playing some ball and look like a definite tourney team, but let's see how far they've come against Duke this week.

21. Wisconsin (NR) - My honorary 2nd best Big 10 team for the week. I'll let them earn their stay with the home game against the Buckeyes this weekend.
22. Texas A&M (13) - I really thought the Aggies would beat Texas this week. Instead they lost ugly, then lost again, and now have lost 4 or 5. Better get some wins soon.
23. Temple (24) - Not any big conference wins yet and might not get their chance - they lost to Xavier and Duquesne and won't see them again til a conference tourney.
24. Cincinnati (25) - Still a blank canvas waiting to be written. Two more blah games before 5 of their last 6 are against top 25 squads.
25. Vanderbilt (NR) - Haven't we seen this team before? Yup, every year. They win the big home games and lose the road wins. Just winning at home this week will do the trick though, against Bama and Kentucky.

Peace out - Washington (16), Missouri (18), Purdue (21), St Johns (22), West Va (23)