Well folks, I told you they would come and here they are. Sundays will be my heartfelt 'this is how I see it' rankings while I have developed a mathematical ranking system which I will explain and leave for Mondays this year. Hope you enjoy.

1 Duke 8-0
2 Pittsburgh 9-0
3 Ohio State 6-0
4 Kansas 7-0
5 Connecticut 7-0
6 Kansas State 7-1
7 Syracuse 8-0
8 Georgetown 8-0
9 Tennessee 6-0
10 Missouri 6-1
11 Baylor 6-0
12 Michigan State 6-2
13 Minnesota 7-1
14 Memphis 7-0
15 San Diego St. 8-0
16 Villanova 6-1
17 Kentucky 5-2
18 Illinois 8-1
19 BYU 8-0
20 UNLV 8-0
21 Notre Dame 8-0
22 Purdue 7-1
23 Texas 6-2
24 Washington 5-2
25 Louisville 6-0

Notes:
- Yes, UNC's win against Kentucky was a big win, but I'm going to need to see another quality win before I put them in my rankings. 
- Vanderbilt is my 26th team for the week. Just missed.
- I don't necessarily think that Syracuse has won by enough in their games to justify a top 10 ranking, but the upside is there so I'm going to leave them at 7 for the time being. Could easily be down in the 15's but they just keep winning. We'll see how they do against Michigan State at the Garden on Tuesday.
- Butler put up more of a fight than I expected them to against Duke, but Duke is far and away the best team in the nation and I don't forsee them losing anytime soon.
- I am still very unimpressed with Baylor.
- Washington is still a quality team no matter how low they drop in the rankings. Losing to KTY and MST and blowing out other opponents by averaging 93.7 PPG.
- Anyone who thinks about giving Gonzaga a vote is a fool. 4-3 with an RPI ranked 143? I don't think so.

Best 2 conferences this year in no particular order are clearly the Big East and the Big Ten (12) this year. I don't want to hear the arguments for other conferences because they just aren't good enough. Sorry.

The conference tournaments are a few weeks away, leaving teams about 4-5 games each left to help or hurt their seedings for the conference tourney. I'll be closely following the Big East tournament, as that I am currently in the heart of Big East country. Oh, and I go to Syracuse. That too.

Speaking of the suprising and absolutely terrifying Big East Conference, three teams stand out to me as the teams who could play their way out of the tournament easier than the rest.

1. Georgetown Hoyas 14-12 (5-10)
          The Hoyas, in my opinion, are already out of the tournament, pending that they don't win the Big East tournament, and I don't see how that could happen. They've gone from 12-3, nationally ranked in the top 10 to an abysmal 5-10 conference record, including a season sweep by the Cincinnati Bearcats. Some nights they come to play, but most nights they don't play the full 40 minutes. The Hoyas are probably the biggest suprise in the Big East this year, and if they get into the tournament it would be nothing short of miraculous.

2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish 15-11 (6-8)
            The Irish have shown that they are capable of beating good teams, none more impressive than their absolute beatdown of Louisville not so long ago, but their terrible 7-game losing streak, in my opinion has them out of the tournament. The only way I see them getting an at-large bid would be by beating either UConn or Nova, AND making it to at least the semifinals of the Big East Tournament. That's probably a stretch.

3. Syracuse Orange 19-8 (7-7)
          Syracuse is a really interesting case. They played extremely well in their non-conference schedule, and the fact that Memphis and Kansas keep winning is really going to help them on Selection Sunday. In conference play, the Orange have looked as average as their record looks. The team has been mostly healthy, it's just a question of which Syracuse team will show up. Will the team that beat Memphis and Kansas come to play, or is this the team that showed up for the Cleveland State loss take the court. That being said, barring any major mistakes (like losing to Rutgers) I have Syracuse in the tournament. Seed will be interesting.

 

I'm going to be paying attention to the Big Ten tournament, because my good friend (Cyclops007) goes to school there. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend either of those conference tournaments this year.