1. Kansas 11-0
2. Kentucky 13-0
3. Syracuse 12-0
4. Texas 11-0
5. Purdue 11-0
6. West Virginia 10-0
7. Villanova 11-1
8. Duke 9-1
9. Connecticut 9-2
10. Georgetown 9-1
11. Kansas State 11-1
12. Tennessee 9-2
13. North Carolina 9-3
14. Michigan State 9-3
15. Clemson 11-2
16. Ohio State 10-2
17. New Mexico 11-1
18. Texas Tech 10-1
19. Florida State 11-2
20. UAB 11-1
21. Mississippi 10-2
22. Washington 9-2
23. Temple 9-2
24. Wisconsin 10-2
25. Georgia Tech 9-2

Last 5 Out
26. BYU 12-1
27. Oklahoma State 10-1
28. Texas A&M
29. Gonzaga 8-3
30. UNLV 12-2

Numbers in parenthesis are the previous week's ranking in my system.

1. Kansas 10-0 (1) --
2. Syracuse 11-0 (2) --
3. Kentucky 11-0 (3) --
4. Texas 10-0 (4) --
5. Purdue 10-0 (5) --
6. West Virginia 8-0 (6) --
7. Villanova 10-1 (7) --
8. Duke 9-1 (8) --
9. Michigan State 9-2 (13) +4
10. Connecticut 7-2 (15) +5
11. Georgetown 8-1 (11) --
12. Tennessee 8-2 (9) -3
13. Kansas State 10-1 (20) +7
14. New Mexico 11-0 (21) +7
15. Mississippi 10-1 (22) +7
16. UNLV 10-1 (25) +9
17. Florida 8-2 (10) -7
18. North Carolina 8-3 (12) -6
19. Butler 8-3, 1-0 (23) +4
20. Clemson 10-2 (19) -1
21. Ohio State 9-2 (16) -5
22. Texas A&M 9-2 (17) -5
23. Texas Tech 9-1 (18) -5
24. Florida State (NR)
25. Gonzaga 8-3 (14) -11

Last 5 Out:
26. Temple 9-2 (NR)
27. BYU 10-1 (NR)
28. Oklahoma State 9-1 (NR)
29. Georgia Tech 8-2 (24) -5
30. UAB 10-1 (NR)

If you are a fan of college basketball, you'll know that we are entering those few weeks of the season before conference play when the absolute cupcake weeks of the schedule happen. Until Saturday, no ranked team plays another ranked team, making for a boring week of basketball. If you have the patience to wait until Saturday, however, you are in for quite a treat. Here is the listings of quality matchups for Saturday:

#10/10 North Carolina @ #2/2 Texas - 2:00 PM
ESPN

Xavier @ #21/17 Butler - 2:00 PM
ESPN2

#15/15 Gonzaga vs. #7/7 Duke - 4:00 PM
CBS - Game Played in New York City

Portland @ #24/21 Washington - 10:00 PM
all times Eastern.

The only reason I am including the Portland game is that they are one of those teams that you need to prepare well for and watch because if teams just brush them off they will come out to get you. Just look at the Anaheim Tournament, which earned them a spot in the AP Top 25 for one week.

Also, keep watching out for Temple in the future. They've got #1/1 Kansas coming in on Jan. 2, and that should be a pretty good game. They are in the area of 28-30 in both polls, so we could end up with a matchup of ranked teams. The A10 always has some sleepers in it, and by the way Temple beat Villanova and was close to taking down GTown, don't sleep on this team.

Early Saturday Picks:
Texas over UNC*
Butler over Xavier in a very very close one.
Duke over Gonzaga
Washington over Portland

*I am picking Texas here, but if there is a team that is going to get upset this weekend, I think that this is the game where we will see it.

My Pick Stats:
Overall: 5-4
Conference Games: 0-0
Ranked vs. Ranked: 0-1
Ranked vs. Unranked: 4-1
Unranked vs. Unranked: 1-2

Alright folks, here are my Top 25 for the week. I did these last night, I am just copying them over now because, well, it is finals week and I have no time for anything anymore.

1. Kansas 9-0 (1) --
2. Syracuse 10-0 (3) +1
3. Kentucky 10-0 (5) +2
4. Texas 8-0 (4) --
5. Purdue 9-0 (7) +2
6. West Virginia 7-0 (8) +2
7. Villanova 9-1 (2) -5
8. Duke 7-1 (9) +1
9. Tennessee 7-1 (10) +1
10. Florida 8-1 (6) -4
11. Georgetown 8-0 (13) +2
12. North Carolina 8-2 (15) +3
13. Michigan State 8-2 (16) +3
14. Gonzaga 8-2 (17) +3
15. Connecticut 6-2 (11) -4
16. Ohio State 7-2 (12) -4
17. Texas A&M 8-2 (14) -3
18. Texas Tech 9-0 (24) +6
19. Clemson 8-2 (25) +6
20. Kansas State 9-1 (NR) --
21. New Mexico 10-0 (NR) --
22. Mississippi 8-1 (23) +1
23. Butler 7-3 (NR) --
24. Georgia Tech (21) -3
25. UNLV 7-1 (18) -7

Last 5 Out:
26. Cincinnati 6-2 (20) -5
27. Florida State 7-2
28. Wisconsin 7-2 (19) -9
29. Oklahoma State 8-1
30. BYU 8-1

I will post later with some explanations, but you will find that my poll this week is pretty close to what the AP Poll is.

Alright folks, here's my second week of rankings. The number in the parenthesis is the ranking I had them during the previous week.

1. Kansas 7-0 (1)
2. Villanova 8-0 (2)
3. Syracuse 8-0 (5)
4. Texas 6-0 (3)
5. Kentucky 8-0 (8)
6. Florida 8-0 (14)
7. Purdue 7-0 (6)
8. West Virginia 5-0 (7)
9. Duke 7-1 (4)
10. Tennessee 6-0 (10)
11. Connecticut 6-1 (11)
12. Ohio State 7-1 (12)
13. Georgetown 6-0 (18)
14. Texas A&M 7-1 (20)
15. North Carolina 7-2 (13)
16. Michigan State 6-2 (9)
17. Gonzaga 6-2 (16)
18. UNLV 7-0 (NR)
19. Wisconsin 6-1 (NR)
20. Cincinnati 5-1 (NR)
21. Georgia Tech 6-1 (NR)
22. Florida State 7-2 (19)
23. Mississippi 7-2 (25)
24. Texas Tech 8-0 (NR)
25. Clemson 7-2 (21)

Last 5 Out

26. Notre Dame 8-1 (23)
27. Washington 6-1 (15)
28. Illinois 6-2 (NR)
29. Vanderbilt 6-1 (NR)
30. Oklahoma State 7-1 (24)

Hey all, so here is my first set of Top 25 rankings of the season. I'll post here every Sunday night with the rankings, and every Monday night with a critique of the AP/Coaches Poll as well as some of my explanations, so don't complain that I don't explain my picks, you'll just have to wait a day. So without further ado, here they are:

Week 3 (November 30-December 6)

1. Kansas 5-0
2. Villanova 6-0
3. Texas 5-0
4. Duke 6-0
5. Syracuse 6-0
6. Purdue 5-0
7. West Virginia 5-0
8. Kentucky 6-0
9. Michigan State 5-1
10. Tennessee 5-1
11. Connecticut 4-1
12. Ohio State 5-1
13. North Carolina 6-1
14. Florida 6-0
15. Washington 5-0
16. Gonzaga 5-1
17. Louisville 4-1
18. Georgetown 4-0
19. Florida State 6-1
20. Texas A&M 5-1
21. Clemson 6-1
22. Marquette 6-1
23. Notre Dame 6-1
24. Oklahoma State 6-0
25. Mississippi 5-1

Enjoy!

To start off I am very excited that this week I'm going to come out with my first top 25 rankings of the season. The first few weeks are really hard to rank since no one really has a body of work, but with the preseason tournaments in full swing we are starting to see a few teams really separate themselves from the pack, and a few teams really start to falter.

Who's Hot?
#6/6 Purdue: 4-0 (0-0)
      - I get concerned with highlighting Big Ten teams because I'm not always sure that the conference has enough offense in it, but their win against #9/11 Tennessee was pretty big in the Paradise Jam. Look for Purdue to be a contender down the stretch.

#10/9 Syracuse: 5-0 (0-0)
      - Syracuse is arguably the hottest team in the nation right now. I can't say best, but in terms of body of work they certainly have the best wins around. Throttling #13/12 California and #6/4 UNC is no laughing matter. If the Orange stay consistent look for them to be dancing deep into March.

#23/NR Notre Dame 5-0 (0-0)
      - Notre Dame will be a disappointment if they do not run the table in their non-conference schedule. They are playing well, but I'm really interested to see what this team looks like going into Big East play. Their toughest non-conference opponent is a down-trodden UCLA team.

Cincinnati 4-0 (0-0)
      - If Cincy beats Gonzaga tonight there is absolutely no way they are not a Top 25 team. Wins against all ranked teams in the Maui Invitational should boost them to around 17-20 I would say.

Who's Not?
#21/22 Maryland 4-2 (0-0)
      - Just as quickly as they burst into the top 25, they are going to freefall right back out of them. Beating New Hampshire and Fairfield by 30 points is all well and good, but when you play the bigger boys, you have to show up and Maryland clearly has not, losing to Cincy and now Wisconsin.

#NR/23 California 3-2 (0-0)
      - Injuries have pestered the team so far this year, but losing twice to ranked teams isn't going to help them later on during the year. Are they still the favorites for the Pac-10? Who knows this year. Just remember when thinking about California is that teams that live by the 3 also die by the 3.

Dayton 2-2 (0-0)
      - Starting off the season ranked is pretty good for Dayton, being in a non-BCS conference, but their consecutive losses to Villanova and Kansas State have them reeling a bit. I still like Dayton, and I think they will make a splash this year in March. The good news is that their losses have been close.

Overrated
#5/5 Kentucky 5-0 (0-0)
      - Okay, don't get me wrong here, I think Kentucky has the potential to go very far this year, but they still need to prove that to me. If they beat UNC on December 5th or UConn on December 9th, Kentucky will not only be taken off of this list, they will shoot right up my rankings. I'm a big advocate of 'prove it on the court' and that is how I base my rankings, so until they do that against a quality opponent I don't think they should be anywhere close to #5 in the nation.

#8/8 West Virginia 2-0 (0-0)
      - More so than Kentucky, WVU not only hasn't played a quality opponent yet, they have barely played anyone yet! The 76 Classic in Anaheim will show what they are made of.. there are some good teams in that tournament. I fully expect them to get beaten by Purdue in December, and end up in the middle of the Big East at the end of the year. Please, Mountaineers prove me wrong.

#18/19 Georgetown 3-0 (0-0)
      - I'm worried that the Georgetown can't score. I've been worried that Georgetown can't score for the past 3 years. They always play great defense, but I don't think that they're going to be able to outscore opponents this year. Every team has bad games, but a 46-45 win over Temple? Just barely getting by Temple is one thing, but only scoring 46 points is absolutely abysmal.

** I would put Maryland on this list as well, but the new week's rankings don't come out until Monday, and I'm pretty sure they won't be in them, so I can't really say that they are overrated based on that.

Game of the Night - Wednesday

Maui Invitational - Championship Game - Honolulu, Hawaii
Cincinnati 4-0 (0-0) vs. Gonzaga 4-1 (0-0)
10:00 PM - ESPN

Game of the Night - Thursday

76 Classic - Quarterfinals - Anaheim, CA
#22/16 Minnesota 3-0 (0-0) vs. #12/10 Butler 3-0 (0-0)
8:30 PM - ESPN2

Game of the Night - Friday

Legends Classic - Semifinals - Atlantic City, NJ
#2/2 Michigan State 4-0 (0-0) vs. Florida 4-0 (0-0)
8:00 PM

My Picks 0-0 on the season, 0-0 in conference games

Cincinnati
Butler
Michigan State

- I know that's a lot to swallow for one post, but enjoy it, and expect to hear a lot more from me this year on college basketball.