Rivalry week provided a number of losses in the rankings last week. Monday was the best night of the season so far with the Georgetown/Syracuse OT thriller followed by the classic at the Dean Dome. Murray State ended the Cinderella season and the mid major conferences are wide open after a number of the top teams lost. It should be another great week of college basketball. There are a number of great battles of ranked teams and Saturday we get the annual installment of Bracket Busters where the mid majors take center stage.

1. Kentucky – They showed why they are the number 1 team in the country this week with the blowout win over Florida and the nice road win over Vanderbilt.
2. Syracuse – Hung on to beat Georgetown at home in overtime and dispatched of UConn last week. Now for the first time all year they have to play a ranked team on the road. This will show how truly great this team is. I could easily see them losing.
3. Missouri – With the beat down of Baylor again last week they are in good shape for the Big 12 regular season race.
4. Ohio State – I am still not quite sure what happened on Saturday against Michigan State but anytime you shoot 26% for the game you are probably going to lose. I am brushing it off to a bad day.
5. Duke – I am not convinced they are a top 5 team but the win at UNC in the fashion they did it was very impressive.
6. Kansas – They also gave Baylor a beat down last week. They have a tough game on the road tonight at Kansas State.
7. North Carolina – Just when I thought this team had turned the corner they give one away to Duke.
8. Michigan State – They got one of it not the most impressive wins of the season in Columbus. The rematch with Purdue this week should be interesting considering the beating they gave them last month.
9. Georgetown – No reason to move them down based on the overtime loss at Syracuse.
10. Baylor – This team is having all sorts of trouble in the Big 12. For some reason they don’t have a lot of fight in them .
11. Marquette – Two easy wins last week Depaul and Cincinnati.
12. UNLV – Took care of SDSU in a game they had to win but almost gave away. They have a tough game on Saturday at the Pit in New Mexico.
13. San Diego State – Almost came back to steal one in Vegas. They have the easier schedule down the stretch so they should still win the conference.
14. Florida – Took two losses last week to Kentucky and Tennessee. They could be easily facing a 4 game losing streak with games this week at Alabama (if they have enough eligible players to field a team) and Arkansas.
15. Florida State – Finally took the bad loss everyone was waiting for on the road at Boston College. If they want to stay in the race for the ACC crown they must beat NC State on the road Saturday.
16. Louisville – Great week with wins over UConn at home and a great road win at West Virginia. The game tonight with Syracuse is one they could easily win.
17. Michigan – Two decent wins at Nebraska and home over Illinois last week. Get a home showdown with Ohio State on Saturday.
18. Wisconsin – Nice win at Minnesota has them right back near the top of the Big 10 standings. the Thursday night game at Michigan State should be a good one.
19. Notre Dame – They played quite awful against Depaul but luckily for them they were playing Depaul.
The winning streak could come to an end this week at Villanova.
20. Virginia – Caught UNC at a bad time. They need to bounce back themselves and take care of Clemson on the road.
21. Indiana – Got a decent home win over Illinois. They have to go on the road this week which is never easy for them but lucky for them its at Iowa.
22. Mississippi State – The loss to Georgia at home is inexcusable and probably should drop them out of the rankings. The problem with that is most every team near the bottom of the rankings lost last week so they hold on for another week.
23. St. Marys – They lost to Gonzaga last week but I still think they are the best team in the WCC. The Bracket Buster game this week is gonna be a good one and will carry a lot of meaning for March seeding.
24. Gonzaga – Get in the rankings with the win over St. Mary’s.
25. Wichita State – Its only right that a MVC team is in the rankings and with the impressive win at Creighton the Shockers are that team. The Bracket Buster at Davidson will go a long way in helping at large bids (if needed) for both teams.