As a writer, nothing would make me happier than one day receiving the honor of being one of the voters that gets to submit a top 25 ballot each week. I could get made fun of, yelled at by various fanbases, and just get an unlimited amount of vitriol sent my way by the internet masses. While a top 25 at this early point in the season is pretty meaningless, here's a go at what my rankings look like at this point in the season. And in honor of one of my favorite baseball writers, the format is similar to former Grantland and current CBS writer Jonah Keri. Keri writes his baseball rankings every week at picks out certain teams to write about within the rankings. At this point I've seen almost every team play at least once, but I've seen some more than others and thus have more to go with.
25-21:
25. Texas (5-2)
24. Arizona St. (7-0)
23. Nevada ( 8-0)
22. Baylor (5-2)
21. Texas Tech (6-1)
Baylor might fall out of the regular top 25 after dropping games at Xavier and at home against Wichita State this week. This is a solid squad with loads of length which makes this a potential top ten defense. They can switch from zone to man-to-man, and have good athletes. The problem however is a lack of depth that will be felt with Terry Maston being out with an injury until January. They now only really play seven guys, so problems with foul trouble might force the Bears to exclusively play zone. The loss of Johnathan Motley is being felt with Jo Lual Acuil having to be more of an offensive option. JLA shot almost 57 percent on 2's last season, but is getting tougher looks and shooting only 50 percent on 2's this season due to having to (or choosing to) take tougher shots. Lual-Acuil is best as a complimentary piece scoring at the rim of on putbacks on the glass. With the lack of depth, Tristan Clark and Nuni Omot need to share more of the scoring load until Maston comes back.
20-16
20. Seton Hall (7-1)
19. Purdue (8-2)
18. TCU (8-0)
17. West Virginia ( 7-1)
16. Cincinnati (7-1)
(Getty Images)
Cincinnati got Macura'd on Saturday when it lost a mere 3.4 miles from its campus at Xavier. Macura only scored nine points, but managed to get Cincy's Coach Mick Cronin to try and fight him after the game, which I can't remember ever seeing in my time watching college hoops. The Bearcats racked up an undefeated record against inferior opponents, then just got beat up by Xavier in a game that was only reasonably close. This team is better than the Cincy teams of the past that just beat people up and won rock fights. However, it gave up 1.19 point per possession Saturday and basically were late getting out to Trevon Bluiett all day when he shot from deep. The lack of intensity from everyone that isn't the coach is slightly concerning, especially in a tilt against one's biggest rival.
15-11
15. Xavier (7-1)
14. Minnesota (8-1)
13. UVA (8-0)
12. Gonzaga ( 7-1)
11. North Carolina (8-1)
I've gotten better over the years at writing about North Carolina without sounding like a complete fan boy or homer. So I'll make my best effort here. The loss against Michigan State notwithstanding, this team is much better at this point of the season than I imagined. Although I didn't think things would be as bleak as the 2009-10 season where the Tar Heels went from national champs to the NIT (shout out to Larry Drew and the Wear twins), I had low expectations. But things like Luke Maye becoming a GD superstar averaging a double-double, the freshmen big men (none of whom were top 100 recruits) playing reasonably well, and Kenny Williams becoming the second coming of Donald or Shammond Williams slipped my mind. Now with Cameron Johnson coming back by ACC play, this could be a second weekend NCAA Tournament team.
10-6
10. Miami ( 7-0)
9. Kentucky ( 7-1)
8. Notre Dame ( 7-1)
7. Texas A&M ( 7-0)
6. Florida ( 5-1)
Kentucky is still a mystery to me. I'm in the camp of thinking that they aren't that good, and that the SEC grind might cause the Wildcats to be a potential 8-9 seed with 10-11 losses heading into the tournament. Others laud the potential, especially on the defensive end once the freshmen figure things out. Starting on December 16, things will become a little more clear with games against Virginia Tech, UCLA, and Louisville. It would not surprise me at all if they lost at least two of these heading into SEC play.
5-1
5. Wichita State ( 6-1)
4. Villanova (8-0)
3. Michigan State (7-1)
2. Kansas (7-0)
1. Duke (10-0)
Wichita State has had six players lead the team in scoring in seven games. I say that to illustrate the fact the Shockers are much deeper than I imagined. When your third guard can score 31 points in a game, then get shut out in a win on the road against a top 25 team, you know that this is a team with multiple options and players that are capable of going off. And they don't even have Markus McDuffie yet. The Baylor win on Saturday showed with Connor Frankamp, Landry Shamet, Shaq Morris, and Darral Willis all scoring inside and outside that the weaponry makes this a Final Four contender.
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