1. Kansas
2. Kentucky
3. Villanova
4. Purdue
5. Duke
6. Syracuse
7. Kansas State
8. Gonzaga
9. New Mexico
10. Butler
11. Georgetown
12. Michigan State
13. Vanderbilt
14. Wake Forest
15. Ohio State
16. West Virginia
17. UTEP
18. BYU
19. Pittsburgh
20. Richmond
21. Xavier
22. Baylor
23. Temple
24. Northern Iowa
25. Maryland
Others receiving consideration: Dayton, Memphis, Rhode Island, California, Arizona, UNLV, Texas A&M, Wichita State, Cornell, Siena, Charlotte, Georgia Tech, Texas, Marquette, UAB, Wisconsin
Pretty good list, Casey. Wonder if Ohio State isn’t really the best team in Big 10 right now and Top 10 overall? They were awfully impressive this past weekend while squashing the Illini in Champaigne … Illinois was on a pretty good roll, too.
Where’s Wisconsin??? Not even a mention??
Wally – good catch. I considered the Badgers and originally omitted them. They are now included.
Finally saw Kansas State play. Love that guard they have (Clemente?). Duke over Cuse? Can’t agree with you there right now. Isn’t Gonzaga really feeble this year? I thought they;ve had some suspect losses. Don’t they get a couple big wins in non-conference every year, then go to their weak conference, maybe slip up once, and sneak their way in the top 10 every time only to lose in the sweet 16? Can Mark Few please take another job soon.
I like the Pullen kid on K-State.
Yeah well Duke looked better than Syracuse a week ago. Syracuse was coming off a loss at home to Louisville and a controversial win over a not so strong UConn team.
I’ve seen Gonzaga play a bunch of times this year. I want Mark Few to stay there for the rest of his career. The guy graduates players AND they play pure basketball.
I want to see what Few can do with the absolute best recruiting tools. Wally might like to see him at Notre Dame. Who’s to say he won’t graduate players at another university? Imagine what he’d do at Texas, where the coach there right now recuirs a hodge podge of “5-stars” with no real system.
Cuse looked bad those two weeks because Triche overplayed and Johnson was tentative after that nasty fall.
Basketball is KING at Gonzaga. There are a bunch of schools that wish they could get to the sweet sixteen as often as the Zags.
Rey —
Thanks for thinking of me! I’m definitely up for a change of coach at ND. 10 years is long enough to prove that you can run a consistently mediocre program and Brey has done that. Time to move on. I’d love to see Mark Few get a chance at the ND job.
Just to be fair … Gonzaga also lost to Loyola Marymount this year, so Few’s got that in common with Brey.
Yes, Casey, ND wishes they could get to the Sweet 16 once every 5 years, which isn’t nearly as often as the Zags, is it?
Gonzaga went to the Sweet Sixteen last year and in 2006. As for the Zags loss to Loyola-Marymount – that was a conference game on the road. Anything can happen in that situation. Gonzaga has five losses this year: by 4 AT Michigan State, by 2 vs. Wake, the Loyola loss, and by 4 at San Francisco. They got crushed by Duke, but there were outside factors contributing to that loss. It came at the end of Finals week. The game was played in New Jersey (cross-continental trip), and the game was Matt Bouldin’s first after a concussion.
As for the strength of the West Coast Conference – don’t forget St. Mary’s was a Patty Mills injury away from getting into last year’s tournament. Two years ago San Diego beat UConn in the first round. Earlier this year Portland beat Oregon, UCLA, and Minnesota. St. Mary’s beat Oregon also and lost to Vandy by 2. San Diego beat Oklahoma and Houston earlier this season.
Rey
Another way to look at it – Syracuse won the 2003 title (it took Boeheim more than 25 years to accomplish that). Since then, the Orange are 4-4 in the NCAA Tournament. In that same time period, Gonzaga is 6-6.
Casey —
I’m not wearing a hat right now; but if I were, I’d be taking it off to you. Your knowledge and factoids on college hoops to illustrate certain points are simply kickin’ butt. Where do you get this stuff???
Great work! Or I guess I should say “Helmet Sticker”! No … make that a double! 🙂
Aw shucks Wally. What can I say? Thanks. All that info gets in my head, and I gotta outlet it somewhere. I figure here is as good a place as any. Guess I watch too much television and read too many articles.
🙂