The Bat Cave

Previous ranking in brackets:

1. Duke (3-0) – Easy going so far for the reigning champs. First week of December looks tough though: Michigan State and Butler. [1]

2. Michigan State (2-0) – Part of the Maui Invitational this week in a field that features Kentucky, Washington, Connecticut, and Wichita State. [2]

3. Ohio State (3-0) – Just as strong as I thought they’d be. They already crushed #9 Florida. [3]

4. Pittsburgh (5-0) – A big jump up the rankings for the Panthers. Not only do they have five wins already, but they’ve notched victories over tough Maryland and Texas teams. [9]

5. Kansas State (3-0) – The Wildcats already own a decisive win over a ranked team from Virginia Tech. [5]

6. Kansas (3-0) – Josh Selby has been declared eligible (after nine games I think) and the Jayhawks have been crushing teams without him… including North Texas, a tournament team last year. [6]

7. Kentucky (2-0) – I’m iffy about this ranking… KU has looked dominant so far, but they haven’t played anybody and losing Enes Kanter drops them in this week’s rankings. Brandon Knight and Terrance Jones have been great though and this week’s Maui Invitational will determine if this team is legit. [4]

8. Syracuse (4-0) – The Orange move up in the rankings, but they’re pretty lucky to do so. William & Mary gave them a run for their money and shooting 36.7% from the field isn’t going to get the job done against good teams. Plus Fab Melo has been a non-factor. [10]

9. Purdue (3-0) – Oakland put up a good fight against the Boilermakers today and we probably won’t really know what this Purdue team is made of without Robbie Hummel until they face off against Virginia Tech on Dec. 1st. [7]

10. Villanova (4-0) – I think I missed the mark on this one in my initial rankings; ‘Nova is deep and talented. [14]

11. Washington (2-0) – The Huskies have been putting up some serious points and look to be severely underrated on the national level. Beating Virginia and Kentucky in the Maui Invitational would change that… and a win over MSU in the championship would open a lot of eyes. [12]

12. Florida (3-1) – Losing to Ohio State doesn’t hurt that much and it’s not like the Gators didn’t play them tough most of the game. [13]

13. Memphis (4-0) – Already have two victories over schools from major conferences (Miami and LSU). [15]

14. Baylor (3-0) – The Bears get a bump because my initial rankings assumed LaceDarius Dunn wouldn’t play this year. He’s back next week and the core of this team looks great so far.

15. Illinois (4-1) – I had Texas ranked before the season, so an overtime loss to them isn’t terrible, plus the Illini bounced back with a win over Maryland. [17]

16. Gonzaga (2-1) – Losing to San Diego State isn’t a good look, but it’s not a travesty either. It’s not going to get any easier for the Bulldogs: they have games against Kansas State, Illinois, and Baylor in the next three weeks. [10]

17. Georgetown (5-0) [20]

18. Tennessee (3-0) – Hoyas jump ahead of the Volunteers because Tennessee is untested so far and Georgetown has wins over ODU and North Carolina State. [18]

19. Minnesota (5-0) – The Golden Gophers boast the best resume in college basketball right now with wins over North Carolina, West Virginia, and Western Kentucky, all of whom could be NCAA tourney teams come March. Yikes. [unranked]

20. North Carolina (2-2) – Wow. Is this a repeat of last year? I doubt the Tarheels will fall this far in the AP rankings, but they should with two losses against unranked teams already. I saw UNC play Hofstra the other night, and even though it was a decisive win, the Heels looked pretty sloppy outside of Harrison Barnes, and then Barnes went 0-12 from the field against Minnesota. Will the real Tarheels please stand up? I don’t think this team is going to lose 17 games, but this is a bad start. [8]

21. Butler (2-1) – I’ve already heard people gunning for Butler to be dropped out of the top 25, but that seems harsh. It’s not like Louisville is a bunch of slouches and the Bulldogs still boast Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard on their roster. I think Duke is going to destroy them on December 4th, but wins over Siena and Xavier would help make up for the Louisville loss. [16]

22. Missouri (2-0) – I’m still unsure of what to think of this team and I haven’t seen them play yet. Everyone else has them ranked much higher, but I need them to prove it first. [22]

23. San Diego State (4-0) – I had BYU ranked #25 and the Aztecs unranked in my preseason rankings, but after some thought, I decided that San Diego State is going to be the better team and win the Mountain West. With a win over Gonzaga under their belt already, leap-frogging BYU in this week’s rankings not only makes up for my previous mistake, it makes sense too. [unranked]

24. Texas (3-1) – The Longhorns have been impressive so far. Unranked by a lot of publications in the preseason, they’ve already upset #13 Illinois and took #5 Pittsburgh to the buzzer, losing by two points. [24]

25. Virginia Tech (2-1) – A loss to Kansas State doesn’t hurt their stock too much. [21]

Dropped Out:

Wisconsin (2-1) – Lost to unranked UNLV.
BYU (3-0) – Shouldn’t have been ranked in the first place, but they’re right there.