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MRI2005: Week 3 - Oh What You Thought You Knew
December 19, 2005
By Benjamin Miraski
Just when I thought I knew what to write about, everything changes. Just when I thought that the Atlantic 10 was going to come back and be the tough conference it used to be - at least at the top - all the best teams in the conference lose. Just when I thought that the Texas loss to Duke was a blip on the radar, they lose again to Tennessee, this time at home. Just when I was about to write about the resurgance of the Michigan Wolverines on the hardcourt, they lose against a UCLA team which looked very shaky for extended stretches during the game.
Oh well, what can I do? Some things still remain the same.
On a week when there were very few games during the week, those teams which played and played well had a chance to move up quite far in the rankings.
Duke returns to a spot it has held before, #1. After their decisive victory over Valparaiso, they have regained the top spot from Pittsburgh, if only by a tiny margin. The Panthers are holding in there are number two for now, remaining undefeated with a home win over Vermont.
A one loss Memphis team is showing that they are here to compete. They barely lost to Duke at Madison Square Garden earlier this year and maybe this is the Memphis that we have been hoping for over the last few years. The Tigers move up to #3 in the rankings this week.
The PAC-10 hasn't been pretty over the last few seasons. The one bright spot in that time has been Washington. The Huskies remain in the ranks of the unbeaten and right now, look like they could run the table in their league. They jump to #4 in the rankings this week.
Rounding out the Top 5 is the still unbeaten Illini. The team from Illinois is proving that they can still win without all of the same weapons as they had last season. Their real tests are still upcoming with the start of the Big Ten schedule, but they should still be hanging around the top 4 in the league at the end and should be dancing in March.
Check out all the rankings in Week 3 of the MRI.
| And Now the Rankings | |||||
| * NOTE: Baylor has not yet played a game. | |||||
| Teams Dropped From The Top 25: | |||||
| Louisville (LW #20, TW #29), Indiana (LW #23, TW #27), Florida State (LW #25, TW #30) | |||||
| Other Teams People Might Care About | |||||
| Last Place this week: Savannah State (0-9) at -90.91. 3rd week in a row. | |||||
| Biggest Gain this week: Cincinnati gained 30.61 points (Beat Ohio and Tennessee Tech) | |||||
| Biggest Loss this week: Savannah State lost 25.83 points (Lost to North Florida, Prairie View, and Texas A&M) | |||||
| Conference rankings this week: ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, MVC, PAC-10, Atlantic 10, Colonial, Mountain West, WAC, Horizon, MAAC, MAC, WCC, C-USA | |||||
| Enjoy | |||||
| Copyright 2005 MRISports.com | |||||
Posted December 19, 2005 12:00 PM