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December 27, 2006
MRI2006: Week 5 - This is More Like It
Suddenly, everything is right with the world. Well, maybe not for Duke fans, but for our sanity, it might be. Clemson no longer leads the MRI rankings. They didn't lose. They just got passed by a far superior team.
If you look at the AP poll or the Coaches poll, there is one thing for certain. There are three teams playing stellar basketball right now, and there is everyone else. North Carolina, the MRI's new #1 team, Florida, and UCLA are at the top of their game. If the tournament were held today, those three teams could likely book their trip to the Final Four without even a thought.
The tournament isn't starting today though. We still have a few more months of conference action on the way, but it is getting to be about the time where the very good teams separate themselves from everyone else.
As I mentioned, North Carolina is the new leader of the pack with a very young team led by a sophomore of all things. This is not good news for the rest of the basketball world, assuming none of these players get ahead of themselves and bolt for the NBA after this year. Falling to #2 is Clemson who remain undefeated at 12-0.
Moving into the #3 spot is Florida, who made a big statement this week by defeating Ohio State with Greg Oden. That win also came with limited minutes from Al Horford, and a team which is still fighting to be totally healthy. There was no doubt coming into the season that Florida would be good, considering that they are returning all but one player from last year's championship team. It did take them a while to start clicking and they still are not 100% which could be very scary when they get there.
The #4 spot is still the Oregon Ducks, who finally seem to be playing like the team that everyone expected the last few seasons. The PAC-10 season could be the real test, considering the very difficult travel and play schedule that their season brings, but the way they have started the season is unlike any of the past few, and they will be a team that is rolling.
Rounding out the top 5 are the Connecticut Huskies. The Huskies are 10-0 and hold a slim lead over the also undefeated UCLA in the MRI rankings.
As a side note, the Wichita State Shockers lost two games this week, right after my article on their inflated human poll ranking. These losses dropped them to #57 in the MRI, #36 in the Sagarin Ratings, #53 in Ken Pomeroy's numbers, #49 in Massey, and #44 in the Colley system. Maybe the MRI and Ken Pomeroy were just a little ahead of the game last week. In contrast to the computers, the humans only saw fit to drop the Shockers to #16 in both polls. It almost makes you wonder what they are waiting for, another loss?
Check out all the rankings in the Week 5 of the MRI.
| And Now the Rankings | |||||
| Teams Dropped From The Top 25: | |||||
| Missouri (LW #11, TW #26), Michigan (LW #22, TW #33), Georgia (LW #23, TW #42), Tennessee (LW #25, TW #28) | |||||
| Other Teams People Might Care About | |||||
| Last Place this week: Winston-Salem (0-15) at -61.81. | |||||
| Biggest Gain this week: Georgetown gained 21.22 points (Beat Towson and Navy) | |||||
| Biggest Loss this week: Charleston Southern lost 19.86 points (Lost to New Mexico, Longwood, and Md.-Eastern Shore) | |||||
| Conference rankings this week: ACC, PAC-10, Big East, Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, MVC, Mountain West, C-USA, Atlantic 10, WAC | |||||
The MRI Rankings are copyright 2006 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com
Posted by bmiraski at December 27, 2006 11:00 AM
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