MRISports.com: MRI 2008 - Rankings Week 1

MRI 2008 - Rankings Week 1

December 1, 2008 | By Benjamin Miraski

North Carolina-haters should be scared. Hansbrough has only played in half the games. Welcome back college basketball.

You have been missed.

It is the annual release of the first college basketball rankings from the MRI. It is usually a mess, and about half of the teams in the top 25 now will be missing come February.

It is also great fuel for the fiery discussions that will inevitably occur: How Louisville could be so far down this early, if Dayton is really a top 10 team, when will Clemson blow it all this season, and will this finally be the year for Northwestern?

Yes, the MRI -- nothing better than a fresh set of rankings.

This year's opening set has a little issue: Last year's rankings were never complete.

I know, shame on your resident statistician.

But the keeper of the MRI was away reporting from the snowy streets of Humboldt Park in Chicago last winter and that did not make for happy times in MRI land.

So, while last season was a little truncated, don't expect this one to be.

Although we might just want to give up now.

North Carolina has shown in a few short weeks that they will not be going away easy this season.

Think about it. Tyler Hansbrough has only played in half of the games. That means Mr. All-everything has only been able to contribute to 50 percent of the beatings which have occurred so far, and the Tar Heels are already leading the pack.

At this point, teams rated lower than about 20 should just think about packing up and going home if this keeps up. We could be on our way to an undefeated season and a new MRI record.

And if not, I can't wait to see the upset that shakes the world of basketball at its very foundations.

Until then, enjoy week one of the MRI.

MRI Top 25 Rankings

Rank	Team	Record	MRI	LW
1	North Carolina	6-0	103.73	**
2	Clemson	7-0	101.68	**
3	Connecticut	6-0	101.65	**
4	Duke	7-0	99.31	**
5	Villanova	6-0	90.47	**
6	Pittsburgh	6-0	85.67	**
7	Gonzaga	4-0	83.36	**
8	Texas	5-1	82.60	**
9	Dayton	6-0	79.78	**
10	Cal	5-1	77.43	**
11	Oklahoma	6-0	74.93	**
12	West Virginia	4-1	74.81	**
13	Utah	4-0	74.73	**
14	Davidson	4-1	74.34	**
15	Wake Forest	6-0	74.28	**
16	LSU	5-0	74.07	**
17	Tennessee	5-1	73.79	**
18	Marquette	5-1	72.08	**
19	Illinois	6-0	69.59	**
20	Penn State	6-1	69.54	**
21	George Mason	5-1	69.21	**
22	Michigan State	4-1	69.08	**
23	Memphis	4-1	68.89	**
24	BYU	6-0	68.20	**
25	Xavier	6-0	66.98	**

Teams Dropped From The Top 25: None

Other Teams People Might Care About

Rank	Team	Record	MRI	LW
30	UCLA	4-1	65.97	**
33	Miami	3-1	63.68	**
34	Purdue	5-1	63.55	**
36	Northwestern	3-1	62.75	**
38	Washington	3-3	62.55	**
47	Notre Dame	5-1	60.34	**
48	Georgia Tech	4-0	60.24	**
52	Wisconsin	4-1	57.58	**
53	Boston College	4-2	57.29	**
55	Vanderbilt	5-1	57.16	**
60	Michigan	4-1	56.04	**
61	Texas Tech	5-1	55.87	**
66	Iowa	6-1	54.52	**
69	Florida State	7-0	53.17	**
76	Maryland	4-2	50.89	**
87	Illinois-Chicago	3-2	45.90	**
90	Ohio	2-1	45.44	**
93	Arizona	4-1	44.81	**
94	Kentucky	4-2	44.74	**
95	Louisville	2-1	44.55	**
106	Auburn	3-3	43.51	**
119	Wofford	3-2	39.04	**
140	Ball State	2-2	34.98	**
142	Northern Iowa	4-2	34.95	**
194	Indiana	3-2	24.59	**
212	Drexel	1-1	21.60	**
230	Pennsylvania	1-4	17.74	**
260	Valparaiso	1-3	10.45	**

Last Place this week: Florida A&M (1-5) at -38.46.

Conference rankings this week: ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, PAC-10, Mountain West, C-USA, Atlantic 10, MVC. The WAC is 15th.

The MRI Rankings are copyright 2008 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a reporter for the Medill News Service, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com

Posted December 1, 2008 2:43 PM

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