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MRI 2008 - Rankings Week 4

December 22, 2008  |  By Benjamin Miraski

Pittsburgh survived another week at the top of the heap, and it came with a real test.

Florida State was a victim of the current top achievers in the MRI and it could stand as a good indication that Pittsburgh could be standing tall in the rankings through a good portion of the Big East season.

FSU brings the height and the strength of a true major conference foe, something that had been lacking in Pittsburgh's schedule up to this point. Winning this tough extra-conference game at this point in the season should flow nicely for Pitt as they enter conference season next week.

Conference season comes with a price though. Pitt may wear down as the season rolls on. There is a reason that no team from the Big East has made the final game in the NCAA tournament since the league became the monster 16-team division.

The league is too tough. Playing 18 league games in that kind of atmosphere is too hard on the players by the end of the season.

The Big East may have lost Miami, BC and Virginia Tech, but it added some of the toughest basketball programs in the nation. Marquette and Louisville were certainly no pushovers when they came into the fold. DePaul might not be the rare vintage that the school once was, but they still bring in some tough ball players that don't exist at the other three schools. And Cincinnati has a tradition of hard-nosed ball that had them at the top of Conference USA for years (built on the backs of JC transfers brought in by Bob Huggins).

The Big East is its own worst enemy, especially in its bloated format.

So despite a big win from Connecticut over Gonzaga, and the performances of Pitt and West Virginia to date, along with the other 8 or so Big East heavies, don't expect to see me pick a Big East team as a winner in the tournament.

They just won't have the chops left when crunch time comes.

The MRI correctly predicted 76.86 percent of the games this week. The computer has correctly predicted 71.74 percent of the games since its inception.

Check out all the rankings in week four of the MRI.

Posted December 22, 2008 3:23 PM

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