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MRI 2008 - Rankings Week 7
January 21, 2009
By Benjamin Miraski
Has North Carolina turned it around?
It certainly appears that way, and it is a main reason why the Tar Heels are back leading the MRI rankings this week.
It also helps that Pittsburgh was eliminated from the undefeated list by a loss to Louisville. That knocked the Panthers down to No. 3 in the rankings.
So while Pittsburgh went temporarily cold, North Carolina turned bright hot. They shook off two conference-opening losses and soundly beat up on Virginia and Miami.
Give a lot of credit to Tyler Hansbrough who contributed 28 and 24 in the two wins.
Despite the wins, North Carolina is two games back in the ACC. They are trailing the MRI's No. 2 team, Duke, who continues to defy the odds and win despite no legitimate big man.
We will see if facing off against Maryland will change that this coming weekend.
Rounding out the top five are Connecticut and Memphis, but they are closer to the the rest of the pack than they are to the computer's leaders.
The MRI had a tough week, falling victim to a number of upsets. It finished 68.01 percent correct. All-time, the computer has correctly predicted 71.75 percent of the games.
Check out all the rankings in week seven of the MRI (ratings through 1/18/09):
MRI Top 25 Rankings
| Rank | Team | Record | MRI | LW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina | 15-2 | 165.87 | 2 |
| 2 | Duke | 16-1 | 162.29 | 3 |
| 3 | Pittsburgh | 15-1 | 153.71 | 1 |
| 4 | Connecticut | 16-1 | 134.24 | 6 |
| 5 | Memphis | 14-3 | 132.32 | 4 |
| 6 | West Virginia | 13-4 | 128.98 | 5 |
| 7 | Missouri | 14-3 | 128.97 | 17 |
| 8 | Marquette | 16-2 | 127.02 | 8 |
| 9 | Clemson | 16-1 | 120.10 | 7 |
| 10 | Wake Forest | 16-0 | 119.23 | 15 |
| 11 | Oklahoma | 17-1 | 118.87 | 13 |
| 12 | UCLA | 14-3 | 118.67 | 10 |
| 13 | Louisville | 13-3 | 118.17 | 12 |
| 14 | Michigan State | 15-2 | 116.18 | 11 |
| 15 | Washington | 13-4 | 115.97 | 16 |
| 16 | Arizona State | 15-3 | 115.24 | 9 |
| 17 | Florida | 16-2 | 111.98 | 21 |
| 18 | Kansas | 13-4 | 110.09 | 24 |
| 19 | Gonzaga | 11-4 | 107.41 | NR(32) |
| 20 | Villanova | 14-3 | 107.34 | 22 |
| 21 | Xavier | 15-2 | 106.77 | 25 |
| 22 | BYU | 13-3 | 106.56 | 14 |
| 23 | Texas | 13-4 | 105.65 | 20 |
| 24 | Syracuse | 16-2 | 103.64 | 23 |
| 25 | LSU | 14-3 | 102.82 | NR(50) |
Teams Dropped From The Top 25: Kansas State (LW #18, TW #28), Cal (LW #19, TW #30)
Other Teams People Might Care About
| Rank | Team | Record | MRI | LW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Purdue | 14-4 | 101.95 | 33 |
| 29 | Illinois | 15-3 | 101.00 | 28 |
| 31 | Kentucky | 14-4 | 98.56 | 35 |
| 39 | Miami | 12-4 | 92.14 | 31 |
| 40 | Dayton | 16-2 | 92.00 | 38 |
| 44 | Maryland | 12-5 | 85.60 | 34 |
| 48 | Wisconsin | 11-5 | 82.37 | 47 |
| 58 | Boston College | 13-6 | 75.63 | 49 |
| 62 | Florida State | 15-3 | 74.41 | 67 |
| 63 | Vanderbilt | 12-5 | 73.11 | 57 |
| 71 | Michigan | 12-5 | 69.54 | 61 |
| 72 | Northwestern | 9-6 | 69.36 | 76 |
| 73 | Notre Dame | 11-5 | 68.95 | 54 |
| 76 | Auburn | 10-6 | 67.68 | 74 |
| 81 | Arizona | 11-7 | 61.60 | 64 |
| 89 | Northern Iowa | 11-6 | 57.42 | 115 |
| 103 | Georgia Tech | 9-8 | 52.41 | 88 |
| 106 | Iowa | 11-7 | 51.42 | 90 |
| 109 | Illinois-Chicago | 8-8 | 48.83 | 111 |
| 125 | Drexel | 8-8 | 42.34 | 159 |
| 136 | Ohio | 9-7 | 38.93 | 132 |
| 145 | Wofford | 6-7 | 36.04 | 134 |
| 146 | Texas Tech | 9-7 | 35.28 | 130 |
| 206 | Ball State | 6-8 | 17.55 | 208 |
| 236 | Indiana | 4-12 | 7.28 | 224 |
| 238 | Pennsylvania | 4-8 | 6.24 | 241 |
| 307 | Valparaiso | 3-14 | -24.11 | 290 |
Last Place this week: NJIT (0-18) at -93.95
Biggest Gain this week: Missouri gained 25.54 points. (Beat Colorado (107-62) and Iowa State (77-46))
Biggest Loss this week: Cal State Sacramento lost 19.56 points (Lost to Northern Colorado (73-91) and Northern Arizona (64-89))
Conference rankings this week: ACC, Big East, Big 12, PAC-10, Big Ten, SEC, Mountain West, C-USA, MVC, Atlantic 10, WAC
The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 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 January 21, 2009 6:30 PM
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