By Adam Kiefaber

Two PAC-10 teams dropped out of the AP this week.

Arizona (CBR - No. 17 last week) lost a conference game to a good Oregon team. USC (CBR - not ranked last week) lost back-to-back PAC-10 road games to California and Stanford. Zona was No. 21 and USC (coach - Tim Floyd against Stanford- above) was No. 22 in last week’s AP.

Marquette (CBR - No. 9 last week) also lost a conference (BIG EAST) game this weekend to West Virginia.

Teams in the PAC-10 and BIG EAST might be unfairly punished for their tough schedules. Conference races in the BIG-10, ACC (not that bad, but weaker than usual) and CUSA should be boring, but the SEC, BIG-12, PAC-10, A-10 and Horizon will be exciting.

Yes, the Horizon, which will eventually be added to my site, should be very exciting. Everyone knows Butler, but Wright State is a team that has the Bulldogs number. Valparaiso is a good team that continues to improve and Cleveland State looks good so far.

Xavier (CBR - No. 21 last week) and Miami (Fla.) (CBR - not ranked last week) entered the AP this week at No. 24 and No. 25, respectively. XU and Miami had been previously ranked in the AP this season.

Falling: Pittsburgh (CBR - No. 19 last week) fell from No. 6 to No. 13 in last week’s AP after its loss to Dayton, now Pitt falls from No. 13 to No. 20 after the 63-64 loss to Villanova. Not that many people noticed, but Marquette lost to West Virginia on Sunday. The loss dropped the Golden Eagles from No. 10 to No. 15 in the AP. Villanova (CBR - not ranked last week) dropped from No. 17 to No. 19 in the AP after a win against Pittsburgh and a loss to DePaul.
Rising: Vanderbilt (CBR - No. 15), Butler (CBR - not ranked last week) and Mississippi (CBR - No. 13) each moved up two spots in the AP. This weekend Vandy (from No. 15 to No. 13) beat UMASS, Butler (from No. 16 to No. 14) defeated Valparaiso and Ole Miss (from No. 18 to No. 16) didn’t play. Dayton (CBR - No. 18 last week) advanced to No. 17 from No. 20 in the AP with a double OT win over Akron. Wisconsin (CBR - No. 20 last week) went from No. 25 to No. 21 in the AP this week and did so for no good reason. Last week, the Badgers defeated Texas and entered the top 25, I’m guessing it took another week for some of the voters to notice.
Newly Ranked: Xavier has three consecutive quality wins over Kansas St., Virginia and Auburn. In those three games, XU outscored its opponents 291-to-204. Miami (Fla.) is ranked again, but again it is by default. The Hurricanes are 13-1, but have enjoyed an easy schedule.
No Respect: Arizona State (CBR - never ranked) needs to get some more credit. The Sun Devils, a team that normally is among the worst in the PAC-10, is 12-2 and has wins over Xavier and Oregon. It should be interesting how ASU performs in the challenging PAC-10. St. Mary’s (CBR - not ranked last week) only got 12 votes this week in the AP. The Gaels are 12-2 with quality wins over Oregon, Seton Hall, San Diego St., Tulane and Ohio. The Drake Bulldogs are quietly becoming the favorite to win the Missouri Valley. Drake is 12-1 (3-0 in conference) and defeated Southern Illinois, the MVC preseason favorite, by 10 points. Be on the lookout for Notre Dame, Syracuse, UMASS, Ohio State, Baylor, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Houston, New Mexico and Florida.

AP Top 25
No. School Record Points Prev
1 North Carolina (46) 15-0 1768 1
2 Memphis (25) 13-0 1742 2
3 Kansas (1) 14-0 1674 3
4 Washington State 13-0 1532 4
5 UCLA 14-1 1522 5
6 Michigan State 13-1 1422 6
7 Georgetown 11-1 1332 7
8 Tennessee 12-1 1282 8
9 Duke 11-1 1257 9
10 Indiana 12-1 1125 11
11 Texas A&M 14-1 1102 12
12 Texas 13-2 944 14
13 Vanderbilt 15-0 925 15
14 Butler 14-1 822 16
15 Marquette 11-2 751 10
16 Mississippi 13-0 650 18
17 Dayton 12-1 554 20
18 Clemson 12-2 518 19
19 Villanova 11-2 465 17
20 Pittsburgh 12-2 461 13
21 Wisconsin 12-2 407 25
22 Rhode Island 14-1 393 23
23 Stanford 12-2 185 24
24 Xavier 12-3 128 32
25 Miami (Fla.) 13-1 85 27
Others Receiving Votes: Oklahoma(12-3) 78; Notre Dame(12-2) 74; Arizona State(12-2) 53; West Virginia(11-3) 42; Arizona(10-4) 26; Drake(12-1) 22; Brigham Young(11-3) 22; St. Mary’s(12-2) 12; Massachusetts(11-3) 5; California(10-3) 4; Louisville(10-4) 3; Southern California(9-5) 3; Sam Houston State(12-1) 2; Ohio State(11-3) 2; Connecticut(10-3) 2; Florida(13-2) 1; Illinois State(11-3) 1; New Mexico(14-2) 1; Niagara(10-3) 1

This entry was posted Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under AP Breakdown. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.