College Hoops Power Rankings

It has been a long time since I've chimed in, but that should change soon. We've embarked upon my favorite season on the sports calendar. It is college hoops time. And since I failed to put together a preseason picks posting, I will now attempt to create a power rankings system that pulls all these teams together and tries to make some sense of what we know about them right now. Rather than putting them in 1-25 order, I will categorize them with how far I think we will see them go in March. If teams aren't mentioned, assume that I haven't seen them enough to formulate an opinion.

Headed For Tournament Disaster:

Pac-10 schools. ALL of them. This conference is so bad that they won't even test each other during the entire season. Basically, they've all had their tests already with all the out of conference games. I think Washington, Cal and another random team will get into the dance, and one of them will advance to the 2nd round. This is worse than the SEC last season.

Clemson. Another soft non-conference schedule. Will probably be athletic enough to post 9-11 ACC wins. But not a good basketball team.

Louisville. Chaotic. No identity whatsoever. Perhaps with a full season under their belt they can come together in March, but I don't see anybody really stepping up on this particular squad.

Georgetown. Seriously? 13th in the nation? Greg Monroe appears to have made the leap to all around player, but if he isn't going to step up and score 20-24 PPG, then nobody else on that team is going to do it either.

Bracket Busters

VCU. They'll do it again this year. Larry Sanders is just that good, and they have the intangibles. CAA always good for an upset, and this year it'll be the Rams.

Mississippi State. This team has been a mess and it could take them the entire season to get back into the selection committee's good graces. But I suspect that they'll be on your bracket once you print it out, and don't sleep on their athleticism. Not sure what there is to like, but something is there.

2nd Weekend

North Carolina. This team should reach the 2nd weekend of the Tournament. But they will lose the first game they play on that weekend. Sweet 16 seems to be the limit for the Heels this year, as their guard play is just far too weak to make any kind of significant March run. The rest of the team is tremendous, but you can't have Larry Drew and Will Graves as your starting guards and expect to contend for a title.

Tennessee. Show me some solid decision making, please. This team is loaded with experience, but the problem is that they have the experience of being on Tennessee. Their one loss featured the worst late-game clock management I've seen this season. By far. And that happens each year with this squad.

Duke. They might make the Elite 8 this year. They might not. But this year is no different than the last few years for Duke. They have a team capable of slaughtering inferior teams. But when put to the test, the personnel just doesn't seem to have what it takes to make a deep run. They'll need a good draw to make noise.

Michigan State. You know what, I thought they were the best team coming back. But I've watched them lose 2 games already this year -- and I came away from those games completely underwhelmed. I expect them to bounce back and improve, but right now there are just too many teams that are better than the Spartans.

INDY ON THEIR MIND

Connecticut. Scary athletes. They should reach the Sweet 16 based on that alone, but I'm not sure they'll go much further without the ability to hit 3's. But their inside presence and backcourt are far too good to discount from a possible run to Indianapolis. Certainly better than the teams I've already listed.

Ohio State. If Evan Turner didn't get hurt, I'd have them in the next section. I love what he does on the court. Tremendous player who probably would have been the national player of the year if he didn't break his back. They seem confident that he'll return in time to make a run, so for now I'll trust that assessment and say that with him, they can win enough games to threaten to crash the Indianapolis party. Without him, though? They're a 7 seed that would get upset by an upstart mid major.

Villanova. I've watched them play and have come away unimpressed. But they're still really good. Any stable of guards like that can push a team into the national semis, as we saw last year with this team. But the lack of an inside presence prevents me from moving them into the next level.

Syracuse. I know this section is heavy on the Big East -- and one of them is likely to end up in Indianapolis. I want to say that this is the team that will get there, I really do. But you just simply cannot be this poor from the free throw line and win games in March against other good teams. They look like the most well-rounded team in the conference right now, and they might look that way in March, too. But I just see them shooting themselves in the foot from the charity stripe before they're able to officially punch their ticket to Indy.

INDY-BOUND

Kentucky. This team is essentially a playground squad. Incredible athleticism with a rabid fan base and a coach that might be able to guide them in the right direction. I'm slightly concerned that they had a 28-2 run at home against UNC and still only won by 2 points. They showed me something vs Connecticut at MSG, rallying from a late deficit to put the game away. Just roll the ball out there and watch them go. But trust me on this one... Kansas would DESTROY this team right now.

Purdue. I think these guys might pull it together and do what Michigan State did last year. I love their cohesiveness. They are understated enough that they won't be in a spotlight all season long. Nobody will take them too seriously, but they'll just keep playing, learning and gelling. They'll take a couple key losses in conference play, knocking them down a peg each time -- but come tournament time they'll have the experience and versatility to make this run.

Texas. Honestly, I have not seen too much of this team yet this year. But I saw plenty last season and I love what I see. James is a stud. Just the perfect type of leader for a team to have when trying to make a title run. They'll need the freshman stud Bradley to start playing better, but I expect that to happen and to see this team celebrating a West Regional title in March.

Kansas. So far, the best team in the nation. And it isn't really that close. There are plenty of teams that have had impressive performances this season and have looked capable of maybe being the best team in the nation. But the Jayhawks are the ones that put it out there every night. The pieces are in place for this team to own the season. All 5 starters return, the bit players are playing their roles -- and Xavier Henry is the best freshman in the country not named John Wall. Wall has the flash because of the headlines Kentucky made in the offseason and the coach they hired. But when it is all said and done, it'll be Henry that leads his team to the title. He's working his way into his role now -- but by the end of the year and into March, it'll be Henry that is the leading scorer and THE man in Lawrence. And I expect his emergence and the experience of the rest of the roster to bring another title to Phog Allen Fieldhouse.