Who Should Be College Basketball’s New #1?
The top spot in the college basketball polls may be something nobody wants. After all, the #1 team has lost five weeks in a row. But since someone has to be #1 and there really is no clear cut team, let’s look at some of this week’s top contenders:
Miami Hurricanes- The Hurricanes have not lost since Christmas when they lost back to back games in Hawaii. Considering they had to go five time zones for that trip, maybe that can be excused. They have two bad losses, one to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles and in Hawaii to the Indiana State Sycamores. They had a lot of players out for the FGCU loss though and Indiana State has more than one shocker this year. The Canes are coming off a thorough spanking of the North Carolina Tar Heels 87-61. Miami is 10-0 in the always tough ACC which includes two wins over the Heels and also a 27-point rout of Duke. They also went on the road and beat #19 (at the time) North Carolina State Wolfpack. The big question will be whether or not the voters can get over the FGCU and ISU losses.
Duke Blue Devils- We could be back to the Blue Devils again. They were after all, the only top five team not to lose this past week. They are barely escaped a tight one with the Boston College Eagles though. Duke is 21-2 and 8-2, their only losses on the road at N.C. State and Miami. They have wins over the Kentucky Wildcats, Minnesota Golden Gophers, VCU Rams, Louisville Cardinals and Ohio State Buckeyes in their out of conference schedule. Nobody can boast of better OOC wins than those. But they trail the Canes by two games in the ACC which begs the question, if you not number one in your own conference, how can you be #1 in the nation?
Indiana Hoosiers- Indiana is the current #1. Yes they did lose this week. But, they lost on the road by two points to the Illinois Illini. They then went on the road and beat the #10 Buckeyes by 13 points. The Big Ten is brutal. If you can go on the road as the #1 team and outscore two tough opponents such as those by 11 points, that’s not a bad week. Plus, it’s not like every other top five team other than Duke didn’t lose this week (although they came very close) with one of the teams falling twice (#5 Kansas Jayhawks). The Hoosiers only losses are to the Butler Bulldogs, Wisconsin Badgers and the Illini. There is nothing embarrassing about those. They have beaten the Michigan Wolverines, the Buckeyes, The Gophers and the Michigan State Spartans. That is a strong resume.
Gonzaga Bulldogs- The Zags are 23-2 and 10-0 in the West Coast Conference. Their only losses are to Illinois and Butler. They have wins over the West Virginia Mountaineers, Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Kansas State Wildcats, Baylor Bears (does this make them the Big 12 champs?), BYU Cougars and St. Mary’s Gaels. The Zags may be hurt a bit by the Big 12 the Jayhawks losing three straight although all three have been to other Big 12 teams. When the standard bearer loses though, the whole conference tends to suffer. The other teams in the WCC don’t give them a lot of credibility either. But make no mistake, Gonzaga is very good.
Florida Gators- The Gators stumbled this past week at the Arkansas Razorbacks. That sounds bad until you look at the Hogs home record. It is 14-1 with wins over the Gators, Sooners, Tennessee Volunteers and a nine point loss to the Syracuse Orange. Their other two losses were on the road at Arizona and K-State. They have wins over Wisconsin by 18, the Marquette Eagles by 33, Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders by 21, Florida State Seminoles by 25, Missouri Tigers by 31, and the Ole Miss Rebels by 14. Had they beaten the Hogs, we wouldn’t even need this article, because there would be no debate. The scary thing about Florida is, they have not been healthy all season.
