Tee's Top Ten
By Tee Kane
February 7, 2008
Here's the updated Top 10, as voted* on by our unique collection of Tee's Weekly staff, Pete Incaviglia Fan Club Members, Super Bowl halftime musicians, and AP wire reporters. So without further ado, here again for week six is our Tee's Weekly Top 10.
*Voting is determined by repeated spins of a roulette wheel.
10.) Drake (747 votes): The Dukes make their first appearance in Tee’s Top 10. I had the good fortune of sharing a taxi with a Drake student in Washington, DC, two weeks ago. He didn’t know he was sharing a taxi with a writer for such a prestigious national website, but he couldn’t stop talking about how excited everyone on campus was for the team. His only complaint was that the school sold a bunch of the student tickets for general admission to try and cash in on its sudden popularity. I wouldn’t suggest this to any college; it’s a good way to really screw up your karma. It’s also a good way to turn a hostile home-court advantage into dead arena with the atmosphere of a Thrift Travel Inn continental breakfast. Has anyone actually been excited for a continental breakfast? I mean, ever?
9.) Xavier (828 votes): The Musketeers played only once last week, but it’s enough to move up in Tee’s Weekly. On a side note, I’m completely in favor of some sort of objective statistical tool to evaluate teams when it comes time to decide who gets to go to the NCAA tournament and the seed a team receives, but the committee’s reliance on RPI is foolish. A few weeks ago Xavier (RPI rank 15) hosted in-state rival Dayton (RPI rank 13) in what the RPI would suggest would be a close match-up. Xavier, of course thoroughly dismantled Dayton by 25 points. Ken Pomery of www.kenpom.com has a much more sophisticated rating system that correctly predicted a strong advantage for the Musketeers (Pomery rating 9) over the Flyers (Pomery rating 68). RPI was useful for awhile, but it is time the committee moved on to more accurate formulas. And if you are a gambler out there, please avoid the RPI when making any gambling decision.
8.) Wisconsin (1,056 votes): I felt a certain level of vindication when Michigan State lost to a poor Penn State team last week. In that same week Wisconsin kept two good opponents under 50 points (Indiana, Minnesota). The Badgers now have the inside track on the Big Ten title, while I will have the inside track on Gee’s checking account.
7.) Tennessee (1,105): It was a huge week for the Volunteers, who defeated both Mississippi State and Florida. Tennessee is the last best hope to give Memphis a regular season loss. They will travel to the Pyramid on February 23 in an eagerly anticipated non-conference match-up that will almost surely guarantee a number one seed in the big dance for the winner.
6.) UNC (1,328 votes): The Tar Heels had none of the pop in their transition offense without Ty Lawson in the lineup against Duke. Losing Lawson to injury is certainly excusable, but continuing to stink up the joint on defense is not.
5.) UCLA (1,492 votes): It was a good week for the Bruins, who handled both Arizona and Arizona State convincingly at home. The rematch with Washington State gives the Bruins a chance to put a strangle hold on the Pac-10 title. UCLA is also one of six or seven teams that has a realistic chance at a number one seed.
4.) Dook (1,560 votes): Duke’s win against a Ty Lawson-less UNC gives me the perfect excuse to put Georgetown in third and slot the Blue Devils in fourth.
3.) Georgetown (1,776 votes): The Hoyas continue to be the gold standard for the Big East. The coming week gives the Hoyas a chance, similar to UCLA, to put a lock on the conference title. The Hoyas will most likely be underdogs in their visit to Louisville on February.
2.) Kansas (1,896 votes): The Jayhawk Express picked up again after a temporary slowdown in Manhattan, KS, by easily defeating Colorado and Missouri this week. I tend to flip-flop on who I think is the best team in the country between Kansas and Memphis largely depending on who I saw last. Kansas’ dismantling of a good Missouri team was particularly impressive. Mario Chalmers is my early favorite for player of the year, with Chris Douglass-Roberts, Tyler Hansboro, and Michael Beasley still in the mix.
1.) Memphis (1,916 votes): UTEP gave Memphis its biggest scare of the season and it did it with one of the truly most creative approaches used by any team in college basketball this year. Memphis is such a juggernaut on offensive, but so pitiful at the free-throw line that it makes sense to foul them on almost every single possession. UTEP sent the Tigers to the free-throw line over 40 times, where they promptly missed half their attempts. UTEP is a vastly inferior team to Memphis, but they made it a close game by thinking outside the box. Look for the rest of the Conference USA, or at least those programs with intelligent coaches, to copy the Miners.
Others Receiving Votes (total votes are in parentheses):
George Washington University (1 vote): George Washington drops in the Tee’s Weekly poll. Many of you make think it’s because they’ve lost six straight, but it’s actually because Steve “Onions” Shep was too busy at the Giants victory parade in lower Manhattan to cast his vote this week. I can’t believe the Giants won the Super Bowl. It wasn’t too long ago they played the Redskins at home with a chance to clinch a playoff spot. Here’s a portion of the AP wire report from that game:
“The loss was the third straight at home for the Giants (9-5), and this one was costly as Pro Bowl tight end Jeremy Shockey was lost for the season with a broken left leg early in the second half.
"It's just disappointing with everything on the line and everything that we had, win the game and we're in the playoffs, and in that situation to come out and play as poorly as we did," Manning said.
Manning had a horrible night, completing 18-of-52 for 184 yards in a game in which his receivers dropped at least eight passes.
"It wasn't a day where you wanted to throw the ball a whole lot, but we've got to be able to throw better than we did today," said Manning, whose 34 incompletions were the most since Joe Namath had 36 in a game against Denver in 1967.
At least I’m not as bitter as a Patriots fan.