It's Krying Time Again

Wow. Who would have thought? Four losses in a row. Did we call this one? Take a look:

16. Duke: at Maryland. Both teams NEED to win this game. The Terps have lost 5 of their last 8, and the Blue Satans are reeling from 3 straight losses--2 of them at home. Both teams are average in all of the important stats, but Maryland is averaging 79 points a game while Duke is just managing 69. Depth? About even, although the Terps hold the edge. Both teams go 7-8 deep, but Maryland gets more quality production from that depth than Duke does. Ouch, this is a hard one to call. We're going with our gut and calling Maryland the winner. It will be a fun game to watch, especially since both coaches are so intense (Gary Williams sweats about a gallon of smelly liquid each game, and Mike Cry curses enough each game to buy him a front seat in Hell). Well, the Blue Beelzebubs never even had a chance in this game. Maryland came out strong, and Duke could never recover. Coach Cry and his staff looked a little pitiful over on the sideline as they tried to come up with some sort of game plan that worked. Bottom line is that Duke is not good. The basketball people can talk all they want about this team being better than their record, but all of that is just blah, blah, blah. The Blue Satans are struggling, and their remaining regular season schedule is difficult. NIT? We think it is possible. Not according to the basketball pundits, though. One of them said today that Duke could even have a losing record in the ACC and still get a bid to the Big Dance. What?? Isn't one of the criteria that the selection committee requires is a better-than-.500 record in conference? We'll see.

Here's our prediction for the Coaches' poll tomorrow. It is not easy, as once we get into the teens we see a lot of losses, so there is only so much shuffling around you can do. This is why the polls, even the Coaches' poll, are inaccurate, as they have to rely on who they have placed in positions the prior week. All that to to say, given those limitations, here is what we think will happen (NOTE: the rankings below do not necessarily reflect the opinions of folks like us who actually know something about college basketball):

1. Florida (same as last week)

2. Ohio State (up from 3)

3. Wisconsin (up from 4)

4. North Carolina (up from 5)

5. UCLA (down from 2)

6. Pitt (unchanged)

7. Texas A&M (unchanged)

8. Kansas (unchanged)

9. Memphis (up from 10)

10. Nevada (up from 11)

11. Washington State (up from 14)

12. Butler (down from 9)

13. Marquette (down from 12)

14. Air Force (down from 13)

15. Oregon (unchanged)

16. Southern Illinois (up from 20)

17. Georgetown (up from 23)

18. Oklahoma State (down from 17)

19. Kentucky (down from 18)

20. Alabama (down from 19)

21. USC (unchanged)

22. Duke (down from 16)

23. Boston College (unranked last week)

24. Arizona (unranked last week)

25. Indiana (down from 24)

Dropped out:

Notre Dame

Texas

A few games on Monday.

6. Pitt: hosts Louisville. The Cardinals are OK, but they are a one-man-band, with Terrence Williams doing most of the work. And, they struggle with top-ranked teams. Pitt needs every win it can get to prove they actually deserve their ranking. We think this might be close, but Pitt pulls it out.

17. Oklahoma State: at #25 Texas. Given the outcome of the last meeting of these two teams, and what disarray it has thrown both of them into afterwards, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Despite how little respect we have for Texas, we think they will win. Watch this game if you can. It is on ESPN at 9:00 EST. It will be a battle.

23. Georgetown: plays host to West Virginia. This will be another fun game to watch. WVU is coming off a stunning win over UCLA, and Georgetown has won 7 in a row. Stats are pretty even, although the Mountaineers are a better defensive team than the Hoyas. We are going with Georgetown here.

See you later.