Rankings and Irrelevant Comments (Take 2)

Below is my second round of weekly rankings and irrelevant comments as well as the most overrated and underrated teams of the week.

Rankings
1.North Carolina (9-0)
Best wins: Michigan State and Notre Dame

My Irrelevant Comment:
Tyler Hansbrough is considered to be the hardest working player in college hoops. Similarly, I just got an email saying that I’m the hardest working blogger in college hoops. Oh wait, I’m a bit off on that. The email said that my blogs are the “hardest to find the time to read.” Thanks Mom.

2.Oklahoma (10-0)
Best Wins: Purdue, Davidson & Utah

My Irrelevant Comment:
Are you like me in that whenever your see the word Oklahoma, the Broadway show tune starts running through your head? And are you also like me in that you really don’t know the lyrics to Oklahoma. And the only thing running through your head is “Ok-lahoma” over and over and over? Then you, like me, have problems.

3.Pitt (11-0)
Best wins: Texas Tech, Washington St., & Belmont

My Irrelevant Comment: There’s a guard on Pitt named Brad Wannamaker. Yikes. Had to be a tough childhood. You got to know he was picked on with a name like Brad.

4.Xavier (9-0)
Best Wins: Memphis, Virginia Tech & at Cincinnati

My Irrelevant Comment: There’s a push to change the nickname to the X-men. No doubt that you can’t get more boring than their current moniker – the musketeers. But do they really want their target market to be the folks who frequent comic book conventions? If it means that the stands will be filled with people dressed like Halle Berry’s Storm character then I think so.

5.UConn (8-0)
Best Wins: Miami and at Wisconsin

My Irrelevant Comment: I’m hoping that UConn someday signs a kid named Cornelius. Then they can call him UConn Cornelius. Then if he knocks over some huge guy during a game he’d yell, “A humble bumble.” I dare to dream. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then you clearly do not have a 6-year old who has forced you to watch Rudolph 10 times this week.)

6. Texas (8-1)
Best Wins: UCLA, Oregon, & Villanova
Worst loss: Notre Dame
My Irrelevant Comment: Texas almost lost to Texas State. I really thought Texas State was the name of the fictional school in Necessary Roughness – the movie that launched Kathy Ireland’s movie career. Necessary Roughness was also the movie that ended Kathy Ireland’s movie career.

7.Duke (8-1)
Best Wins: S.Illinois, Michigan, & Purdue
Worst Loss: Michigan

My Irrelevant Comment: Did you know that Duke used to be called Trinity? Someone must have noticed the contradiction with the Trinity Blue Devils.

8.Gonzaga (7-1)
Best Wins: Maryland and Tennessee
Worst Loss: at Arizona

My Irrelevant Comment: I root against Gonzaga. You say, “What? Everyone loves Gonzaga.” What better reason to root against them?

9.Wake Forest (9-0)
Best Wins; Baylor and UTEP

My Irrelevant Comment: Wake Forest makes me think of those trees in the Forest in the Wizard of Oz. You know , the ones who grabbed Tin Man and then Dorothy screamed “You let him go” and then . . . Dear Lord, somebody please stop me. I’ve now referenced a Broadway show tune and the Wizard of Oz. Excuse me while I go watch a few Die Hard flicks and try to reconfirm my masculinity.

10.Gerogetown (7-1)
Best Wins: Maryland & Memphis
Worst loss - Tennessee

My Irrelevant Comment: Though their nickname is the Hoyas, Georgetown has used bulldogs as its mascot. Given that the school is located in DC, a city filled with politicians, the “bull” part makes sense. For complete accuracy they should change the “dogs” to another four-letter word.


MOST OVERRATED

Syracuse
On Monday they were 9-0 and ranked #11 by the Coaches. I was all set to write a mea culpa for my prior posts that slightly bashed Boeheim – then they lose at home to the mighty Vikings of Cleveland State. Thanks Jimbo, for re-establishing my faith in your inabilities.
Other Opinions

Pat Hurley: Duke
The most overrated team is Duke (#6 in both polls) because they lost to Michigan, who lost to Maryland, who lost to Georgetown, who lost to Tennessee, who lost to Temple, who lost to St. Bonaventure (on January16, 2002).

Kenneth Robbins: Tennessee
Tennessee clearly not as good as their ranking

Harold Barend: Tennessee is overated. No synergism. I see a lot of good athletes who can run like hell .

MOST UNDERRATED

Stanford
They are 6-0 and yet not one vote from the Coaches or AP. They have wins over, well, a half dozen nobodies. But Louisville (#9 in the both polls) has six wins over a bunch of nobodies and a loss at home to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. I guess Johnny Dawkins, the new coach of the Cardinal, did not bring the East Coast bias or the media’s love of Duke with him to California.

Honorable Mention:

St. Bonaventure
That’s right I’m giving a plug to my beloved Bonnies who beat Maryland this week. No not the Terrapins, the Hawks of Maryland-Eastern Shore. You got to wonder whether the “Eastern” part of that name is really necessary. I’m pretty sure there is no shore to the west of Maryland.

Other Opinions

Pat Hurley: Clemson
Clemson (#25 in AP and Coaches' Polls) is the most underrated team because (1) they're 10-0; (2) their CBSSports.com RPI ranking is #1; (3) they have road wins at Temple and Illinois; and (4) they have crushed the foot soldiers of the Lord on no fewer than three occasions, conquering the TCU Horned Frogs, the Presbyterian Blue Hose(?!?), and
the Liberty Flames. Bring on Yeshiva, biatch!

Kenneth Robbins: Syracuse
How about the 'Cuse! C'mon now they are much better than their ranking. Where are the votes for the Orange?!? [Uh, Ken, they lost to Cleveland State.]

Keith Mangas: Unknown
My only non-St. Bonaventure source of college hoop knowledge is from this site. It is, therefore, Dave’s fault that I have nothing to add this week.

Mark Hoover: Alaska-Anchorage
It’s gotta be the Seawolves of University of Alaska-Anchorage. They have been playing some pretty tough hockey recently, including a win at Colorado. Killer travel, but good frequent flyer miles. [I’m thinking that Mark missed the “hoop” part of DaveBarendsCollegeHoopHumor.blogspot.com]

Harold Barend: Cleveland State & Buffalo
Cleveland State and the University of Buffalo are no longer easy pickings. Their coaches have been scouting the places where few coaches dare to go and they found a few hot tickets. Ask Coach "B" at Syracuse if he thinks Cleveland State is a cupcake. [Full disclosure – Harold Barend, aka my dad, played for the Univ of Buffalo back in the day. Way back in the day.]

Take it easy,
Dave

(If you want to submit an overrated or underrated team of the week just email me by Wednesday and it’ll be posted on Thursday.)