College Basketball: The Rankings Report

February 13, 2012 By 23 Comments

The College Basketball Rankings Report will highlight the Top 25 teams in the country and the 12 best players. Check out the rankings below and let us know what you think by leaving a comment. The tools used to compile the Top 25 are the Sagarin and Pomeroy Rankings along with a dash of my own insight and gut feelings.

Top 25

Marcus Denmon

1. Kentucky (25-1)
2. Syracuse (25-1)
3. Missouri (23-2)
4. Duke (21-4)
5. Ohio State (21-4)
6. North Carolina (21-4)
7. Michigan State ((20-5)
8. Kansas (20-5)
9. Baylor (21-4)
10. Georgetown (19-5)
11. UNLV (22-4)
12. Wisconsin (19-6)
13. Michigan (19-7)
14. Indiana (19-6)
15. Marquette (21-5)
16. Virginia (19-5)
17. San Diego State (20-4)
18. Notre Dame (17-8)
19. Louisville (20-5)
20. Murray State (24-1)
21. Florida (19-6)
22. Wichita State (22-4)
23. St. Mary’s (23-3)
24. Florida State (17-7)
25. Gonzaga (20-4)

In: Louisville, Wichita State, Gonzaga
Out: Creighton, Mississippi State, Iowa State

Top 12 Players

1. Thomas Robinson (Junior) Kansas: 18.0 ppg and 12.0 rpg
2. Anthony Davis (Freshman) Kentucky: 14.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg, and 4.9 bpg
3. Jared Sullinger (Sophomore) Ohio State: 17.4 ppg and 9.0 rpg
4. John Henson (Junior) North Carolina: 14.3 ppg and 10.0 rpg
5. Doug McDermott (Sophomore) Creighton: 23.3 ppg, 8.4 rpg, and 49.4% 3FG%
6. Marcus Denmon (Senior) Missouri: 18.0 ppg and 5.3 rpg, 2.3 apg
7. Kevin Jones (Senior) West Virginia: 20.6 ppg and 11.2 rpg
8. Draymond Green (Senior) Michigan State: 14.8 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and 3.5 apg
9. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Freshman) Kentucky: 12.6 ppg and 7.8 rpg
10. Isaiah Canaan (Junior) Murray State: 18.9 ppg, 3.8 apg, and 3.2 rpg
11. Harrison Barnes (Sophomore): North Carolina: 17.5 ppg and 5.0 rpg
12. Mike Moser (Sophomore) UNLV: 14.7 ppg, 11.4 rpg, and 2.3 apg

Here is how the UNLV students paid tribute to Mike Moser

Mike Moser UNLV

You can follow me on Twitter @isportsRob

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avatar About Rob White

Co-founder and Michigan Wolverines correspondent at isportsweb.com
I've been covering Michigan Football and Michigan Basketball since 2009.
You can follow me on Twitter @isportsRob

  • Rwhiteandson

    Selections look solid to me.  Great job.

  • Pingback: North Carolina Basketball: UNC heads to Miami for a tough road game at 227's YouTube Chili' Duke Blue Devils

  • http://twitter.com/isportsJoe Joe White

    Alec, you’re a gentlemen.

  • Alec Brzezinski

    If Michigan is hot, and can get Horford back then they could win a couple. I think the Big 10 as a whole will be successful in the tournament this year.

  • Alec Brzezinski

    I’m not trying to be disrespectful to Michigan, and especially not to the Big Ten, considering I’m a huge Michigan State fan, but their wins against UCLA and Memphis were in November and UCLA is bad. Michigan is a good shooting team but they seem more comfortable in their own arena, and I’m not saying the tournament features road games, but for a team that has struggled shooting in other gyms they make for an early round upset if they face a physical team.

    • http://isportsweb.com Rob White

      I disagree Alec, put Michigan on a neutral court and I like their chances against just about anybody. Last year everybody thought the bigger, stronger Tennessee Vols would bounce Michigan in the 1st round. Instead U-M thrashed Tennessee and nearly knocked off Duke in the Round of 32.
      Show me a team that isn’t more comfortable in their own gym…

  • WOLVERINE

    The Big East, is absolutely, positively, one of thee most (if not #1) Routinely OVERRATED DIVISION I. BASKETBALL CONFERENCES, YEAR-IN & YEAR-OUT!!!!  IT JUST MAKES ME SICK TO MY STOMACH.  PLUS THE ONE CONSTANT (I’LL SAY IT IS AN ANTI-MIDWEST THING — SOCIALLY, CULTURALLY, GEOGRAPHICALLY, ETC ETC.) IS THE ALWAYS BIGTEN-CONFERENCE BASHING — WHETHER IT IS BASKETBALL OR FOOTBALL, AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PERFORMANCES (ESPECIALLY POSTSEASON)!!!!  FOR INSTANCE IN THE EARLY TO MID 1990′S THE BIGTEN CONFERENCE WAS VERY STRONG IN FOOTBALL (MUCH STRONGER AND MORE PRESTIGIOUS THAN SAY, THE OLD BIG 8, FOR EXAMPLE) BUT GOT CONSTANTLY ATTACKED AND BASHED FOR LITTLE TO NO REASON!!!!  GOOD JOB AND WORK, AS USUAL ^Rob White^!!!!!

    –WOLVERINE

  • http://twitter.com/isportsJoe Joe White

    Tourney games aren’t on the “road”. They’re on neutral courts, where Michigan beat Memphis and UCLA.

  • Alec Brzezinski

    I agree the Big East is overrated. My only reasoning for the Louisville/Michigan comment is Michigan can’t win on the road and none of their tournament games will be at Crisler Arena. They do have a more impressive resume at this point though.

    • http://isportsweb.com Rob White

      The “MIchigan can’t win on the road” theory is wildly overblown. They have 2 road wins, as a point of reference Michigan State and Ohio State have a whopping 3 road wins each. Most teams don’t have great success on the road. 

  • http://isportsweb.com Rob White

    Agreed, the Big East is terrible. The conference is always overrated in basketball, but this year it is just flat out bad. 

  • isportsScott

    big east is awful- look no further than Uconn and Pitt… what a joke.  Louisville can play, but i personally dont think they even belong in the top 25- they haven’t beaten anyone!  No inside play and Siva seems to think he is way better than he really is

  • http://twitter.com/isportsJoe Joe White

     And there’s also this: THE BIG EAST STINKS!

  • http://isportsweb.com Rob White

    One last thought on Michigan/Louisville. Strength of Schedule
    Michigan’s is 17th
    Louisville’s is 55th

  • Alec Brzezinski

    I agree with the rankings, but I think UNLV deserves to be in the top 10 and Michigan St. should be ahead of Ohio St. Michigan and Louisville should also be switched- the Wolverines aren’t a top 15 team.

    • http://isportsweb.com Rob White

      Louisville was unranked last week. Michigan has 4 wins vs. the Top 25 and 8 vs the Top 50 with an RPI of 14 so how are they not a Top 15 team and Louisville is?
      I responded to a previous comment that MSU and OSU could be flipped. 

    • http://isportsweb.com Rob White

      Louisville has 1 win vs the Top 25 and 5 vs the Top 50

  • Stephen

    Prediction: Michigan State as National Champion 2012!  They have had an incredibly difficult schedule and, except two early defeats, have stayed strong.  In fact, they lost two of their recent games by 1 point each.  Here we go again…Spartans win!  Recall that Michigan State was the team of the last decade – 6 Final Four’s in about 10 years, 2 national championship games, and when they missed the Final Fours they often went to either the Sweet 16 or Elite 8.  No other team in the nation has such an impressive record as the Spartans over the last 15 years.  Not Duke, UNC, or Connecticut.  Spartan’s Will!

  • Stephen

    I agree with standings except Michigan State and Ohio State should be reversed.  OSU was trounced by the Spartans in Columbus and do not deserve to be so highly ranked.  Certainly not higher than the Spartans.  Tom Izzo is doing it, yet again.   His team is peaking at the right time for the Tournament.  Another Final 4 for the Spartans?

    • http://isportsweb.com Rob White

      That was a tough call and I agree those teams are interchangeable in their current slots. 

  • http://twitter.com/isportsJoe Joe White

    5 Big 10 teams in the top 15. Impressive. I hope that holds firm in the tourney and the conference represents it’s self-label of the best conference in college b’ball. This is going to be a fun March.

  • Mazzolini (A_E_M on twitter)

    Maybe this is a bit bias (since I am a Tar Heel), but I disagree with the jump that Duke made. They were outplayed for 17 minutes in the second half while it was a pretty even match up in the first half. The last three minutes of the game it was more UNC letting the game go with bad choices and missed FTs (with a few missed called by the refs) than Duke claiming the game.

    Also, with the way UNC is going it’s Tyler Zeller that is carrying the load for the team from Chapel Hill, Henson and Barnes (probably due to the injury) have not been the “go to guy” for Carolina, Zeller has been.

    The other thing (looking mostly at the Top 5 teams here) is that in my opinion having watched most games for both Syracuse and Kentucky I believe that SU is the better team overall. I will say that if the Wildcats have a good game they will beat the Orange, but having seen UK play against the zone and I have to wonder how they would stack up in a game like that for forty minutes.

    • http://isportsweb.com Rob White

      I don’t see any way that Syracuse is better than Kentucky. The Wildcats are scary good. I hear what you are saying about the UNC/Duke game, but Duke won and that is ultimately what matters. Good point on Zeller.