Weekly Top 10 Mails it In

10. Purdue - The Boilers move in on the strength of 5 straight wins including a housing of Ohio State yesterday. The Bucks were without their best player but I’ll always appreciate a team hammering an opponent when it’s down.

9. Michigan - Big chance today at Maryland to give themselves a chance at an outright Big Ten regular season title. I fully expect them to get run out of the gym.

8. Michigan State - How dumb was the loss at Indiana yesterday? Everyone in America, even the overmatched Archie Miller knew Cassius Winston was the primary option and Michigan State went to him anyway without any plan in place to perhaps have a second option ready.  Izzo is March or something.

7. Texas Tech - Winners of 7 straight, they’ve scored 80 or more points in. 5 of those games and had 78 in another. They still have the nations highest rated KenPom defense. I said it last week and I’ll say it again this week, this is the most improved team through conference play in the nation. If the offense keeeps improving, they’re a Final 4 team.

6. Tennessee- Really impressive win over Kentucky yesterday in every way imaginable. They dunked at the buzzer.  As the great Spencer Hall says, great teams taunt.

5. Kentucky - Yeah, I still have them ahead of Tennessee. The offense is a concern of mine. They moved into the top 10 but fell to 16 after yesterday’s thumping. That said, Tyler Herro gets buckets right in Tom Oates face.

4. North Carolina - Survived at Clemson yesterday. Little concerned with Roy Williams. I know he’s had spells before but he did not look good at all. The next 6 weeks at Chapel Hill might be interesting off the court. That’s macabre speculation on my part only.

3. Virginia - They average 59 possessions a game. Gross

2. Duke - Duke has a more efficient offense than Virginia and average nearly 14 possessions more per game. To me, that’s the most impressive stat I’ll give you all year. The difference in offensive efficiency is quite minimal but Duke is a well-oiled machine.

1. Gonzaga - Say hi to your West Region 1-seed. Last night’s road win at St. Mary’s was damn impressive. The Gaels needed that win to pad the resume. Instead, Gonzaga played St. Mary’s limited possession game and held them to 55 points and won comfortably. That’s a good win and a sign they can win grinders.