The Confidential

The Confidential’s Basketball Top 30 for January 2, 2012

With over 300 teams in college basketball, the top 25 is just not enough anymore.  Here is the Confidential’s Top 30 for January 12, 2012:

1. Syracuse (15-0).  One of only four unbeatens.  Travel to Providence before hosting scrappy Marquette on Saturday.  Marquette has had Syracuse’s number lately.
2. Kentucky (13-1).  Loss to Indiana hurts, but rallied to beat Louisville.  Next test is Saturday against South Carolina.
3. North Carolina (13-2).  No real tough games for a while.  Duke will be tested more often over the next few weeks.
4. Duke (12-1).  Ready to leapfrog North Carolina with a few more wins.  Upcoming game against Temple is a start.
5. Missouri (13-0).  The Tigers are undefeated and have better wins than Baylor.  That will not last forever, but that is how it is right now.
6. Baylor (13-0).  The Big XII will separate the men from the boys.  Soon enough Baylor and Missouri will sort things out.
7. UConn (12-1).  12-1 and rolling.  UConn has improving Seton Hall and up-and-down Rutgers this week.
8. Michigan State (13-2).  Win over Indiana was big.  So far, only two losses are to North Carolina and Duke.
9. Indiana (13-1).  Only loss was to MSU–at MSU.  Wins over Kentucky and Ohio State are very nice.
10. Ohio State (13-2).  Loss to Kansas short-handed and lost to Indiana (just like Kentucky did).  Some nice wins too.
11. Georgetown (12-1).  Watch out  for the Hoyas–young players that are starting to get on a roll.
12. Kansas (10-3).  Kansas could go up and they could go down.  The feeling is that they are not staying right here though.
13. UNLV (15-2).  Impressive wins over UNC and Illinois.  No shame in losing to Wisconsin or Wichita State.
14. Louisville (12-2).  Two losses in a row–even to Georgetown and Kentucky–cause a drop in the standings.  This is about right for the Cards.
15. Harvard (12-1).  Only loss is to UConn.  The teams behind them cannot say that–all have at least one head-scratcher.
16. Murray State (14-0).  Likely to be the last team to get a loss.  It’s going to take one heck of an upset.
17. Marquette (12-2).  Gets the nod here by virtue of beating Wisconsin head-to-head.  Had “one of those games” against Vanderbilt.
18. Wisconsin (12-3).  Loss to Iowa is a perplexing.  Wisconsin was on a mini-roll.
19. Mississippi State (13-2).  Had a chance to really climb, but fell to still-undefeated Butler.  Only game this week is Arkansas.
20. Florida (10-3).  Losses to Syracuse and Ohio State were reasonable.  Rutgers?  Not so much.
21. Virginia (12-1).  If they can get to 14-1, things will look better.  LSU beat Marquette.  Miami will give them a game.
22. Michigan (12-2).  If they can get to 14-2, they will leapfrog Virginia and others.  That would require beating Indiana and Wisconsin!
23. Creighton (11-2).  Hard to figure–suffered an upset loss, but then rebounded with an upset win over Wichita State.  Parity.
24. San Diego State (12-2).  Not challenging itself right now.  Hard not to win.
25. Kansas State (11-1).  They have Kansas and Missouri this week.  Tough week.
26. Gonzaga (11-2).  Only losses were to Michigan State and Illinois.  Win over Xavier looked better than it does now.
27. Seton Hall (12-2).  Losses to Syracuse and Northwestern.  #4 RPI so far.
28. Virginia Tech (11-3).  Two wins over Oklahoma State, plus they gave Syracuse their best test so far this year.
29. Purdue (12-3).  Realistically, could and should be higher.  A tough January will allow Purdue to prove same.
30. Stanford (12-2).  Only losses were to Syracuse and Butler.  This team will only get better too.

Tell us what you think.  How would you differ?