[wvuauthor]

Check out the newest rankings...

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news;_...v=ap&type=lgns

It is amazing to see how many great teams are clumped together at the top. I cannot wait to see how the seedings turn out for the BIG DANCE!

[Lefty Noob]

Villanova is quite a shock to me this season. Granted I don't follow college hoops as closely as the next guy, but I would've never seen them going 21-2 and ranked 2nd in the nation at this point in the season.

Beating UConn last Monday and snatching the Big East conference lead was an amazing feat for this program, and the rematch next Sunday should be equally incredible. Can they actually take the Huskies twice in a row?

[wvuauthor]

I think that they can, but there defense will have to be equally impressive this time around. The Huskies have a lot of fire power on offense, and the only way to hold them down is by playing tough on both ends of the floor.

It should be the best game of the weekend!

[cjg11582]

I am surprised that you are surprised. Just based on last years success they should have been the pre-season favorite coming into the year. I mean, the rankings are virtually innocuous and their essentially in place to help generate buzz and create fan interest, but it is a credit to the team and University to be recognized as the most likely team to win the national title before the season has tipped off. In short the rankings are a joke, I beleive George Washington is the #6 team in the nation right now and they have yet to play a tourney bound team, much less beat one. But, that is why we watch college basketball I suoppose, for the underdog.
Anyways, returning to the subject of the Villanova Wildcats, they made it to the sweet 16 last year and gave UNC, the eventual national champions, the best competition they had in the tourney (You could say that claim belongs to Illinois, but I don't want to split hairs) only to get hosed by some bogus traveling call (or was it foul/off. foul) that wreaked of bias. As for this season, if The Cats had not lost Jason Fraser and Curtis Sumpter (leading rebounder and second leading scorer until getting injured halfway through last season) to injury, they would be undefeated right now. Both over 6'7, they would have provided an interior presence that Nova is so desperately lacking, As evidenced by the four guard system.
But, due to sheer dumb luck, I think Uconn ( or worse yet, Duke) is going to emerge as the team to beat this year in the national tourney, and they will probably end up splitting the regular season, then possibly a grudge match in the Big East Tournament (happy to say I will be at MSG fot it). And with some wishful thinking we might see a 4th game in the big dance. Which would be great because I think they are unequivocally the top two teams in college basketball. I would take both of them to beat Duke three (if not four) times out of five.

[rmjvol]

Welcome to GoTeamsGo, cjg11582

Why so down on Duke?

[cjg11582]

I think their a product of media adulation an I am just not sure what they have done to warrant this high of a ranking. Outside of Reddick, WIlliams and I guess you could throw Dockery in the mix, they are lacking experience. They have some nice freshman with McRoberts and Paulus, but freshman generally don't win you titles. And I am aware of Syracuse & Carmelo Anthony in 2003, but none of Duke's freshman are of that caliber. They really don't have much coming off the bench either.
They have shown these vulnerabilities time and time again. They have struggled against some teams that are mediocre at best including Florida State, Virginia, Va Tech, Georgia Tech. But instead of calling it what it is (A close win against a sub-par team), we mask it with a euphemism (A gritty win from the number one team in the country baby!).
Obviously they have some impressive wins against Memphis, at Texas, at BC (regardless of how blatant that foul was by Williams that wasn't called towards the end of the game), NC State and at UNC. But I am still skeptic, I feel like if they played in the Big Ten or the Big East they would have three or four losses by now. Which is still very respectable, I just can't put them in the same class with Nova and Uconn. I hope Duke plays one of them eventually because the atmosphere would be intense. Remember '99 Duke-Uconn? Who wouldn't love to see them square off again in the title game?

[legend]

The tendency with Duke is to try to pick them apart because they are a team that if you like, great, but if you don't like them, you simply don't dislike them-you HATE them. All I know is when I envision a team playing them, I try to picture Reddick playing really poorly, which I have a hard time doing. As bad as he played the other night at Georgia Tech, he still put the game away when it most mattered. Duke's biggest problem is they schedule as many games as they can at home out of conference, which maight work against them later on. The toughness you acquire going on the road cannot be overlooked come March.
I am from Connecticut and if Rudy Gay can develop the mindset to take over games from the beginning and not wait until its too late, they will be a powerful force. However, they have blown a few big leads and it simply cannot be wished away, like it is here in-state.

[rmjvol]

Well it's obvious that the NCAA basketball rankings didn't influence the selection committe as much as many of us expected. With teams like Tennessee getting a #2 seed, it's hard to tell what's going on. But we'll all know the outcome soon enough