Top 25

1. Duke (6-0) LW: 3
2. Louisville (6-0) LW: 1
3. Gonzaga (6-0) LW: 2
4. Michigan State (3-1) LW: 4
5. Ohio State (5-0) LW: 5
6. Virginia (6-0) LW: 7
7. Kentucky (5-1) LW: 6
8. Arizona (6-0) LW: 8
9. Kansas (3-1) LW: 9
10. North Carolina (4-0) LW: 10
11. Oregon (5-0) LW: 14
12. Tennessee (4-0) LW: 11
13: Maryland (5-0) LW: 12
14: Seton Hall (4-1) LW: 13
15: Baylor (5-1) LW: 20
16: Auburn (5-0) LW: 15
17. Texas Tech (5-0) LW: 16
18. Washington (5-1) LW: 18
19. Florida (5-2) LW: NR
20. West Virginia (4-0) LW: 19
21. Villanova (4-2) LW: 22
22. Xavier (6-1) LW: 21
23. Michigan (4-0) LW: 25
24. Butler (5-0) LW: 23
25. Texas (5-1) LW: 17

In the mix: Colorado; Florida State; Indiana; Memphis; Oklahoma; Penn State; Purdue; Utah State; VCU.

Top 25 - 11/18/19

1. Louisville (4-0)
2. Gonzaga (4-0)
3. Duke (4-0)
4. Michigan State (2-1)
5. Ohio State (3-0)
6. Kentucky (2-1)
7. Virginia (3-0)
8. Arizona (4-0)
9. Kansas (2-1)
10. North Carolina (3-0)
11. Tennessee (3-0)
12. Maryland (3-0)
13. Seton Hall (3-1)
14. Oregon (4-0)
15. Auburn (4-0)
16. Texas Tech (3-0)
17. Texas (4-0)
18. Washington (2-1)
19. West Virginia (2-0)
20. Baylor (2-1)
21. Xavier (4-0)
22. Villanova (2-1)
23. Butler (4-0)
24. Oklahoma (3-0)
25. Michigan (3-0)

Way Too Early Top Seeds

Yes, it's way too early to predict the top seeds in the upcoming 2019 NCAA Tournament, but it’s also way too early to even talk about a Top 25, for example. So, F it, I’m going to at least play around with the rankings that matter.

Here are my top 4 seed lines for the NCAA Tournament as of today:

1 SEEDS:

Duke (3-0) Best win: vs. Kentucky, 118-84.

Kansas (3-0) Best win: vs. Michigan State, 92-87.

Gonzaga (3-0) Best win: Texas A&M, 94-71.

Michigan (5-0) Best win: at Villanova, 73-46.

2 SEEDS:

North Carolina (4-0) Best win: Stanford, 90-72.

Virginia (3-0) Best win: none.

Auburn (3-0) Best win: Washington, 88-66.

Florida State (2-0) Best win: Florida, 81-60.

3 SEEDS:

Nevada (3-0) Best win: BYU, 86-70.

Tennessee (3-0) Best win: Georgia Tech, 66-53.

Michigan State (3-1) Best win: none.

Virginia Tech (4-0) Best win: Purdue, 89-83.

4 SEEDS:

Kentucky (3-1) Best win: So. Illinois, 71-59.

Wisconsin (3-0) Best win: at Xavier, 77-68.

Purdue (4-1) Best win: vs. Davidson, 79-58.

Texas (4-0) Best win: vs. Arkansas, 73-71 OT.

Bol Bol Shines As Oregon Rebounds And Cuse Plummets

Highly touted Oregon freshman Bol Bol shined at Madison Square Garden tonight, scoring 26 points on 11-17 shooting and adding 9 rebounds in the Ducks 80-65 win over Syracuse in the consolation game of the 2K Empire Classic.

Bol scored on an array of floaters inside the key, finesse moves around the basket, put-back ducks and layups, and even hit one of his two three-point attempts. The 7-foot-2 freshman also was poised and passed well in attacking the vaunted Syracuse zone.

Bol Bol addresses the media after Oregon's win versus Syracuse.

“[Bol’s] a unique player and he’s going to grow into a special player,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said after the game, “because you saw him shoot the three, you saw him handle it, he made some passes.”

“At 7’2, to do the things that he can do,” Altman continued, “you saw that soft touch, the jump hooks and that the ball just lays on the rim. He’s got a very soft touch for 7’2.”

Bol, ranked the fourth best high school prospect by Rivals.com (ahead of Zion Williamson), bounced back from a subpar performance Thursday night in a loss to Iowa.

“I think [tonight’s win] was really important because of what happened last night and we didn’t play too good,” the soft spoken Bol said. “After the game we were just focusing on the next game and playing really hard.”

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, while not happy after his team’s second loss in two nights, had high praise for Bol, as well.

“He’s a good player, he’s big, he’s tough. He’s very good. He’s a big problem out there,” Boeheim said. “He’s got a great touch. I think that’s the biggest thing, he has a great feel for the game. He’s a good passer and he’s a good scorer. He can shoot from the perimeter, he can shoot from the high post, that’s a great combination.”

Oregon moves to 3-1 and faces Green Bay on Tuesday.

Syracuse, who many predicted would be a top team in the ACC this season, drops to 2-2 after two subpar performances from team leaders Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett. The Orange will face a less formidable opponent in Colgate on Wednesday.

“The bottom line is we need to make some threes if we shoot 28 of them, if we’re going to be successful,” Boeheim said of his team’s 5-28 performance from beyond the arc.

Luckily for Cuse, there is a lot of season left for improvement. Scarier for the rest of the country, the same thing can be said of Bol Bol and the Oregon Ducks.

New Bracketology - 2/14/17

On Saturday, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee gave us a sneak peek at their thinking as far as the top four seeding lines are concerned. It gave us a clue as to how they may be slightly overvaluing the Pac 12 conference, slightly undervaluing the Big East conference and, some would say, completely disrespecting the Big Ten conference.

That being said, the committee’s current rankings gave us lots to talk about and gives us the groundwork for this week’s look at the possible tournament field.

In this latest edition of bracketology, here’s a look at the field if the season were to end today.

Caution: The predicted field/seeding is highly likely to change from day to day or minute to minute.

*Automatic bids in italics.

1 SEEDS: Villanova; Kansas; Gonzaga, Baylor.

2 SEEDS: North Carolina; Florida State; Louisville, Oregon.

3 SEEDS: Arizona; Virginia; Florida; Kentucky.

4 SEEDS: West Virginia; Butler; UCLA; Duke.

5 SEEDS: Creighton; Wisconsin; Purdue; Cincinnati.

6 SEEDS: Notre Dame; South Carolina; Maryland; Xavier.

7 SEEDS: SMU; St. Mary’s; Minnesota; Northwestern.

8 SEEDS: Iowa State; USC; Oklahoma State; Virginia Tech.

9 SEEDS: Dayton; VCU; Michigan State; Kansas State.

10 SEEDS: Michigan; TCU; Tennessee; Miami.

11 SEEDS: Wake Forest; Wichita State vs. Seton Hall; California vs. Syracuse; Middle Tennessee State.

12 SEEDS: Illinois State; North Carolina Wilmington; Nevada; Texas Arlington.

13 SEEDS: Akron; Vermont; Monmouth; New Mexico State.

14 SEEDS: Belmont; UNC Asheville; Princeton; Valparaiso.

15 SEEDS: Chattanooga; Bucknell; North Dakota State; Florida Gulf Coast.

16 SEEDS: Texas Southern; Eastern Washington; UC Irvine vs. NC Central; New Orleans vs. Mount St. Mary’s.

LAST FOUR IN: Wichita State; California; Syracuse; Seton Hall.

FIRST SIX OUT: Rhode Island; Arkansas; Marquette; Georgetown; Indiana; Clemson.

NEXT SIX OUT: Vanderbilt; Georgia; Georgia Tech; Ohio State; Houston; Mississippi.

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN: ACC (10); Big 12 (7); Big Ten (7); Big East (5); Pac 12 (5); SEC (4); Atlantic 10 (2); AAC (2); Missouri Valley (2); West Coast (2).

Note: Automatic bids are determined by the highest RPI team in each conference.