Pride ... and Basketball

Here at Gampel for a special MLK Day matinee between No. 7 Villanova and No. 8 UConn. I've got them reversed in the top 25 I submitted late last night, but that's not really important. Should find out a lot about both teams today.

(Quiz question: Who's "Pride (In the Name of Love)" is a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.?)

Students were camped outside of Gampel last night for tickets, and there's a definite buzz in the air. I count 11 NBA scouts/GM's, etc. slated to be here, including Danny Ainge. They should see some good guard play this afternoon.

Voting for a top 25 was tough this week. Not only did No. 1 Duke lose, but so did just about every team I had ranked No. 10-25: Missouri, Purdue (twice), Notre Dame (twice), Illinois, Louisville, Kansas State, Washington, Georgetown, Wisconsin, Baylor, UCF and Temple.

With that in mind, I very much had an "out with the old, in with the new" attitude this week. Out: Illinois, Kansas State, Baylor, UCF and Temple. In: St. Mary's, Arizonoa, Utah State, Michigan State, Colorado.

I also debated who should be No. 1. I've had Ohio State right behind Duke the past several weeks, but the Buckeyes haven't been overly impressive lately. Still, they haven't lost. Neither has Syracuse, who I think may be the better team. But I went with OSU as No. 1, leapfrogged Syracuse from No. 4 to No. 2, kept shaky Kansas at No. 3 and dropped the Dukies to No. 4.

Here's what I had:

1. Ohio State
2. Syracuse
3. Kansas
4. Duke
5. Pittsburgh
6. San Diego State
7. UConn
8. Villanova
9. Brigham Young
10. Texas A&M
11. Kentucky
12. Missouri
13. Texas
14. Louisville
15. Minnesota
16. Washington
17. Georgetown
18. Wisconsin
19. St. Mary's
20. Arizona
21. Purdue
22. Notre Dame
23. Utah State
24. Michigan State
25. Colorado