Top 25

*previous rank in parentheses

1. Louisville 29-5 (3)
2. Indiana 27-6 (2)
3. Kansas 29-5 (6)
4. Gonzaga 31-2 (4)
5. Miami 27-6 (9)
6. Duke 27-5 (1)
7. Georgetown 25-6 (5)
8. Ohio State 26-7 (10)
9. New Mexico 29-5 (14)
10. Florida 26-7 (13)
11. Kansas State 27-7 (12)
12. Michigan State 25-8 (7)
13. Michigan 26-7 (8)
14. Saint Louis 27-6 (17)
15. Marquette 23-8 (11)
16. Wisconsin 23-11 (19)
17. Syracuse 26-9 (21)
18. Oklahoma State 24-8 (15)
19. UNLV 25-9 (NR)
20. UCLA 25-9 (20)
21. Oregon 26-8 (25)
22. Arizona 25-7 (16)
23. Notre Dame 25-9 (22)
24. North Carolina 24-10 (NR)
25. Pittsburgh 24-8 (18)

IN: UNLV, North Carolina
OUT: Butler, Creighton

Starting Five: Non-Conference Review Edition

1. Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart exploded out of the blocks but has since cooled off a bit.  He's still playing excellent basketball - putting up 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists per game.  In the meantime, UNLV's Anthony Bennett has caught and passed Smart in the race to be crowned the nation's best freshman.  Bennett is doing his best Larry Johnson impression in Vegas (averaging 19.2 points and 8.8 boards per contest) and is the main reason the Rebels have been able to withstand Mike Moser's recent absence due to injury.  Kansas' Ben McLemore also has passed up Smart but trails Bennett for now.

2. In the National Player of the Year race, Doug McDermott gets my vote through the first third of the season.  An argument can certainly be made for Duke's Mason Plumlee, but I would argue that the Blue Devils' big man is surrounded by far more talent than the Bluejays' forward and is asked to do less.  McDermott's numbers are impressive (23.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game), but his headiness and ability to lift his teammates' level of play have been even more important.  McDermott has been pretty flawless thus far, but there's still plenty of basketball to be played.  

3. The Defensive Player of the Year race is more of a landslide at this point, as Jeff Withey shot-blocking has the Jayhawks looking like a contender.  Withey is currently second in the country (after freshman Chris Obekpa of St. John's) at 4.9 blocks per game, but that really doesn't account for all of the shots he's altering.  Shout out to LSU's Anthony Hickey for leading the nation in steals per game.

4. At this point in the season, my All-American ballot would look like this - Trey Burke (Michigan), Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), Russ Smith (Louisville), Doug McDermott (Creighton), and Mason Plumlee (Duke).  My second team is as follows: C.J. McCollum (Lehigh), Nate Wolters (South Dakota State), Brandon Paul (Illinois), Tony Bennett, (UNLV), Jeff Withey (Kansas).  All of these guys were on my radar to start the season, but I wouldn't have believed it if you had told me before the season started that the Plumlee the Middle or Russdiculous would be in the running for All-American honors.

5. RBP's preseason Final Four was Louisville, Indiana, Syracuse, and Kentucky with the Cardinals winning a National Championship.  At this point, RBP's revised Final Four is as follows - Louisville, Indiana, Michigan, and Florida.  We're sticking with Rick Pitino's squad, though our faith had wavered a bit in Gorgui Dieng's absence and in light of Indiana's improved defense.  However, with Dieng's return and the Hoosiers' tendency to play to the level of their competition, we're sticking with our original pick at this early juncture.

CBB Uniforms (1988-89 to Present): 4 Seeds

RBP continues its ranking of the top 64 college basketball uniforms from the 1988-89 season to the present. For more on the process, read the introduction to the original post. Here are the 4 seeds:

16) UNLV (Larry Johnson): The Runnin' Rebels' duds are ranked this high as much for what they came to represent during the Evil Empire's heyday as for their aesthetic appeal.











15) Colorado (Chauncey Billups): Check out the font on the Buffs' jerseys.






14) Cincinnati (Danny Fortson):We're entering I-wouldn't-change-a-thing-about-that-uniform territory.







13) Syracuse (John Wallace):And here's that second Lawrence Moten sighting that was promised.

CBB Uniforms (1988-89 to Present): 7 Seeds

With this update, RBP moves in to the Top 25 in its ranking of the best uniforms from the 1988-89 season to the present. For more on that process, read the introduction to the original post. And now the 7 seeds:

28) UNLV (Shawn Marion): Huge fan of the silver "Rebels" on the home unis.





27) LSU (Anthony Hickey): The purple and yellow combo and the "LSU" in big, block font make the Bayou Bengals' uniform one of the NCAA's most recognizable.




26) Louisville (DeJuan Wheat):Louisville gets bonus points for being one of the first schools to feature a black alternate uniform and for being the only school to feature a cardinal bird wearing a sweater and no bottoms.




25) Georgia Tech (Kenny Anderson):Check out Lethal Weapon 3 (Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scott, and Brian Oliver) posing in their gold unis.

Top 25

1. Duke 11-0
quality wins: Marquette, Kansas State, Michigan State, Butler
previous rank: 1

2. Kansas 11-0
quality wins: Arizona, UCLA, Memphis
previous rank: 2

3. Ohio State 12-0
quality wins: Florida, Florida State
previous rank: 3

4. Syracuse 13-0
quality wins: North Carolina State, Michigan State
previous rank: 4

5. Georgetown 11-1
quality wins: Old Dominion, North Carolina State, Missouri, Utah State, Memphis
loss: Temple
previous rank: 6

6. Pittsburgh 12-1
quality wins: Maryland, Texas
loss: Tennessee
previous rank: 5

7. Missouri 11-1
quality win: Vanderbilt, Illinois
loss: Georgetown
previous rank: 7

8. Villanova 10-1
quality win: UCLA
loss: Tennessee
previous rank: 8

9. Connecticut 10-0
quality wins: Wichita State, Michigan State, Kentucky
previous rank: 9

10. San Diego State 14-0
quality wins: Gonzaga, St. Mary's, Wichita State
previous rank: 10

11. Purdue 11-1
quality win: Virginia Tech
loss: Richmond
previous rank: 11

12. Kentucky 9-2
quality wins: Washington, Notre Dame
losses: Connecticut, North Carolina
previous rank: 13

13. Minnesota 11-1
quality wins: North Carolina, West Virginia
loss: Virginia
previous rank: 15

14. Brigham Young 12-1
quality wins: Utah State, St. Mary's, Arizona
loss: UCLA
previous rank: 16

15. Notre Dame 11-1
quality wins: Georgia, Wisconsin, Gonzaga
loss: Kentucky
previous rank: 17

16. Texas 10-2
quality wins: Illinois, North Carolina, Michigan State
losses: Pittsburgh, USC
previous rank: 19

17. Wisconsin 10-2
quality wins: Boston College, North Carolina State, Marquette
losses: UNLV, Notre Dame
previous rank: 20

18. Vanderbilt 9-2
quality win: North Carolina
losses: West Virginia, Missouri
previous rank: 25

19. Texas A&M 11-1
quality wins: Temple, Washington
loss: Boston College
previous rank: NR

20. UNLV 11-2
quality wins: Wisconsin, Murray State, Virginia Tech, Kansas State
losses: Louisville, UCSB
previous rank: NR

21. Kansas State 10-3
quality wins: Virginia Tech, Gonzaga. Washington State
losses: Duke, Florida, UNLV
previous rank: 14

22. Illinois 10-3
quality wins: Maryland, North Carolina, Gonzaga
losses: Texas, UIC, Missouri
previous rank: 21

23. Michigan State 8-4
quality win: Washington
losses: Connecticut, Duke, Syracuse, Texas
previous rank: 12

24. Tennessee 8-3
quality wins: VCU, Villanova, Pittsburgh
losses: Oakland, Charlotte, USC
previous rank: 18

25. Central Florida 11-0
quality win: Florida
previous rank: NR