Want to Track a Team not in the Top 40?

If anyone has interest in tracking any team's ranking, even if that team is not in the Top 40, please reply to this thread and I will add that team to the weekly rankings with the note "Other Teams of Interest."

Game Projections - 12/20/08

Big East
Miami (OH) 69 West Virginia 72
Mount St. Mary's 63 #13 Georgetown 77
Minnesota 77 #9 Louisville 80
Bryant University 53 Rutgers 65
South Florida 66 Murray State 68
Providence 65 Boston College 74
#2 Connecticut 73 #7 Gonzaga 77
#11 Syracuse 76 #21 Memphis 78
Eastern Kentucky 63 Cincinnati 73
Delaware State 59 #14 Notre Dame 83
IUPUI 64 Seton Hall 76
Marist 62 St. John's 76

Top 25
Iona 51 #16 Ohio State 66
#22 Michigan State 65 #5 Texas 74
#1 North Carolina 95 Valparaiso 71
#6 Duke 71 #7 Xavier 72
Belmont 69 #19 Tennessee 85
#20 Davidson 73 #18 Purdue 76
Brigham Young 67 #17 Arizona State 73
Texas-Arlington 60 #24 Baylor 79
Virginia Commonwealth 64 #4 Oklahoma 79
Mercer 62 #12 UCLA 73

Games vs. Spread (Today 18-14, Overall 30-19, 61.2% accuracy)
Miami (OH) +8 @ West Virginia
Rice +12 @ Duquesne
Appalachian State +15.5 @ Kentucky
Minnesota +9 vs. Louisville at Glendale, AZ
Xavier +6 vs. Duke at East Ruthersford, NJ
Texas -6 vs. Michigan State at Houston, TX
Valparaiso +28 vs. North Carolina
Wofford +12 @ Georgia
Temple +9.5 @ Kansas
Murray State +1.5 vs. South Florida at Puerto Rico
UNLV -1 vs. Arizona
St. Bonaventure +1 @ Eastern Michigan
UC Santa Barbara +13 @ San Diego State
Boston College -4.5 vs. Providence
Wyoming -16.5 vs. Sacramento State
Hofstra +5.5 @ Massachusetts
Texas A&M PICK 'EM vs. LSU
Citadel +24.5 @ South Carolina
Pepperdine +15.5 vs. Georgia Tech
Wright State +2 vs. Oral Roberts at Puerto Rico
California -8.5 vs. Nevada
Syracuse +8 @ Memphis
Weber State +14 @ Utah
Denver +3 vs. Colorado State
UCF +15.5 vs. Florida at Jacksonville
Florida International +6 vs. South Alabama
Arkansas State +4 @ Arkansas-Little Rock
Portland +9.5 @ Oregon
Norfolk State +23.5 @ Missouri State
Eastern Washington +17.5 @ Washington
Montana +8 @ Portland State
Pacific -3 vs. Santa Clara

Game Projections 12/19/08

Big East
Western Carolina 69 Marquette 81 (Final: Western Carolina 77 Marquette 94)
Southern University 45 DePaul 65 (Final: Southern University 46 DePaul 83)

Other Top 25
Wake Forest 85 Richmond 77 (Final: Wake Forest 86 Richmond 79)

Picks vs. Spread (Today 1-1, Overall 12-5, 70.6%)
Charleston -16.5 vs. North Carolina-Wilmington
Western Carolina +16.5 @ Marquette

Game Projections - 12/18/08

Big East
Mississippi State 73 Cincinnati 81 (Cincinnati won by 12)
Mississippi 79 Louisville 80 (@ Cincinnati) (Louisville won by 9)

Top 25
Evansville 76 North Carolina 95 (North Carolina won by 18)
Texas Southern 46 Gonzaga 76 (Gonzaga won by 42)

Games vs. Spread: (Today: 8-1; Overall 11-4, 73.3% accuracy)
Evansville +29 @ North Carolina
UNC Greensboro +19.5 @ Kent State
Cincinnati -5 vs. Mississippi State
Samford -3.5 vs. Louisiana Tech
Iona +3.5 @ Western Michigan
W Kentucky +4 @ South Alabama
North Texas +2.5 @ Louisiana-Lafayette
UC Riverside -2.5 vs. Montana
Northern Colorado +6.5 @ Fresno State

Game Projections - 12/17/08

Big East
Canisius 56 Syracuse 82 (Syracuse won by 22)
Jackson State 64 Providence 79 (Providence won by 14)
Liberty 76 DePaul 75 (Liberty lost by 1)
Siena 65 Pittsburgh 80 (Pittsburgh won by 13)

AP Top 25
UNC-Asheville 56 Duke 82 (Duke won by 43)
Citadel 62 Michigan State 81 (Michigan State won by 14)
Jacksonville 50 Ohio State 64 (Ohio State won by 13)
Arkansas-Little Rock 69 Memphis 81 (Memphis won by 8)
Loyola Marymount 46 UCLA 73 (UCLA won by 31)

Picks of the Day (overall 3-3, 50.0% accuracy)
Ohio +6 @ Marshall
Arkansas-Little Rock +21 @ Memphis
Loyola Marymount +30.5 @ UCLA
East Carolina +9.5 @ NC State
Jacksonville State +11 @ UAB
UNLV -14 vs. Santa Clara

Tennessee-Marquette & Andy Katz Upset Specials

Tennessee and Marquette are currently tied at 32-32 at halftime. According to my preliminary PPI calculations, Tennessee will win this game by 7 by the score of 85-78 (update 12:22 AM: Tennessee won 80-68). This means that the scoring must pick up significantly in the second half, and already there have been 5 points scored in 23 seconds, so we hope these teams believe in the PPI!

Andy Katz of ESPN had 3 upset specials for the week at halftime of the Tennessee-Marquette game. Let's review 'em:

1) East Carolina @ NC State (Wednesday) - The PPI projects NC State will win by 6; however, these 2 teams are 3 percentage points different in the rankings. Very feasible.

2) Oakland @ Michigan (Saturday) - We are not so sure about this one. Michigan is projected to win by 11. After beating Duke in Ann Arbor, we expect Michigan to win this game at Auburn Hills.

3) Miami (OH) @ West Virginia (Saturday) - We actually have Miami (OH) as the better team, but project WVU to win by 3 points. HOWEVER, and this is a big however, West Virginia is very injured and this game is officially then a toss-up.

Andy - two out of three ain't bad. We expect #3 to happen in PPI Land and we believe #1 is entirely possible.

PPI RANKINGS 12/14/08 - Back from hiatus

There were lots of movement in the rankings this week. On Saturday, there is a huge doubleheader between #3 Xavier against #6 Duke (2 PM CBS), followed by #5 Gonzaga against #14 UConn. Also, Louisville (#37) and Georgetown (#28) hit the "other receiving votes" category for the first time, and we believe at the PPI that these rankings will only go up. The biggest mover into the Top 25 was #17 Creighton (up from #41) and the biggest drop out of the Top 25 was Memphis (who dropped from #17 to #32). Here are the rankings after Sunday's games


#1 North Carolina
#2 Oklahoma
#3 Xavier
#4 Pittsburgh
#5 Gonzaga
#6 Duke
#7 Syracuse
#8 Texas
#9 Clemson
#10 Wake Forest
#11 Arizona State
#12 Villanova
#13 Missouri
#14 Connecticut
#15 Illinois
#16 Brigham Young
#17 Creighton
#18 Butler
#19 Miami (OH)
#20 Dayton
#21 Tennessee
#22 California
#23 Wisconsin
#24 West Virginia
#25 Niagara
Others receiving votes: Davidson, Baylor, Georgetown, Texas A&M, Illinois State, UNLV, Memphis, Boston College, Florida State, Saint Mary's, Ohio State, Louisville, Arizona, Minnesota, Illinois-Chicago