PiRate Ratings College Basketball–Saturday, January 28, 2023

Home	Visitor	Spread
Abilene Christian	Utah Tech	1.9
Akron	Ohio	4.3
Albany	Maine	-1.6
Appalachian St.	Arkansas St.	10.9
Arkansas Pine Bluff	Mississippi Valley St.	8.2
Army	Holy Cross	9.5
Baylor	Arkansas	4.2
Bethune-Cookman	Alabama St.	0.5
Binghamton	Bryant	-6.3
Boise St.	Colorado St.	10.2
Butler	Seton Hall	-1.0
BYU	Saint Mary’s	-5.7
Cal Poly	Cal St. Fullerton	-4.1
Campbell	UNC Asheville	-1.0
Central Arkansas	Jacksonville	-6.5
Central Connecticut St.	St. Francis (PA)	1.3
Central Florida	Temple	7.7
Central Michigan	Western Michigan	0.3
Charleston	Hofstra	6.0
Coastal Carolina	Old Dominion	-1.0
Colgate	Lafayette	10.3
Cornell	Brown	8.2
Creighton	Xavier	3.6
Dartmouth	Columbia	9.3
Dayton	Richmond	8.3
Delaware	Northeastern	5.8
Delaware St.	Morgan St.	-7.5
DePaul	Marquette	-9.5
East Tennessee St.	Chattanooga	-2.2
Eastern Illinois	Southeast Missouri St.	-4.3
Eastern Kentucky	Bellarmine	5.5
Eastern Washington	Weber St.	5.9
Elon	Drexel	-7.7
Florida A&M	Alabama A&M	-1.5
Florida Atlantic	Western Kentucky	12.9
Florida Intl.	Middle Tennessee	-4.8
Florida St.	Clemson	-4.6
Fordham	George Washington	3.3
Fresno St.	Utah St.	-6.3
Gardner-Webb	High Point	9.3
Georgia	South Carolina	12.0
Georgia Tech	Duke	-7.8
Grambling	Jackson St.	8.3
Hampton	Stony Brook	-0.5
Houston	Cincinnati	14.6
Howard	North Carolina Central	-0.2
Idaho	Idaho St.	1.2
Incarnate Word	Nicholls St.	-5.7
Indiana	Ohio St.	3.5
Indiana St.	Northern Iowa	5.1
Jacksonville St.	Austin Peay	4.1
James Madison	Louisiana Monroe	13.8
Kansas St.	Florida	4.0
Kennesaw St.	Lipscomb	3.9
Kentucky	Kansas	0.2
Liberty	Florida Gulf Coast	10.9
Long Beach St.	UC Davis	2.5
Longwood	Charleston Southern	10.5
Louisiana	Georgia Southern	9.5
Loyola (MD)	Bucknell	-0.8
Loyola Marymount	Pepperdine	9.5
LSU	Texas Tech	-2.5
Marshall	Georgia St.	12.5
Maryland	Nebraska	9.9
Maryland Eastern Shore	Coppin St.	6.9
Massachusetts	Duquesne	0.8
Merrimack	Fairleigh Dickinson	1.6
Miami (O)	Eastern Michigan	5.8
Mississippi St.	TCU	-2.9
Missouri	Iowa St.	-1.7
Morehead St.	SIU Edwardsville	-0.8
Mount St. Mary’s	Saint Peter’s	3.3
Murray St.	Missouri St.	0.9
Navy	American	3.5
New Hampshire	UMass Lowell	-4.2
New Orleans	Southeastern Louisiana	-3.3
Norfolk St.	South Carolina St.	14.3
North Alabama	North Florida	1.8
North Carolina A&T	Monmouth	12.4
North Texas	UTEP	9.4
Northern Arizona	Northern Colorado	1.2
Northern Illinois	Ball St.	-2.6
Northern Kentucky	Milwaukee	2.8
Northwestern	Minnesota	13.4
Northwestern St.	Lamar	15.8
Notre Dame	Louisville	10.8
Oklahoma	Alabama	-7.7
Oklahoma St.	Mississippi	8.4
Oral Roberts	Omaha	19.4
Oregon	Utah	2.2
Oregon St.	Colorado	-8.6
Penn	Harvard	3.0
Pittsburgh	Miami (Fla.)	-0.8
Portland	Gonzaga	-13.2
Portland St.	Montana	0.6
Presbyterian	Winthrop	-1.4
Queens	Stetson	1.8
Rhode Island	La Salle	5.2
Rice	UAB	-4.6
Sacramento St.	Montana St.	-2.2
San Diego	San Francisco	-3.2
San Diego St	San Jose St.	13.1
Santa Clara	Pacific	11.9
South Alabama	Troy	-0.5
Southern Miss.	Texas St.	8.7
Southern U.	Alcorn St.	4.7
St. Francis (NY)	Long Island	8.5
St. Thomas (MN)	South Dakota	7.3
Stanford	California	11.5
Stephen F. Austin	Seattle	1.2
Stonehill College	Sacred Heart	1.7
Tarleton St.	Grand Canyon	-3.6
Tennessee	Texas	7.9
Tennessee St.	Lindenwood	5.0
Tennessee Tech	Little Rock	6.3
Texas A&M	Vanderbilt	8.3
Texas A&M-CC	McNeese St.	9.4
Texas A&M-Commerce	Houston Christian	8.6
Texas Southern	Prairie View	2.9
The Citadel	Mercer	-1.3
Toledo	Bowling Green	11.6
Towson	William & Mary	11.8
UC Irvine	Cal St. Northridge	16.2
UC Riverside	UC San Diego	9.6
UMKC	Denver	5.3
UNLV	Nevada	0.5
USC Upstate	Radford	-4.9
UT Martin	Southern Indiana	1.8
UT-Rio Grande Valley	Cal Baptist	-6.7
Utah Valley	New Mexico St.	8.9
UTSA	Louisiana Tech	-7.8
Valparaiso	Evansville	8.3
VCU	St. Bonaventure	10.6
Vermont	UMBC	6.4
Virginia	Boston College	16.8
Virginia Tech	Syracuse	6.1
VMI	Western Carolina	-3.0
Wake Forest	North Carolina St.	0.2
Washington	Arizona	-7.9
Washington St.	Arizona St.	1.8
West Virginia	Auburn	2.9
Western Illinois	South Dakota St.	-2.5
Wisconsin	Illinois	-2.1
Wofford	Samford	-0.4
Wright St.	Green Bay	17.4
Yale	Princeton	3.8

PiRate Ratings College Basketball Preview For January 28-29, 2017

PiRate Ratings Spreads for January 28-29, 2017

Games Scheduled for:	Saturday, January 28, 2017
Home	Visitor	Red	White	Blue
Georgia Tech	Notre Dame	-4	-8	-3
Pittsburgh	Clemson	-2	-1	2
Syracuse	Florida St.	-4	-4	-5
Miami	North Carolina	-7	-7	-7
Wake Forest	Duke	-2	-4	-1
West Virginia	Texas A&M	19	19	8
Oklahoma	Florida	-4	-6	-7
Texas Tech	LSU	14	16	12
Tennessee	Kansas St.	1	-1	5
Oklahoma St.	Arkansas	8	5	7
Georgia	Texas	6	6	6
Vanderbilt	Iowa St.	-3	-4	4
TCU	Auburn	10	12	13
Ole Miss	Baylor	-10	-10	-10
Kentucky	Kansas	9	8	8
Marquette	Providence	10	9	8
Creighton	DePaul	14	16	14
Butler	Georgetown	11	11	7
Rutgers *	Wisconsin	-13	-17	-11
Minnesota	Maryland	5	5	6
Penn St.	Illinois	3	2	-1
Iowa	Ohio St.	1	2	-1
Utah	Oregon St.	22	22	21
Colorado	Oregon	-7	-9	-10
Alabama	Mississippi St.	7	6	8
Missouri	South Carolina	-12	-12	-12
Pepperdine	Gonzaga	-27	-26	-19
Santa Clara	St. Mary’s	-9	-12	-13

* Rutgers-Wisconsin game to be played at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan

Games Scheduled for:	Sunday, January 29, 2017
Home	Visitor	Red	White	Blue
Villanova	Virginia	5	6	5
St. John’s	Xavier	-5	-8	-7
Louisville	North Carolina St.	18	17	18
Virginia Tech	Boston College	13	15	10
Michigan St.	Michigan	2	3	9
Nebraska	Purdue	-9	-10	-4
Northwestern	Indiana	5	1	-1
Arizona St.	Washington St.	10	12	8
California	Stanford	8	11	7
Cincinnati	South Florida	26	28	28

What a week!  So, who is number one now?  Unless they suffer a monumental upset loss tomorrow, Gonzaga will assume the top spot in the polls, but are the Bulldogs really the best team in college basketball?

To answer that question yourself, ask yourself, “Would I take Gonzaga over X in a neutral site game in the NCAA Tournament?  Now, plug all the other top teams in the “X” spot in that question.

If you find yourself saying that a couple of schools would beat the Bulldogs, does that mean Gonzaga is not number one?  Not so fast my friends.  Maybe two of the other top 10 teams might be the “X’s” in your mind that can beat Gonzaga, while the Zags would beat the other eight.  However, which team among that group of ten would do any better?  Maybe both of the teams you figured to beat Gonzaga might only beat seven of the other top ten.  This is the 21st Century, and the John Wooden UCLA dynasty is nowhere to be found.  From 1964 to 1975, except for 1966, you might have been able to say that UCLA could beat all the other top teams with very little argument.  The Bruins were to men’s basketball what Connecticut is to women’s basketball now.

So, yes indeed.  As of this writing, Gonzaga is the legitimate number one team in the nation.  That does not mean that they are a lock for the Final Four, but in our opinion Mark Few has his best team, and the Bulldogs have the potential to make it to Phoenix.  It has been done before.  UNLV, Marquette, UNC-Charlotte, Pennsylvania, Virginia Commonwealth, and Butler were all very powerful teams from non-power leagues when they first made Final Four appearances.  Gonzaga is much like UNLV and Marquette from the 1970’s.  They have been very good for a long time, and they have beaten many power teams, but they have yet to win the big games.  UNLV made the Final Four in 1977 and again in 1987 before breaking through in 1990 to win the title.  Marquette had an undefeated regular season and lost before the Final Four.  They had the second best team in 1976 but had to play the best team (Indiana) in the Mid-east Regional.  Finally, with Al McGuire’s weakest team during his dynasty in the won-loss ledger, his only seven-loss team since he turned the then Warriors into a power, MU won the 1977 title.

Gonzaga cannot be overlooked.  They might not get to the promised land this year, but then again, this could be their year.  There is no top ten team at this point that doesn’t have some weakness.  Gonzaga has the talent to exploit any weakness this year, something Few has not had in the past.

 

This Week’s PiRate Ratings Top 25 

Using an algorithm based on the Four Factors

1. Gonzaga
2. North Carolina
3. West Virginia
4. Baylor
5. Louisville
6. Villanova
7. Kentucky
8. Kansas
9. Wisconsin
10. Arizona
11. Virginia
12. Butler
13. Oregon
14. Purdue
15. UCLA
16. Cincinnati
17. Florida St.
18. Creighton
19. Notre Dame
20. South Carolina
21. SMU
22. Saint Mary’s
23. Kansas St.
24. Duke
25. Florida

Power Conferences

ACC

1. North Carolina
2. Louisville
3. Virginia
4. Florida St.
5. Notre Dame
6. Duke
7. Wake Forest
8. Clemson
9. Miami 
10. Virginia Tech
11. Syracuse
12. North Carolina St.
13. Georgia Tech
14. Pittsburgh
15. Boston College

Big East

1. Villanova
2. Butler
3. Creighton
4. Marquette
5. Xavier
6. Seton Hall
7. Georgetown
8. Providence
9. St. John’s
10. DePaul

Big Ten

1. Wisconsin
2. Purdue
3. Northwestern
4. Michigan
5. Indiana
6. Minnesota
7. Maryland
8. Michigan St.
9. Ohio St.
10. Illinois 
11. Penn St.
12. Iowa
13. Nebraska
14. Rutgers

Big 12

1. West Virgina
2. Baylor
3. Kansas
4. Kansas St.
5. Iowa St.
6. TCU
7. Oklahoma St.
8. Texas Tech
9. Oklahoma
10. Texas

Pac-12

1. Arizona
2. Oregon
3. UCLA
4. USC
5. Utah
6. California
7. Colorado
8. Stanford
9. Arizona St.
10. Washington
11. Washington St.
12. Oregon St.

SEC

1. Kentucky
2. South Carolina
3. Florida
4. Arkansas
5. Tennessee
6. Georgia
7. Alabama
8. Texas A&M
9. Vanderbilt
10. Mississippi St.
11. Auburn
12. Ole Miss
13. LSU
14. Missouri

Other Conferences Top Teams

Competing for NCAA Tournament bids (automatic or at-large depending on league)

Atlantic 10

1. Dayton
2. Virginia Commonwealth
3. Rhode Island

America East

1. Vermont
2. New Hamsphire
3. Albany

American Athletic

1. Cincinnati
2. SMU
3. Houston

Atlantic Sun

1. Florida Gulf Coast
2. Lipscomb
3. North Florida

Big Sky

1. Weber St.
2. Eastern Washington

Big South

1. Winthrop
2. UNC-Asheville

Big West

1. UC-Irvine
2. UC-Davis
3. Long Beach St.

Colonial

1. UNC-Wilmington
2. College of Charleston

Conference USA

1. Middle Tennessee
2. Louisiana Tech

Horizon

1. Valparaiso
2. Oakland

Ivy

1. Princeton
2. Yale
3. Harvard

Metro Atlantic

1. Monmouth
2. Iona
3. Canisius
4. St. Peter’s

Mid-American

1. Akron
2. Eastern Michigan
3. Ohio U

Mideastern Athletic

1. Morgan St.
2. Norfolk St.
3. UM-Eastern Shore
4. Hampton

Missouri Valley

1. Wichita St.
2. Illinois St.

Mountain West

1. Nevada
2. San Diego St.
3. Boise St.

Northeast

1. Mount St. Mary’s
2. Fairleigh-Dickinson
3. Wagner

Ohio Valley

1. Belmont
2. Murray St.

Patriot

1. Bucknell
2. Lehigh

Sun Belt

1. UT-Arlington
2. Arkansas St.

Southern

1. Chattanooga
2. East Tennessee
3. UNC-Greensboro

Southland

1. New Orleans
2. Sam Houston St.

Summit

1. North Dakota St.
2. Fort Wayne
3. South Dakota
4. Denver

Southwestern Athletic

1. Texas Southern
2. Prairie View
3. Southern U

Western Athletic

1. New Mexico St.
2. Cal State Bakersfield

Grand Canyon is not eligible but would be number 2

West Coast

1. Gonzaga
2. Saint Mary’s
3. BYU