Say hello to: Xavier (19), Notre Dame (21), Oklahoma (22), Rhode Island (25)
Say goodbye to: Villanova (15), Arizona (16), Southern Cal (19), UMass (25)

Moving up: Ole Miss (21 to 17)
Moving down: Marquette (8 to 12)

Just missed (in order): Arizona, Villanova, Miami, New Mexico, Arizona State

- Had to put Xavier back in after thrashing Kansas State and Virginia.
- I moved Clemson up two spots, despite losing to North Carolina. Clemson out-played the Heels but couldn’t close the deal.
- Notre Dame has kind of snuck up on everybody, but they’re 12-2 and have won 10 straight. They played very well when I saw them against K-State in the Jimmy V Classic, and they’ve continued that roll with victories over West Virginia and UConn to open Big East play.
- It was time to put Oklahoma in the poll. This team has won 6-of-7, and though the Stephen F. Austin loss looks bad on the surface, SFA is 11-1.
- I left Pittsburgh in at 23 and dropped Villanova, which might be controversial since Nova beat Pitt on Sunday by 3. But Pitt has two starters out, and the game was at Nova. Nova lost at DePaul earlier this week, and the reality is, Nova doesn’t have a good win yet this year.
- I am not sure how good Stanford is, but they get a reprieve this week due to the win over Southern Cal. The Trojans, meanwhile, are a huge disappointment so far at 9-5 overall and 0-2 in the Pac 10. USC has Washington State coming in on Thursday. Though it’s not exactly a must-win game, Southern Cal has only beaten one NCAA Tournament team so far (Oklahoma), and the schedule coming up is tough. USC could easily be 2-5 in the Pac 10 before hosting Arizona on Jan. 31

Anyway, here’s my ballot:
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40 straight home games without a loss. I just had to type that out and read it again. That’s an amazing stat. It has been two calendar years since the Tigers have lost at home. There is a lot of things that can happen in two years. I’ve had friends move back into town and leave again since then. I’ve known women who have had two babies in that time frame. Couples have gotten married AND divorced in less time. There have been 734 sunsets and 735 sunrises since the scoreboard showed the opponent with more points than the Tigers. Sorry but that simply amazes me.
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I feel safe in saying that I am not the only one who saw this coming. The Tigers defense had regressed this season after progressing as the seasong went along in 2006. The final two games in 06 against Houston and UTEP showed the talent and effectiveness the Tigers had in them. But ‘07 was a backwards step. Yes, I have also said that the loss of Bowens and Jackson hurt the defense. But I think TW made the right decision here as it seemed there was malaise among Tigers fans about the direction the defense took this year. Apparently Tommy West felt the same way.
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