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:

1. Memphis

2. North Carolina

3. Kansas

4. UCLA

5. Michigan State

6. Washington State

7. Georgetown

8. Texas A&M

9. Duke

10. Tennessee

11. Indiana

12. Marquette

13. Texas

14. Vanderbilt

15. Butler

16. Dayton

17. Mississippi

18. Wisconsin

19. Xavier

20. Clemson

21. Notre Dame

22. Oklahoma

23. Pittsburgh

24. Stanford

25. Rhode Island