ESPN Men's Basketball

So, I hear from my editor, Mr. Glockner, that there are some e-mailers out there thinking I have changed my strategy with the Power 16. That's not true. I'm still looking at a snapshot of who I think is playing the best basketball at this juncture. At this time of the year, though, I'll start to move away from having to put teams ahead of another one just because they beat them.

A good example of this is Butler and Notre Dame. The Irish are playing at a higher level right now than Butler, even though Butler beat Notre Dame in November. I pushed the Aggies high after seeing them absolutely destroy their recent competition, even though they lost to LSU on the road. I have no issues promoting West Virginia and Oregon at this point with the way all three are playing and whom they're playing. And even though UCLA is No. 1 in both polls, I'm sticking with the Gators right now based on how well I think they're playing.

Joe Lunardi
1. UCLA
2. North Carolina
3. Florida
4. Wisconsin
5. Arizona
6. Duke
7. Ohio State
8. Alabama
9. Kansas
10. Pittsburgh
11. Texas A&M
12. Oklahoma State
13. Butler
14. Air Force
15. Tennessee
16. St. Bonaventure

There is no change among my top six positions this week. Below that, Ohio State recovered nicely from the Gainesville debacle with a solid victory over Indiana in the Big Ten opener. Butler continues to hang around thanks to a narrow escape at Wisconsin-Milwaukee (while at the same time illustrating the inherent risk of "bad losses" in non-major conferences). Nevada was my final No. 4 seed in this week's bracket, but St. Bonaventure moves into that spot in the Power 16 after a shocking win in its conference opener. The Bonnies entered Atlantic 10 play with the worst RPI (No. 328) in the land, but somehow defeated Saint Louis -- which previously had the A-10's best RPI. If not for Bonaventure, I would have moved unbeaten Clemson ahead of Nevada after the Tigers' big road win at Florida State.

Fran Fraschilla
1. UCLA
2. North Carolina
3. Florida
4. Wisconsin
5. Alabama
6. Ohio State
7. Duke
8. Arizona
9. Kansas
10. Pittsburgh
11. Texas A&M
12. Oklahoma State
13. Clemson
14. Butler
15. Air Force
16. Notre Dame

Outside of Kevin Durant, no freshman has impressed me more in person this season than Mike Conley, Jr. His 10 assist/0 turnover performance versus Indiana was magical. The bandwagon has started to get crowded for Clemson, and deservedly so. Just don't penalize the Tigers for a couple of speed bumps in ACC play. The Aggies will give Kansas a run for their money at the top of the Big 12. There was no such thing as the "luck of the Irish" a year ago, so it's nice to see Mike Brey's club off to such a great start this season.

Howie Schwab
1. UCLA
2. North Carolina
3. Florida
4. Arizona
5. Wisconsin
6. Duke
7. Ohio State
8. Kansas
9. Alabama
10. Oregon
11. Texas A&M
12. Tennessee
13. Oklahoma State
14. Notre Dame
15. Butler
16. Clemson

I have to admit that Clemson's win over Florida State in Tallahassee was a big one. I also thought Texas A&M's blowout of Winthrop was impressive when you consider how close Gregg Marshall's team came against North Carolina and Wisconsin. I look forward to seeing how Arizona and UCLA do in Pac-10 challenges this week.

Has it been a week already?! What has really changed, other than Gonzaga circling the globe, Wichita State playing on the road with a guy getting food poisoning, and Clemson continuing to win? Is the earth spinning off its axis? There are several teams that have separated themselves as prohibitive favorites, but clearly, any really good team can win. Perhaps UCLA, Florida, North Carolina, Kansas, Wisconsin, or a few others can mature into great teams, but you have to play your best to win, especially on the road.

On the mid-major front, one of the great things about the emergence of the Missouri Valley Conference as a truly outstanding league full of outstanding teams is that the really good teams in that league are allowed to lose. In traditional one-bid leagues, the best teams really are not allowed to lose. If they do lose their nonconference games, they are unlikely to be able to snag an at-large bid because the one-bid league does not have enough quality games to carry them to an at-large bid.

The MVC has plenty of power games, and as a result, teams like Wichita State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa and Creighton are allowed to drop some tough games and still feel comfortable about making the NCAA field. The Shockers might drop out of the Power 16, but not out of contention for an at-large if they should not win the MVC.

And, this week, I have spent six minutes on this ridiculous exercise. Why? Because when I shuffled a couple of teams last week, I inadvertently left out Butler. That was dumb. I apologize unreservedly to the Horizon League, Todd Lickliter, and the entire Butler community. I would apologize even more, but my six minutes are up. See you next week!

Dick Vitale
1. UCLA
2. North Carolina
3. Florida
4. Arizona
5. Wisconsin
6. Duke
7. Ohio State
8. Kansas
9. Pittsburgh
10. Texas A&M
11. Alabama
12. Oregon
13. Notre Dame
14. Michigan State
15. Oklahoma State
16. Nevada

I was very impressed with Notre Dame's domination of Louisville. Mike Brey's squad has made some noise already this season. UCLA remains my No. 1 but the Bruins have a challenging stretch, with games against Oregon State and Oregon.

Doug Gottlieb
1. UCLA
2. Florida
3. North Carolina
4. Arizona
5. Kansas
6. Ohio State
7. Wisconsin
8. Butler
9. Oklahoma State
10. Pitt
11. LSU
12. Duke
13. Oregon
14. Air Force
15. Texas A&M
16. Nevada

No change for me in the top 10. This is set to be an unbelievable weekend for all of us to find out who really can play. Formerly enigmatic Oregon has USC and UCLA at home this weekend -- put up or shut up, Ducks. As for UCLA, this is its first conference road trip after playing all but four of its games in Pauley Pavilion, so don't be surprised if the Bruins fall. Ohio State seems to struggle offensively with Greg Oden in the game; can the Buckeyes beat Illinois on the road with the Illini fighting for a quality win? Notre Dame at Georgetown, UNLV at Air Force, Arizona at Washington and Georgia Tech at Clemson (about which we have no idea if it is really this good).

Oh, and Badgers fans, ease up on e-mailing about how disrespected you are by being ranked No. 7 in my poll. Considering the company, the top seven is just about right in terms of this team's expectations. Let us see how Bucky fares away from the friendly confines of the Kohl Center late in the year when Wisconsin finishes up the season at Michigan State, at Ohio State and with MSU at home (granted Bo has Izzo's number).

Andy Glockner
1. UCLA
2. North Carolina
3. Arizona
4. Wisconsin
5. Florida
6. Kansas
7. Alabama
8. Oklahoma State
9. Ohio State
10. Pitt
11. Texas A&M
12. Butler
13. Duke
14. Air Force
15. Tennessee
16. Notre Dame

Not a lot of shakeup this week. Ohio State dropped a few notches and I added Notre Dame at the bottom, not because Oregon did anything wrong, but because the Irish are doing a lot of things right. This list could look a lot different after this coming week's slate of games ...