SportsRatings College Basketball top 25 - week 8 - chaos!

If it seems to you like every team in the country has 2 losses now, you're not alone.

So many teams lost, and so many of them beat other teams with 2-losses that making a logical top 25 full of those teams is near impossible. So, I punted, and kicked almost all of those teams out. If they want to get back in, they'll have plenty of opportunity now that conference season has started and the creampuffs are cleared out of their schedules.

The biggest development was that North Carolina lost, of course. They fall to #4, and Pittsburgh jumps all the way to #1, since #2 Wake Forest's big wins both dropped out with the wash. Clemson moves into #3 from #6 and Butler and Dayton follow.

Connecticut also lost, to Georgetown, last week, and drops to #8, and Syracuse and still-undefeated Illinois State move up to 9th and 10th.

SportsRatings Top 25 - Week 8 (thru 1/4/2008)
lw	#	Team	Rec	Big wins/losses
5	1.	Pittsburgh	14-0	w@FSU+8,@Gtown+16
3	2.	Wake Forest	13-0	w=Baylor+9,@BYU+7
6	3.	Clemson	14-0	wIllinois+2
1	4.	North Carolina	13-1	L BostonColl-7
10	5.	Duke	12-1	L@Mich-8;w=Xavier+18
9	6.	Butler	12-1	L@OSU-3;@Xavier+9,wNwest+4
13	7.	Dayton	13-1	L Creighton-18;w=Marq+14
2	8.	Connecticut	12-1	L Gtown-9
14	9.	Syracuse	14-1	L ClevelandSt-3
19	10.	Illinois State	14-0
	11.	Arkansas	11-1	L@MizzSt-5;wOklahoma+8
4	12.	Oklahoma	13-1	L@Arkansas-8
23	13.	Marquette	13-2	L@Tenn-12,=Dayton-14;wVill-7
22	14.	Xavier	11-2	L=Duke-18,Butler-9
15	15.	Minnesota	13-1	L MichSt-12;wOhioSt+9
16	16.	Georgetown	10-2	L=Tenn-12,Pitt-16;w@UConn+9
12	17.	Stanford	11-1	L ASU-30;wNwest+6
	18.	Boston College	13-2	L@StLouis-3,=Purd-7;w@UNC+7
	19.	Maryland	11-2	L=Gonz-22,=Gtown-27;w=MichSt+18
	20.	Michigan State	11-2	L=Mary-18,UNC-35;w@Minn+12,@NW+11
24	21.	Florida State	13-2	L@Nwest-14,Pitt-8
	22.	Texas A&M	13-1	L=Tulsa;wLSU+11
	23.	Louisiana State	12-1	L@TexAM-11
	24.	Utah State	12-1	L=BYU-5
	25.	St. Mary's	13-1	L=UTEP-13
		out:
7	--	Baylor	12-2	L SCarolina-1,=Wake-13;w=ArizSt+9
8	--	Ohio State	10-2	L WVA-28,@Minn-9;wButler+3
11	--	Villanova	12-2	L=Texas-9,@Marq-7
25	--	Illinois	13-2	L@Mich-10,Clemson-2
17	--	Arizona State	12-2	L=Baylor-9,@Cal-10;@Stan+30,wBYU+1
18	--	BYU	11-2	L@ASU-1,Wake-7
20	--	Tennessee	9-3	L@Tem-16,=Gon-9,@KU-7;w=Gt+12,Mar+12
21	--	Northwestern	8-4	L@PSU-4,@But-4,@Stan-6,MSU-11;wFSU+14

Oklahoma falls to #12 after losing to Arkansas, who debuts at #11. Moving up from 23 to 13 for beating Villanove is Marquette; Xavier, losers to two top ten teams, is 14th.

Minnesota and Georgetown had wild weeks but don't move. The Gophers lost to Michigan State but then beat Ohio State; the Hoyas upset UConn then lost to Pittsburgh.

Stanford's first loss drops them five spots; and Florida State moves up a few spots to #21.

The rest of the top 25 is made up of newcomers. First and foremost, Boston College comes in after beating North Carolina. Michigan State gets back in by beating two teams that were in the rankings last week—Minnesota and Northwestern.

Four 1-loss teams—the last four not in the rankings last week—enter, with Texas A&M leading the way at #22, ahead of LSU whom they beat. Utah State and St. Mary's follow.

A slew of teams, many of them still deserving of a spot but held out by losses to other 2-loss teams until there just wasn't room. Baylor and Ohio State fall all the way out from the top ten, and the Bears especially still have a great résumé. Villanova drops out after the loss to Marquette.

Illinois falls out after poking in last week at #25. They have a win over Missouri, who beat Cal, who beat ASU, who also falls out, along with a team they beat previously, BYU.

Finally Tennessee and Northwestern fall out due to excessive losses. The Volunteers have a couple of really good wins, and Northwestern has lost to three top 25 teams and beaten another, so both teams—and many others not in the list this week—could be back soon.