pre christmas burner rankings
welcome back to the burner blog. i am just a normal guy who watches a ton of sports, and i have a lot of takes and just looking for a place to let those takes get out there. i am not going to use capital letters so if you don’t like that i do not care.
the last time i updated my top 10 was right before feast week. we’ve seen a lot of basketball since then and it is time for me to update my rankings.
just a reminder to people that like to overreact to one loss and drastically change their rankings, that is stupid and we shouldn’t always do it. being a victim of the moment is the stupidest thing we can do as sports fans/experts.
- michigan (prev — honorable mention)
yeah. hand up. i fucked up. i didn’t have them in my top 10 in the last rankings and that was likely because they had just barely escaped tcu with a win. i was too hard on them.
since then, they have shown just how high their ceiling is (i mentioned they had an elite ceiling in the previous rankings, credit to me). i also did mention how i didn’t feel like their nonconference schedule was all that tough. it really hasn’t been all that tough, especially for them. they have just completely blown everyone out along the way.
dusty may has the boys rolling. their defense is somehow analytically better than their offense and they’ve scored 100 points in half their games.
the only thing holding them back is that they play in the big ten.
2. arizona (prev — 3)
‘burner, they have the best resume, they have to be #1!’
false. i don’t really care about ‘resume’ this early in the season. and anyone that wants to be critical of a ranking where a particular team is #2 instead of #1 is just an absolute loser.
arizona has had a great season. i don’t really have anything i can be too critical of, i just think michigan is better. tommy lloyd hopefully has silenced his haters. if arizona doesn’t win the national title (hard to do), those same haters will probably call him a choker or say he can’t win the big one. those people are stupid.
3. houston (prev — 1)
people somehow had sort of forgotten about houston. i’m not sure why anyone would do that. but after they beat arkansas (good team) yesterday, everyone was somehow reminded that houston is really good and going to be really good this year. this version of houston was going to take a little while to develop into what they will be (like most teams). houston hasn’t had this kind of youth at any point under sampson. when they end up with a 30+ win record headed into march i will not be surprised.
4. uconn (prev — 5)
they are currently in a dogfight with depaul *have since taken a commanding lead*. depaul stinks. even if uconn somehow lost to depaul, i still feel good about them at 4. they are clearly a national championship level team. the emergence of braylon mullins coming off of his injury has helped them a lot.
they are the type of team that you don’t want to play. they aren’t afraid to get in a grind-it-out game in the 60s, they aren’t afraid to pick up the pace and beat you at your game either. dan hurley is still the best coach in the country until i decide otherwise.
5. duke (prev — 2)
they lost last night. completely blew it. had a 17 point second half lead. is that concerning? yes. are they still a top 5 team? yes. i’m not going to overreact to a loss against a top 20 team. it happens. they’re just kids.
they had closed out games well and had a few scares already this season. they were bound to lose one of them. i was really impressed with them even in the loss. the collapse was horrific, but they overcame a slow start and built a huge lead against a good team. they have some things to figure out, but they will obviously be in the mix at the end of the year.
i want it on record that i am not dropping them down this far in my rankings because of the loss. it is more due to the other teams rising above.
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6. iowa state (prev — unranked)
this feels a little low, but i would still take those teams ahead of them. as an iowa state hater, it pains me to rank them this high. probably why i hadn’t mentioned them in my honorable mentions previously. this looks like the best team iowa state has had since marcus fizer or jamaal tinsley were in ames (if you don’t know who those guys are, you’re either not a ball knower, or you’re too young).
they completely dismantled purdue at purdue and had some impressive wins at the players era. they are clearly one of the best teams in the country.
my only concern with them is that they may not enjoy playing low scoring/grind-it-out games. they have twice the talent iowa has and they were uncomfortable in that game. ‘burner they still won!’ — yeah but they didn’t love being in that game. they probably needed to play a game like that this early in the season so they can prepare for when it happens again. you will typically need to be able to win a game like that (against a more talented team than iowa) to win a national championship.
7. purdue (prev — 4)
we saw what they can look like when they play a team with clearly more talent than them. we also know they’re a high floor team that will have a really good season and a high seed in the ncaa tournament. i’ve said before that their experience will carry them a long way this year. it will.
obviously the concern here is that they may not be able to guard teams with elite talent. if that team with elite talent can at least slow down purdue (great offense), then they will have some issues (michigan comes to mind). obviously being a bit nit-picky, but when you only rank a top 10, you’re only ranking teams with national championship aspirations. if i’m not being critical of these teams, then who will be?
8. byu (prev — 6)
i’m not sure what they need to do, but they simply have to stop sucking early on in games. if they stop doing that, they will move up in the rankings. when they play to their ceiling? they are scary.
also just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that a.j. dybantsa will be the #1 pick. he just moves differently out there.
9. gonzaga (prev — 10)
aside from getting absolutely embarrassed by michigan, they have been awesome this year. they shouldn’t feel too bad, michigan has been killing everyone.
the zags are currently playing oregon. if they don’t mess around and lose that one, they’re looking at a pretty normal gonzaga record of 1 or 2 regular season losses. credit to them and mark few. back to the second weekend they go.
10. louisville (prev — 8)
yes, i know. they recently got embarrassed by tennessee. sometimes it happens. a team that needs to make shots doesn’t make shots and gets blown out on the road.
i still believe in the guards. i still believe in this team. pat kelsey has gotten louisville back to where they should be. in the mix.
honorable mentions:
michigan state — they are right there. have to give them a shout-out. but i’m not ranking them yet.
illinois — i still love the ceiling. but i’m not sure anyone trusts them.
vanderbilt — they’ve played nobody but they look good so far. the analytics love them. mark byington doing a stellar job in year 2.
kentucky — yep. i haven’t quit them yet. we saw jayden quaintance return and they beat an incredibly overrated st. john’s team. but now with jq back, we can see the vision.
florida — *this does not count as an honorable mention* — i just wanted to mention that xavian lee stinks. florida will have a solid year probably, but just wanted to point out that he stinks.
thank you for reading this edition of the #burnerrankings.
