Originally sent on Tuesday, February 11, 2003.
Sorry for the delay, but the delayed opening of the web site caused me to wait so that you would see everything at once.  So this is the beginning of a new age for the MRI.  As usual, you will receive the weekly newsletters.  In addition, you can always check out the website at http://www.mrisports.com.  This will have the latest newsletter, plus some other features, including archives, more articles (written by myself and others).  The site should take more shape over time.  And I am holding my first contest.  Develop the header graphic for the site, and you will win a prize.  Graphics should be 600 pixels long by 100 pixels high.  Submissions can take place at any time until the last week of the season.  I will choose the winner then and it will be used on the site.  I don't know the prize yet.  Maybe a tee-shirt.  I have some ideas in my head.

Some thoughts from the week:
  • Florida State used the victory over Duke to propel them into a great game against North Carolina.  Now, we all know that UNC is not the team they used to be.  Without the inside presence, they lose a lot of the strength that they were showing early in the season.  However, FSU did show some spark by really taking it to the Tar Heels.  As it was, the game came down to a miss on a last second shot by Florida State.  It was a great game to watch, and it was too bad it wasn't on in more places in the country (gotta love the dish).
  • Georgetown and UCLA.  Man, that was supposed to be an easy win for the Hoyas.  It didn't turn out that way.  They were just not up for the game and a very poor UCLA team got a big non-conference win.  The Hoyas needed that game badly as their tournament stock has been dropping over the last few weeks, and a loss to a team struggling like the Bruins just does not help.
  • What a show was put on in the Xavier-Dayton game by David West.  He scored a career high 47 points and was the first Xavier player in 18 years to score over 40.  He also added 15 rebounds and just domnated the game.  At one point, he had 70% of his teams points and ended with just over half.  He was definitely the player of the week for turning in such an amazing performance and helping Xavier end their losing streak against the in-state rivals.

And Now the Rankings

RANK
TEAM
RECORD
MRI
LW
1
Louisville
18-1
153.16
1
2
Arizona
18-2
140.29
2
3
Kansas
15-5
138.02
4
4
Kentucky
18-3
131.92
11
5
Texas
15-4
130.70
3
6
Creighton
21-2
128.27
8
7
Duke
16-3
127.88
9
8
Oklahoma
16-3
124.82
14
9
Pittsburgh
16-3
123.87
6
10
Xavier
17-4
122.55
12
11
Notre Dame
19-4
120.82
5
12
Florida
19-3
120.69
13
13
Wisconsin
16-5
120.39
10
14
Marquette
17-3
119.00
15
15
Wake Forest
16-3
117.18
16
16
Maryland
14-6
114.29
7
17
Mississippi State
15-5
113.96
24
18
Purdue
15-5
113.46
17
19
Illinois
16-4
110.16
19
20
BYU
16-5
108.88
NR(27)
21
Syracuse
16-3
108.81
20
22
Cincinnati
14-6
108.20
21
23
Oklahoma State
17-3
106.82
18
24
St. Joseph's
17-3
105.23
22
25
Auburn
16-5
103.28
25

Teams Dropped From The Top 25:
Georgia (LW #23, TW #27)

Other Teams People Might Care About

RANK
TEAM
RECORD
MRI
LW
38
Michigan State
13-8
86.72
37
40
Texas Tech
13-6
84.63
46
42
Georgia Tech
12-8
82.75
42
52
Pennsylvania
12-5
75.91
56
61
Indiana
14-8
71.28
45
84
North Carolina
12-10
58.65
77
92
Iowa
12-7
56.35
90
95
Florida State
11-9
55.05
88
129
Drexel
12-8
41.31
139
132
Miami
9-10
41.07
122
141
Ball State
10-11
37.32
166
226
Wofford
7-10
8.24
241

Last Place this week:  Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-19) at -119.05.  3rd week in a row.

Biggest Gain this week: Mississippi State gained 15.61 points (Beat Vanderbilt and Arkansas)
Biggest Loss this week: Campbell lost 18.24 points (Lost to Central Florida and Florida Atlantic)

Conference rankings this week:  Big 12, SEC, ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Pac 10, C-USA, Mountain West, Atlantic 10, WAC

Enjoy
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