West Virginia, Ohio State and Clemson fall off the list of potential champs:

Based on today’s AP Top 25, only ten teams now have the six basic credentials that 17 of the last 19 champions have possessed:

1) They came from a Power conference (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC or Pac 10)
2) They went to the previous year's tourney
3) Their coach had at least five tourney appearances
4) They scored at least 77 points a game
5) Their average margin of victory was 10 points or more
6) They were seeded No. 1 through No. 4

Last week, 13 teams met the criteria above. West Virginia, which just got back onto the champ list last week, fell out again as its scoring average dropped to 75.2 per game. Ohio State and Clemson are also no longer potential champs, since they fell from the ranks of the AP Top 25. Check out this week’s results:

<IMG SRC=/blog/champ_122809.gif>

All the teams with “Y’s” highlighted in blue under “Old Rules” have the six attributes cited above. That includes: Kansas, Texas, Purdue, Syracuse, Duke, Villanova, North Carolina, Michigan State, Tennessee, and Washington.

This year, we’re tracking a seventh champ criterion. Sixteen of 19 champions have possessed all the qualities listed above—and were led by a coach that had been to the Elite Eight in a previous year. If we re- examine our top 25 teams by adding the requirement that their coach have an Elite Eight appearance on his resume, three more squads drop out: Purdue, Tennessee and Washington.

That leaves us with seven teams that have the numbers to cut down the nets in 2010: Kansas, Texas, Syracuse, Duke, Villanova, North Carolina and Michigan State.
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West Virginia, Ohio State and Clemson fall off the list of potential champs: Based on today’s AP Top 25, only ten teams now have the six basic credentials that 17 of the last 19 champions have possessed: 1) They came from a Power conference (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC or Pac 10) 2) They went to the previous year's tourney 3) Their coach had at least five tourney appearances 4) They scored at least 77 points a game 5) Their average margin of victory was 10 points or more 6) They were seeded No. 1 through No. 4 Last week, 13 teams met the criteria above. West Virginia, which just got back onto the champ list last week, fell out again as its scoring average dropped to 75.2 per game. Ohio State and Clemson are also no longer potential champs, since they fell from the ranks of the AP Top 25. Check out this week’s results: <IMG SRC=/blog/champ_122809.gif> All the teams with “Y’s” highlighted in blue under “Old Rules” have the six attributes cited above. That includes: Kansas, Texas, Purdue, Syracuse, Duke, Villanova, North Carolina, Michigan State, Tennessee, and Washington. This year, we’re tracking a seventh champ criterion. Sixteen of 19 champions have possessed all the qualities listed above—and were led by a coach that had been to the Elite Eight in a previous year. If we re- examine our top 25 teams by adding the requirement that their coach have an Elite Eight appearance on his resume, three more squads drop out: Purdue, Tennessee and Washington. That leaves us with seven teams that have the numbers to cut down the nets in 2010: Kansas, Texas, Syracuse, Duke, Villanova, North Carolina and Michigan State.