[The Poet]

We move into the backend of the Top 25 with a name normally seen much closer to the roof:


# 13 - Kansas = The Jayhawks have been bitten heavily of late by early withdrawals, and they've also had personal personnel problems to deal with too. Already a pair of players have been shut down for their first two exhibition games. Those are of course meaningless, but it's not a good sign. I feel confident Bill Self will do his best with what he has, and we'll see if they move up, or crash.

# 14 -Xavier = I have a lot of respect for the Musketeer program, and for the A-10 at large. They have a few good guards, and a few transfers from other schools to give them depth and experience. But to be among the top 15? With a suspension for their center Frease, and star guard Holloway sitting out their opener for a "violation"? In a league with Temple, Richmond, Duquesne, GW, RIU, St. Bonnies, UMass, La Salle, and Sts. Louis oad Joe's? Plus non-conference foes Georgia, Vandy, Purdue, Butler, Cincy, Zags, and Memphis on their plate? Hey, if they stay where they are in the polls, they with EARN it!

# 15 - Wisconsin = The Badgers will coast . . . well, plod, actually . . . through their first few weeks of cupcakes, but will get an early quiz when they visit Chapel Hill 11/30. Were I Bo Ryan, I might let PG Jordan Taylor wear sneakers for that one, but everybody else should be in Wolverines: If they try to run with the Heels, the game's already over. I can see the boys from Madison competing for the Big Seventy-Eight regular season witn OSU, the Michigan schools, and maybe Purdue, but I'll believe they'll be a national contender when it happens.

# 16 - Arizona = This sounds about right to me, with 'Zona being a Sweet Sixteen come March. If I remember correctly, the Desert 'Cats did a lot better last year than was expected, so they might even move up. This can occur with a team that's been there before, and though I don't much care for the program I am glad to see SOME Pac-47 teams get some respect. Speaking of which:

# 17 - UCLA = Remember these guys? I've been told they used to win a game or three from time to time. In a way, it's good to see them get at least partway back. In another way, I'm not so pleased. See, the joke around my alma mater is that the Blue-and-Gold is Carolina Lite, what with the Wear twins getting back on the court this year, and He-Whose-Name-Will-Not-Be-Mentioned maybe playing for the Bruins next year . . . MAYBE, if he plays well enough to get off the bench, and if he doesn't go crying home to Mommie once again. As with those other fuzzy creatures above, the Badgers, I can see UCLA competing in conference, though maybe not outside of it. And maybe not even that, when you consider that they have NO HOME GAMES this year: Pauley is closed for renovations, and not only will John Wooden not be in the stands, his name won't be on the court as well.

# 18 - Michigan = These guys started off like crap last year, and turned it around to get up as high as decent. To tell you the truth, I don't know which team will show up this season, and I'm not sure anybody will until the dust clears next spring. The Logans haven't scheduled much out-of-conference (Memphis, UVA, Bradley being the only potential non-pastry squads), so we may not know much at all until league play is well under way. For some reason, I see them going down instead of moving up, but as I said, who knows?


That's about all I can handle for one day, and I wanna go out and have a short smoke before the sun goes down. Pipe up and pipe in, brothers, and I'll be back later.