Gary, I respect your respect of Michigan State as you realized a month ago what the other polls are now just waking up to acknowledge. But Gary it is time to put Michigan State ahead of your's and Dickie V's love of Duke.  The conference RPI's are in, the SOS's are in, Duke is not quite as good as State.  State is 2 games up on the #1 RPI conference in the land.  The ACC is 6th. Duke is merely tied for 1st place in the 6th best league.  I would even see Kansas ahead of Duke.  I see it as Kentucky, Cuse, Michigan State, Kansas, Duke, North Carolina.

I can definitely see how someone would choose to rank either Michigan St. or Duke ahead of the other (1 poll spot...not a big deal) based on their achievements so far.  Both have close to the same record and a good record against a strong strength of schedule.  However, I (biasedly) believe Duke's resume is a little stronger than MSU's.  Both teams have 2 "bad" losses (Northwestern and Illinois for MSU; Miami and Temple for Duke) and more losses against very good teams.  In terms of wins though, Duke has 3 over top 10 teams and 6 total wins against ranked teams whereas Michigan State has 1 win over top 10 teams (6 total against ranked teams).  With resumes this close, maybe the only deciding factor could be head-to-head, which Duke won.

I'm not trying to aruge over 1 spot in a man-made poll (it would be silly to argue over that when teams have similar resumes) but I think it is clear how any pollster could potentially view either resume as better than the other.  Finally, I will note that even the most adamant defenders of RPI admit that it's only useful in loosely ranking groups of teams (i.e. 1-15, 25-50, 50-100 etc.) and that a difference of two spots in RPI units is not actually telling of anything to discern the two teams.

The conference RPI's are in, the SOS's are in, Duke is not quite as good as State.  State is 2 games up on the #1 RPI conference in the land.

You realize that everyone with a brain (ie not the selection committee) realizes the RPI is a joke and not a legitimate tool to compare teams right? Also the Big 10 is hardcore overrated so the conference records need to be taken with a grain of salt. I also love how you seem to think that the elite 8 field will be made up entirely of blue bloods. There are always upsets son. 

Gary, I respect your respect of Michigan State as you realized a month ago what the other polls are now just waking up to acknowledge. But Gary it is time to put Michigan State ahead of your's and Dickie V's love of Duke.  The conference RPI's are in, the SOS's are in, Duke is not quite as good as State.  State is 2 games up on the #1 RPI conference in the land.  The ACC is 6th. Duke is merely tied for 1st place in the 6th best league.  I would even see Kansas ahead of Duke.  I see it as Kentucky, Cuse, Michigan State, Kansas, Duke, North Carolina.

I think it is going to be one of the best elite eight fields in a long time, and lots of fun.... 

where is memphis?

last time i looked it was in the southwest corner of tennessee.  unless its moved or fell into the mississippi

Baylor has lost 3 of 6 and has only zero top-25 wins. Marquette has won 12 of 13 and has 3 top-25 wins. Yet you have Baylor ahead of Marquette. Someone doesn't pay much attention to college basketball 

Baylor has beaten Iowa state and San Diego St. both according to Parrish and Goodman are top 25 wins. Also Baylor's worst loss is to K-state (not a bad loss at all). Someone doesn't pay much attention to college basketball.

Baylor has lost 3 of 6 and has only zero top-25 wins. Marquette has won 12 of 13 and has 3 top-25 wins. Yet you have Baylor ahead of Marquette. Someone doesn't pay much attention to college basketball

where is Memphis? you got funny hair

You guys apparantly have not been following Wichita State. Your ranking of 17th in the country is well under-rated. They will not be an easy out in the NCAA tournament. If you must be reminded, Wichita State beat UNLV by 19 points back in December.