Purdue center Zach Edey battles for a rebound with Indiana forward Miller Kopp.jpeg

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The junior varsity games are over. The fun stuff picks up this week: men's college basketball conference play.

The projections are not the greatest for the local teams.

At Ken Pomeroy's analytics site, Louisville is projected to finish 4-16 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Kentucky 12-6 in the Southeastern, Indiana 8-12 in the Big Ten, Bellarmine 8-8 in the ASUN and Western Kentucky 8-8 in Conference USA.

Bart Torvik, another sit, see it this way: U of L 4-16. UK 12-6;. IU 8-12. Bellarmine 9-7 and WKU 9-7.

Here is the vote I filed in this Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday:

  1. Purdue (12-1): The Boilermakers are making quite a habit of hanging out at the top of the poll.
  2. Houston (13-0): Ken Pomeroy’s formula has the Cougars going 15-3 during their first season in the Big 12.
  3. Kansas (12-1): The Jayhawks still don’t have a Top 35 offense.
  4. Kentucky (10-2): Pomeroy’s formula has John Calipari’s team finishing behind Tennessee, Alabama and Auburn in the SEC.
  5. Tennessee (9-3): The Vols have played the 17th toughest schedule in the nation, losing three games by a combined 21 points to Top 10 opponents.
  6. Illinois (10-2): The Illini have Northwestern and Purdue this week, likely without Terrance Shannon Jr., who was suspended last week after he was charged with rape in Lawrence, Kansas.
  7. Connecticut (11-2): The Huskies are still navigating life without injured center Donovan Clingan.
  8. Marquette (11-3): All of the Golden Eagles’ losses have been to ranked teams — Purdue, Wisconsin and Providence.
  9. North Carolina (9-3): Who was the ACC schedule maker that gave the Tar Heels back-to-back-to-back road games against Pittsburgh, Clemson and North Carolina State?
  10. Colorado State (12-1): Niko Medved will be a top candidate for any good jobs that pop open in March.
  11. Oklahoma (12-1): The Sooners’ only loss was to North Carolina.
  12. Auburn (10-2): I don’t understand why Bruce Pearl’s team has not been ranked considering their 10 victories have all been by at least 15 points.
  13. Clemson (11-1): Tigers’ center P.J. Hall ranks third in Pomeroy’s player of the year standings, behind Zach Edey of Purdue and Kyle Filipowski of Duke.
  14. Duke (9-3): Remember, the Blue Devils are 0-1 in the ACC with a loss to Georgia Tech.
  15. Baylor (10-2): Six of the Bears wins are against teams with computer rankings of 221 or lower.
  16. Brigham Young (12-1): Former UK star Mark Pope has another terrific team but the Cougars have not won a road game.
  17. Florida Atlantic (10-3): The Owls took a nasty loss at Florida Gulf Coast, which failed to beat Hampton, Mercer, Norfolk State and Indiana.
  18. Wisconsin (9-3): Only six teams average longer possessions than the Badgers, who clock in at 19.7 seconds.
  19. Memphis (11-2): The Tigers have gone 4-1 against SEC opponents, 2-0 against the ACC and 1-0 against the Big 10.
  20. Texas (10-2): The Longhorns have not beaten a Top 100 team but they won’t be able to hide in the Big 12.
  21. Arizona (10-3): The Wildcats have lost three of their last four and were drubbed by Stanford Sunday.
  22. James Madison (13-0): Pomeroy has the Dukes losing three of 18 Sun Belt Conference games.
  23. Providence (11-2): The Friars took the entire week off.
  24. Colorado (11-2): Tad Boyle is quietly doing something Deion Sanders did not do in Boulder — win games and build a Top 25 resume.
  25. San Diego State (10-2): The Aztecs knocked Gonzaga off my ballot by defeating the Zags by 10 points in Spokane.

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