Each week we will take a look at a few teams that may be undervalued or overvalued based our projections of the upcoming national rankings and probable conference and NCAA tournament seeding.

OVERRATED:

AP No. 4 Oklahoma: The Sooners will obviously fall in the standings with a few recent losses but there is still a good chance they end up a No. 2 seed in the tournament. There is an outside chance of still being a #1 seed should they fare well in the conference tournament and some of the other top teams suffer early exits. Obviously either Pittsburgh or Connecticut and either Duke of North Carolina will take a loss this weekend that could keep the Sooners on the elite tier.

The Griffin-less losses also might give OU a bump as well but the reality is they have faced a very easy schedule. The Sagarin ratings peg OU at No. 8 and the Pomeroy ratings have them at #16, they will certainly enter the tournament ranked higher than that and the star power of Griffin, one of the few household names for casual fans will have the Sooners overvalued in the early match-ups.

AP No. 17 Xavier: The Musketeers were an elite eight team last season as a No. 3 seed but recall that they probably should not have made it out of the first round as Georgia led by nine at the half and Xavier came back to win with the help of an absurd 33-5 free throw attempt edge. Xavier picked up several nice wins in non-conference play to create a strong overall profile but this is team that is not playing its best late in the year, losing three of the last six games heading into the final two regular season contests. The Pomeroy ratings have Xavier ranked at No. 25 which seems about right considering that the A-10 has proved to be fairly mediocre once again.

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AP No. 25 Syracuse: A blowout of Rutgers last week will keep the Orange in the polls and a win over Marquette could create a big rise upwards. The Orange has won three in a row but in the last month the best wins are over Cincinnati and Georgetown at home, two teams that have faded. Syracuse went 0-5 against the top four teams in the Big East and the early season win over Memphis will carry too more weight than warranted as Memphis had considerable player turnover and is playing much better late in the year. After starting the season 16-1, the Orange are 6-7 since with few quality wins. Always a popular and well known team, Syracuse will likely be a popular pick for a 7-10 or 8-9 match-up but they are vulnerable.

UNDERRATED:

AP No. 7 Duke: We’ll see this weekend if the Blue Devils can knock out North Carolina and gain a bit more national respect but Duke seems to be a team that was overrated for so long that they are now underrated. It sounds odd but no top No. 3 seed will be penciled in for an upset in the first weekend more often than Duke based on their past tournament failures. Duke has a few issues but they rate as one of the most efficient teams in the nation on both sides of the ball and this is a veteran squad that has quietly put together a five-game win streak heading into the finale, beating Wake Forest, Maryland, Virginia Tech, and Florida State in succession and they will likely grab a favorable venue for the first two NCAA tournament games.

AP No. 16 Washington: The Huskies left some reason for doubts a few weeks ago but now have run away with the Pac-10 title. A pesky Washington State squad on a great run is up in the final game but Washington has been by far the most consistent team in the conference and will be the first outright Pac-10 champion in many years that will be given virtually no consideration by the majority of people as a final four threat. Washington has played a quality schedule and has beaten all the top Pac-10 teams at least once, including sweeping arguably the most talented team, Arizona State. The Pac-10 rates just narrowly behind the Big East in most computer rankings and far ahead of the Big 12 and there is chance the teams out west are better than realized.

AP No. 19 Clemson: Most computer models have Wake Forest and Clemson separated by the smallest of margins as 3rd and 4th best teams in the No. 1 conference in the nation. The Deacons are ranked considerably higher in the polls and likely will receive a superior seed despite very similar profiles. Wake Forest beat Clemson the first time around but the revenge opportunity is waiting this weekend. Non-conference wins over South Carolina and Illinois look pretty appealing at this point in the season and the Tigers appear to still be getting penalized for an OT loss at Virginia, a game that came in a very tough scheduling spot. Clemson beat Duke in the lone meeting and did not have the opportunity to face UNC at home as the Tar Heels have benefited from one of the easier ACC schedules. After being upset as a No. 5 seed last year the Tigers will be a strong sleeper team this year.