Power Sweet Sixteen Rankings

As we did last year, tonight marks the annual debut of the March Madness All Season Power Rankings. Every Sunday until we begin to release full weekly brackets in February, March Madness All Season will be making a Power Sweet Sixteen Ranking. It differs from the normal weekly top-25 rankings as this takes RPI, SOS, quality wins, etc. into account as opposed to the "Who didn't lose this week?" mentality of the polls. Anyway, here is the inaugural ranking for 2010:

• Standard bracketing rules apply (no two teams from the same conference in the same half-bracket, etc.)
  
• Numbers in parenthesis next to the team indicate what 1-16 ranking it is
  

Syracuse Region (East):

• 1. Purdue (4)
  
• 2. Duke (5)
  
• 3. Georgetown (10)
  
• 4. Temple (14)
  

Houston Region (South):

• 1. Texas (1)
  
• 2. West Virginia (7)
  
• 3. Michigan State (11)
  
• 4. North Carolina (16)
  

Salt Lake City Region (West):

• 1. Kansas (3)
  
• 2. Syracuse (6)
  
• 3. Wisconsin (12)
  
• 4. Tennessee (13)
  

St. Louis Region (Midwest):

• 1. Kentucky (2)
  
• 2. Villanova (8)
  
• 3. Kansas State (9)
  
• 4. Gonzaga (15)
  

17^th Team: Pittsburgh

Others Considered: Mississippi, BYU, New Mexico, Clemson