The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: January, a Month to Forget for Some Teams

Several hours before one of the best weekends in college basketball gets underway, there is still the matter of deciding which teams are the best of the best, and which teams are the worst of the worst.

Although there are many exciting matchups to look forward to Saturday, such as Georgia at No. 3 Kentucky, No. 4 Duke at No. 17 Georgia Tech, and No. 13 Connecticut at No. 12 Georgetown, many teams are simply holding on by the skin of their teeth as the race toward March heats up.

Out of the Top 25 Ranked Teams and the teams that are struggling, this article will determine which team deserves the title of "good," which deserves the title of "bad," and which deserves the title of "ugly."

Pretty straightforward, right?

The Good

Not an easy title to give at the moment.  With No. 1 Kansas playing at the top of their game, and Texas still chugging along in the No. 2 spot, it is hard to decipher who truly is the best team at the moment.

When writing this article, the typical issue of "Kansas hasn't played anyone tough on their schedule yet except for Memphis and Temple" springs to mind.

Although this may be the case, there are still a few relevant factors that I believe make them the elite team in College Basketball at the moment.

The first one being that Xavier Henry is playing great. Saying that he is an underrated player is a bit of a stretch. The fact that he has outplayed Cole Aldrich for the points leader spot for the Jayhawks sums up his season so far.

Two days ago, the Jayhawks nearly fell to below-average Cornell. As much of a story as this was, it was expected to happen.

Kansas was going to hit that bump in the road that could potentially throw them from the No. 1 spot somewhere along the line this season. 

As big a story as it was, the bigger story, arguably, was that the Jayhawks managed to come back and win, and that is simply what good teams do.

A tough test is to be had against Tennessee, although the Jayhawks will have one less thing to worry about with Tyler Smith's arrest. Indeed a tough test, but one that is set to prove whether or not the Jayhawks are who they seem to be.

The Bad

At the moment in college basketball, there are a lot of good teams that weren't expected to perform as well as they have, and at the same time there are a lot of bad teams that weren't expected to perform as poorly as they have.

The one team that comes to mind is the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Currently ranked No. 17 overall, they are at the seesaw point in their season where things could go either way.

With a loss to Dayton early in week two, and more recently a loss to rival Georgia, the Yellow Jackets need to regroup quickly and have an outstanding performance against Duke on Saturday.

Even if the inevitable happens and the Blue Devils do come out on top, it is important that Georgia Tech at least plays well. 

With meaningful and highly nerve-racking games coming up against Virginia and North Carolina, the Yellow Jackets need all the confidence they can get.

Although they have been given the bad title, they can switch it around and be featured once again in the good. If one man alone can do it, it is Gani Lawal. Averaging 15.3 points on the season, he may be the deciding factor against Duke tomorrow.

The Ugly

This one was easy for me. The Memphis Tigers.

If anyone were to write a book on this team, the title would be, "The Rise and Fall of the Memphis Tigers."

Watching them on Wednesday night against Syracuse was basically a disaster. No defense, and the offense seemed like they were more interested in padding their stats than actually getting their season back on track.

Sure, Elliott Williams has 19 points per game so far this season, but that doesn't say much when your team struggles even to show up against ranked opponents.

The Tigers' losses include Kentucky, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Syracuse.  With the remainder of their schedule looking slightly easier (except for a home game against Gonzaga), the Tigers may at least finish the season with something to build on.

The Final Four is highly unlikely this season, and if play continues like it did in the Carrier Dome on Wednesday, it may be a long season for Tigers fans this year.