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College basketball rankings: Memphis moves up in Top 25 And 1 after beating Arkansas in Battle 4 Atlantis – CBS Sports
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Memphis wing David Jones did not make the CBS Sports list of the Top 100 And 1 college basketball players this preseason — but don’t blame me! The ballot I submitted included the 6-foot-6 transfer from St. John’s; he just didn’t get enough votes elsewhere.
It is what it is.
No big deal.
But let the record show that Jones is making my ballot look smarter and smarter through five games this season — especially after what he did in the fifth game of this season. In 33 minutes against Arkansas on Thursday, Jones took 14 shots, made 10 of them and finished with 36 points, five steals, four rebounds and two assists in an 84-79 victory over the Razorbacks. He’s the main reason Penny Hardaway’s Tigers are 5-0 and up to No. 14 in Friday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
“[David Jones] kicked our butt,” said Arkansas coach Eric Musselman, whose Razorbacks are down to No. 24 in the Top 25 And 1. “There’s a lot of scouts here and stuff. They’re gonna remember that performance. He played that good. He was that dominant on unbelievable efficiency.”
Jones is now averaging 18.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 steals in 28.4 minutes per game for a Memphis squad that owns two neutral-court wins over top-40 KenPom.com teams (Arkansas, Michigan) and a true-road victory over a top-90 KenPom team (Missouri). It’s not the sport’s best resume; that belongs to Purdue. But it’s exactly the type of resume Hardaway was hoping to create for the NCAA Tournament selection committee when he scheduled aggressively in advance of a conference slate that won’t offer many opportunities to secure quality victories.
Up next for Memphis is a showdown with Villanova in Friday’s title game of the Battle 4 Atlantis. If the Tigers win, they’ll have three victories over top-40 KenPom teams. Only Purdue would then enter the weekend with more.
In: Colorado State | Out: North Carolina
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