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College basketball rankings: AP Top 25 sees big changes after 17 ranked teams lose – 247Sports
AP Poll voters had a difficult task this week as a whopping 17 ranked teams in last week’s poll suffered at least one loss, including three of the top six teams. And this week’s poll carries a bit of extra interest as well because of what’s coming on Saturday.
That’s when the NCAA Tournament selection committee will release its preview of the top 16 seeds for the upcoming tournament. Of course, teams can move up or down in seeding from this point, but generally speaking, it’s been a pretty accurate look at where teams stand, and the committee president gives some answers as to why they stand that way.
And that could add some clarity to a season without much of it. With the exception of the very top of the poll, contenders have floated in and out by the week, making it difficult to predict with any certainty which teams are capable of stacking multiple wins together once March Madness starts.
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Here’s a look at this week’s AP Top 25 poll.
What more can anyone say about the Huskies? They just keep winning. UConn is tied for the longest current winning streak in college basketball at 12 games, and has a 2.5-game edge over Marquette in the Big East title race. In UConn’s win over Butler last week, Cam Spencer (20 points) and Donovan Clingan (18 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks) led the way. In rolling Georgetown, it was Alex Karaban (25 points) and Stephon Castle (17). The Huskies are deep with talent and have multiple ways to win. Anything can happen in March, but the defending national champs are showing an awful lot of consistency in a year marked by other contenders failing to find it.
The Boilermakers just had one game this past week, a 20-point victory over in-state rival Indiana. Zach Edey finished with 26 points — including his first career 3-point make — 13 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal, while Braden Smith had a terrific showing with 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals. Even Batman needs a Robin, and while Edey is college basketball’s best Batman, Purdue is so much better when Smith plays at an all-conference type level next to him.
Houston remains No. 1 on KenPom, BartTorvik and on the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET). So it will be interesting to see what that means this week when the NCAA Tournament selection committee releases its in-season top 16 seeds on Saturday. Will Houston’s dominance in efficiency be enough for the Cougars to land the No. 1 overall seed? Houston has the nation’s best defense by a significant margin, but will the offense lend enough pop? If Houston has an off shooting night and an opponent can keep the Cougars from dominating the offensive glass, that could spell doom. But that’s easier said than done, as Cincinnati will attest after Houston shot 3-for-16 from 3 on Saturday, but made up for it by grabbing 17 offensive boards in a five-point win.
The Golden Eagles will try to pull one back in the Big East race this week when Marquette travels to play at UConn on Saturday. And if Tyler Kolek keeps playing at the level he’s found recently, Marquette will have every opportunity in that one. Kolek had seven points combined in back-to-back losses to Seton Hall and Butler, but in every game since, he’s either scored at least 15 points or had at least 11 assists, and in three of those seven games — all Marquette wins — he’s had both. Last week, Kolek had 17 points and eight assists to just one turnover in a win over Georgetown, and he followed that up with 27 points, seven rebounds, 13 assists and two steals in an 11-point win over St. John’s.
Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats went 2-0 on the road last week, outlasting Utah 105-99 in triple overtime, then heading to Colorado and completing Arizona’s sweep of the Buffaloes with a 99-79 win. Pelle Larsson perhaps doesn’t get as much credit as some of the Wildcats’ other stars, but he’s averaging 20.7 points per game over Arizona’s last three contests, and he added seven rebounds and eight assists to help the Wildcats hold off Utah. In truth, the Wildcats can lean on so many players depending on the night; the bigger issue is finding defensive consistency.
The Jayhawks rank 342nd in bench minutes, making them one of the thinnest teams considered a legitimate contender. And with Kevin McCullar Jr. out with a nagging knee injury, multiple other Jayhawks facing illnesses and Dajuan Harris rolling his ankle against Baylor — he came back, but was clearly limited — Kansas is going to need to get some big performances from unexpected sources. Kansas lost at Kansas State in overtime to start last week, then found a way to hold off a top 15 Baylor team at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday. Will the Jayhawks have enough to get a big road win this week? Kansas goes to Texas Tech on Monday, then Oklahoma on Saturday.
The Tar Heels lost a trap game to Georgia Tech before beating Duke, then fell to Clemson on the other side of that big win. Granted, Clemson has the pieces to be a tough team, but losing at home to the Tigers and giving a game back in the ACC title race isn’t ideal. UNC then went on the road and outlasted a game Miami team 75-72 with R.J. Davis scoring 25 points, grabbing seven boards and dishing out five assists, and his freshman point guard mate, Elliot Cadeau, adding 19 points, eight assists and four steals. North Carolina currently holds a one-game lead in the ACC race over Virginia, with Duke hovering just behind the Cavaliers.
The Volunteers started the week with a 20-point home win over LSU, building off the previous week’s road victory over Kentucky at Rupp Arena. But then the Volunteers ran into an absolute buzzsaw in a physical and determined Texas A&M team, with the Aggies landing a 16-point victory. This is a better scoring team than most Rick Barnes iterations, but the Volunteers also haven’t been as elite defensively, particularly of late, giving up 92 points to Kentucky and 85 points to Texas A&M in two of Tennessee’s last three games.
The Blue Devils came back home after losing to North Carolina and defeated Notre Dame by 18 and Boston College by 15. Duke currently sits third in the ACC standings, a half-game behind second-place Virginia, with Wake Forest and Florida State in fourth and fifth. And that’s who Duke gets this week, hosting the Demon Deacons and then heading on the road to play the Seminoles in Tallahassee. The Blue Devils still have as much talent as anybody in the country, and this would be a good week for Duke to flex that muscle in a pair of tricky games.
The Cyclones are a half-game back of Houston for the Big 12 lead, and a half-game up on Kansas for second place. T.J. Otzelberger’s team is typically great on defense, and the Cyclones have been unbeatable at home. But the Cyclones have also been able to swipe two big road wins in the Big 12, including a victory at Texas last week before coming back to Ames and beating TCU by 12. This week brings a tough road trip to Cincinnati on Tuesday, with Iowa State returning to Hilton to host Texas Tech.
11. South Carolina (21-3) — South Carolina has won seven straight games. While the analytics haven’t quite caught on yet — South Carolina ranks 45th on KenPom — it’s worth noting that the Gamecocks have been the nation’s 12th most efficient team since Jan. 20.
12. Baylor (17-6) — Baylor held off Texas Tech in Waco, then had two clean looks to send the Kansas game at Allen Fieldhouse into overtime, missing both of them and along with it, a rare chance to win in Lawrence.
13. Auburn (18-5) — Auburn had a great start to last week, pummeling rival Alabama by 18 points in a rematch from two weeks earlier. But then the Tigers found themselves on the opposite end end of a 16-point blowout at Florida.
14. Illinois (17-6) — The Fighting Illini need to re-find themselves defensively after giving up 88 points in last week’s loss to Michigan State. A home date against rival Michigan on Tuesday could help there.
15. Alabama (17-7) — The Crimson Tide still have the nation’s most efficient offense, but haven’t been good enough on the other end, giving up 99 points in a loss to Auburn and 92 points in a 17-point win over an LSU team with a mediocre offense.
16. Dayton (19-4) — Dayton took just its second loss since mid-November on Friday when the Flyers went ice cold on offense against VCU in a 49-47 loss. That marked the fewest point scored this year by the Flyers by eight points.
17. Creighton (17-7) — Creighton still hasn’t reached its potential this year, pairing solid efforts with some near misses. This week that included an overtime loss at Providence, followed by a seven-point win at Xavier.
18. Saint Mary’s (20-6) — The Gaels are tied for the nation’s longest winning streak with 12 straight, with 11 of those wins coming in West Coast Conference play, where the Gaels have a two-game lead in first place.
19. BYU (17-6) — It’s tough to win on the road in the Big 12, and BYU got thumped at Oklahoma before returning home and winning over Kansas State with five players scoring in double figures.
20. Wisconsin (16-8) — The Badgers climbed into the top 10 with a 16-4 start that had Wisconsin leading the Big Ten. But they’ve lost four straight since, including losses at Michigan and Rutgers last week.
21. Virginia (19-5) — Reece Beekman has been a big-time player, averaging 18.5 points and 6.0 assists over Virginia’s two wins last week. Don’t look now, but the Cavaliers have won eight straight games and are starting to come together.
22. Kentucky (16-7) — The Wildcats have lost three of four and four of six after losing at home to Gonzaga on Saturday. That marked the first time Kentucky has ever lost three straight games at Rupp Arena.
23. Indiana State (22-3) — The Sycamores just keep winning, dropping just one game since the new year, including victories over Valparaiso and Missouri State last week. That allowed Indiana State to climb into the poll this week.
24. Florida Atlantic (19-5) — The Owls played two overtime games this week, with the first resulting in the Owls’ first loss in more than a month, to UAB, and the second seeing FAU land a road win at Wichita State.
25. Oklahoma (18-6) — The Sooners climbed back into the poll after winning two games at home last week, a 16-point victory over BYU and a four-point victory over rival Oklahoma State.
Others Receiving Votes: Utah St. 160, Colorado St. 145, Texas Tech 111, San Diego St. 84, Washington St 82, Clemson 57, Nevada 57, Gonzaga 50, New Mexico 27, Florida 19, Michigan St. 17, Texas A&M 16, Grand Canyon 13, Mississippi 12, TCU 10, Texas 9, Memphis 8, South Florida 7, Northwestern 2, UNC Wilmington 1.
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