- Louisville (–) – Had to think about the #1 spot this week, but Louisville thoroughly dominated the team I had ranked #2 at the start of last week and I can’t justify moving the Cards down in the polls with that type of win on their resume.
- Ohio State (+3) – The Buckeyes pulled off one of the most impressive weeks out of anyone this season the past seven days, going on the road and completely ripping the soul out of UNC, then putting their foot down over the final 10 minutes to completely destroy a pesky Penn State squad.
- Kansas (+1) – The Jayhawks only played once this past week but they made it count, with a convincing home win over a ranked Colorado team. Turnovers remain an issue but Kansas has played elite defense so far this year.
- Maryland (-1) – Maryland started off the week strong with a dominating win over Notre Dame in the Big 10/ACC Challenge, then nearly threw it all away against Illinois before Anthony Cowan bailed the Terps out. This Maryland squad has shown remarkable resilience in the second half of games this year.
- Gonzaga (+3) – After a business-like win over Texas Southern, the Bulldogs went into enemy territory and took care of business win a solid road win over Washington. Joel Ayayi had another big week and continued to establish himself as a key part of the rotation with a 16 point, 9 rebound, 4 assist performance against Texas Southern and 12 points against Washington, including a dagger triple to seal the game.
- Michigan (-4) – It was a tale of two games for the Wolverines this week, as they bounced back from an UGLY, ugly loss to Louisville and rebounded with a 103-91 win over the Fighting Luka Garzas. Most promising was the career-best 18 point performance from freshman Franz Wagner.
- Duke (+5) – Huge bounce back week for the Blue Devils, as they throttled Michigan State in the Breslin Center, then overcame their demons in Blacksburg with a big road win over Virginia Tech. As bad as it was, the loss to Stephen F. Austin may prove to be a turning point for the Duke squad.
- Baylor (+5) – After an easy breezy win over Maryland-Eastern Shore, Baylor grinded out a 5 point win over a then-undefeated Arizona team, and firmly cemented their place as a national title contender. This Baylor team can do it all and they do it all very well.
- Oregon (–) – Not too much went on for Oregon this week, as they cruised to a dominant 25 point win over Hawaii over the weekend. This coming Saturday will be their toughest test yet with a road battle at another top 10 team in Michigan.
- Kentucky (–) – Same goes as above for the Wildcats, who crushed Fairleigh Dickinson, as expected. A home battle against Georgia Tech this weekend provides a bit more of a challenge, but it’s one that this team should have the talent to overcome.
- Butler (+7) – Another huge week for one of the hottest teams in America, who could also have a claim to be the best team not just in the Big East, but the SEC. The Bulldogs went on the road to Oxford, MS and took down Ole Miss, then avenged a blowout loss a year ago by convincingly taking down the Gators at home.
- Auburn (+2) – It took OT, but the Tigers managed to avoid their first loss of the season to a scrappy and talented Furman team. Isaac Okoro continues to look like one of the best freshman in the country.
- Virginia (-7) – UVA’s ugly offense finally thwarted their defensive efforts in a blowout loss to Purdue. On the flip side, the Cavaliers rebounded nicely this weekend with a strong, thorough win at home over UNC. This team still needs to find offense to be a legitimate title contender, but its defense will help keep them on the fringe of the conversation.
- Dayton (+7) – Another big week for the Flyers, who have built a non-conference resume that will allow them to be in the conversation for a top 4 seed in March. The home win against Houston Baptist was simply taking care of business, but the neutral court victory over Saint Mary’s was a huge resume builder.
- Arizona (+1) – Arizona lost its only game this week, but a narrow 5 point loss on the road to what I think is one of the 10 best teams in the country is nothing to be ashamed about. The freshman trio will learn a lot from this loss and come back even stronger.
- Memphis (+4) – The question of who would be “the guy” without James Wiseman was resoundingly answered by Precious Achiuwa, who had a key 8 points in the final 4 minutes to help spur a thrilling 20 point come from behind victory against UAB.
- Colorado (–) – Another “nothing to be ashamed about” ranking here, as I don’t think a road loss in Allen Fieldhouse is something to penalize a team for. That said, I’d like to see a bit more offense from the Buffaloes, especially with a sneaky challenging week ahead with a home matchup against Northern Iowa and a road matchup at in-state rival Colorado State.
- Tennessee (+4) – Quiet week for the Vols, with a thorough whoopin’ of a bad Florida A&M team the only mark on the calendar. An exciting matchup against Memphis awaits this weekend.
- Villanova (NEW) – It wasn’t a dominating week, but Villanova did take care of business at home against Penn and on the road at St. Joe’s, improving to 3-0 in Big 5 play as they look to reclaim the city title. A neutral court battle against Delaware is the only matchup that lies between the Wildcats and a big home battle against Kansas.
- Utah State (+5) – The good? Neemias Queta finally made his season debut. The bad? It took overtime for the Aggies to defeat a subpar Fresno State team, at home. For now, I’ll give ’em the benefit of the doubt with a new rotation piece being worked in, but that’s not an ideal performance.
- Xavier (NEW) – Xavier handled their business Wednesday night against Green Bay, and followed that up with a solid win in the Crosstown Shootout. The best performance to come out of the Musketeers this week, though, was Travis Steele having his son drop a wad of cash to buy an entire bar their next round of drinks
- Michigan State (-11) – I briefly considered dropping Michigan State out of the top 25 completely, and actually did in the early part of the week after they got smoked by Duke at home. It’s not easy to justify ranking teams with 3 losses at this point. But I’m still not selling any Spartan stock just yet, with Michigan State still sitting at #4 on KenPom. Definitely the best 3 loss team in the country, but I’d like to see the Spartans start racking up some wins.
- San Diego State (+1) – San Diego State has been one of the most fun stories this year, as one of the highest climbers in AdjEM on KenPom thus far. All of that nearly went away on Sunday until Malachi Flynn saved the Aztecs with a game winner against 28 point underdog San Jose State. Like Utah State, that kind of performance isn’t going to get it done long-term.
- Florida State (-5) – Mixed bag of results for the Seminoles this week, as they dropped a tough one on the road to Indiana by 16, though it was much closer than the final score indicated, before crushing Clemson by 19 at home with a nice second half runaway. FSU gets a nice break now, with no games scheduled until North Florida visits on the 17th.
- Seton Hall (-10) – It feels a little unfair to drop a team 10 spots for a tough loss on the road to Iowa State, especially when Seton Hall beat Iowa State on a neutral floor. However, the Pirates are now up to 3 close losses against good teams, and haven’t shown a consistent ability to hang on and win these types of games, and they could face additional injury trouble with Sandro Mamukelashvili going down with some type of hand or wrist problem early against the Cyclones.
Dropped Out: UNC (7), Oklahoma State (23)
Next 5: Wichita State, UNC, Purdue, Washington, DePaul