Below are my rankings for the Reddit User Poll for Week 10. Note – the rankings in the “Last Week” summary are my own personal rankings, not the Reddit User Poll, Coaches Poll, or AP Poll.
- Gonzaga (–)
- Last Week: Def. Pacific 95-49
- Gonzaga is still the best.
- Baylor (–)
- Last Week: Def. #9 Kansas 77-69 and def. #23 Oklahoma State 81-66
- Another week of Baylor closing the gap, this team by quite a bit. If Baylor wins their next four, which includes a major road matchup at Texas, I’ll be very close to flipping the top two.
- Villanova (–)
- Last Week: Def. Seton Hall 76-74 and def. Providence 71-56
- The Cats finally returned to the court and looked surprisingly unrusty, even as the Pirates took them to the wire. I was pretty torn on whether Michigan should get the nod at #3 given a superior body of work, but to be honest, while Michigan has the stronger overall resume in terms of quantity, I still take Villanova’s road win at Texas over anything the Wolverines have.
- Michigan (+2)
- Last Week: Def. Maryland 87-63 and def. Purdue 70-53
- Very strong week, but see above – Michigan technically has four wins against AP Top 25 ranked teams, but Northwestern has since fallen apart and Minnesota is a team on the outside of this week’s poll for me. It’s close for #3, but the top 10 road win for Nova is the deciding factor.
- Texas (+2)
- Last Week: No games played
- Houston (+2)
- Last Week: Def. Tulsa 86-59 and def. Temple 68-51
- Another good week for the Cougars who avenged their lone loss and kept cleaning up the AAC. Computer metrics also back up the eye test with the Cougars despite the Charmin Ultra Soft version of the AAC this year.
- Iowa (-3)
- Last Week: Lost to Indiana 81-69
- Bizarre loss on Thursday night saw the Hawkeyes unable to generate their typical offense. The defense bit them once again, giving up 81 to an offense that is not the most aesthetically pleasing. Luckily, carnage all around them helps keep Iowa in the top 10.
- Alabama (+9)
- Last Week: Def. LSU 105-75 and def. Mississippi State 81-73
- Phenomenal week for the Crimson Tide. Moved them ahead of Texas Tech since they are so red hot and honestly have put together a better overall resume.
- Texas Tech (+1)
- Last Week: No games played
- Virginia (+6)
- Last Week: Def. Georgia Tech 64-62
- Poll inertia helps out the Cavs as a 2 point home win over the Ramblin’ Wreck certainly doesn’t justify this jump on its own. That being said, the computer metrics have flipped on UVA as well, as they now sit at #9 on KenPom.
- Florida State (+11)
- Last Week: Def. #25 Louisville 78-65 and def. #20 Clemson 80-61
- It appears that the demise of the Seminoles was greatly exaggerated. This team is legit and along with UVA’s resurgence, the ACC has finally found its contenders. Of course, Clemson has fallen apart which makes that win just a bit less impressive, but blowing out a conference opponent by over 30 for much of the game is noteworthy no matter how good or bad that opponent is.
- West Virginia (+3)
- Last Week: Def. Kansas State 69-47
- Mountaineers were finally back in action and took care of business. They quickly face a brutal test on Monday with Texas Tech coming to town, so we’ll see how quickly they can actually get up to speed.
- Ohio State (+1)
- Last Week: Lost to Purdue 67-65 and def. #11 Wisconsin 74-62
- Here’s where things started to get super funky – with the exception of Texas Tech (who didn’t play), all of my teams from #9 through #14 lost a game this week. In the Buckeyes’ case, winning on the road at #11 is enough to justify actually moving up a spot despite losing on the buzzer beater to Purdue.
- Wisconsin (-3)
- Last Week: Def. Northwestern 68-52 and lost to #14 Ohio State 74-62
- The Badgers also went 1-1 this week and had a better loss than Ohio State, but obviously the head to head result was not in their favor and their win against Northwestern doesn’t carry anywhere near as much weight as it might’ve a month ago.
- Creighton (-3)
- Last Week: Lost to Providence 74-70 and def. #13 UConn 74-66
- I was tempted to drop Creighton a bit more given the home loss and that the UConn with came with no Bouknight/Akok/Jackson for their opponent. But, the computer metrics still favor the Bluejays and other teams ahead of them (Kansas, Tennessee) had much worse weeks.
- Missouri (+8)
- Last Week: Def. South Carolina 81-70 and def. #5 Tennessee 73-64
- I was really torn on which one of Missouri or Tennessee belonged at #15 given they split the season series and Tennessee won on aggregate, but went with the hotter hand here. Mizzou has won three in a row while Tennessee has lost two in a row, including one in embarrassing fashion.
- Tennessee (-12)
- Last Week: Lost to Florida 75-49 and lost to #24 Missouri 73-64
- See above.
- Kansas (-9)
- Last Week: Lost to #2 Baylor 77-69 and lost to Oklahoma 75-68
- The Jayhawks are spiraling downwards but neither one of these losses is *that* bad. Baylor consistently outplayed them but who hasn’t been outplayed by Baylor? As for Oklahoma, road losses to good teams in conference play happen. I was tempted to drop the Jayhawks a bit further with three straight losses and four losses in six games, but with three of those coming to teams I have ranked, and no strong candidates behind them, I’m fine keeping Kansas here.
- Saint Louis (+1)
- Last Week: No games played
- Virginia Tech (-2)
- Last Week: Lost to Syracuse 78-60
- Not a good performance for the Hokies on Saturday. This is another team that I felt may have warranted dropping back further, but honestly, I had a hard enough time finding teams to round out the Top 25 this week that I’m comfortable leaving them at #20.
- Boise State (NEW)
- Last Week: Def. Fresno State 73-51
- Time to give the Broncos some respect. It goes without saying that the competition hasn’t been the best, but they have a 4 point road win at BYU and lost by 10 at Houston to open the season as their only loss. 13 wins in a row is not easy and outside of a narrow escape in game 2 at San Jose State, they’ve breezed through conference play.
- Illinois (NEW)
- Last Week: Def. Penn State 79-65
- The Illini have been maddeningly inconsistent this year, but took care of business at home and get to jump back in thanks to a number of other Top 25 candidates losing.
- UConn (-10)
- Last Week: Lost to St. John’s 74-70 and lost to #12 Creighton 74-66
- This one was one of the toughest to rank. Without Bouknight, Akok, and Jackson, the loss to Creighton is excusable and honestly pretty expected. Even without a star like Bouknight, though, losing at home to a mediocre St. John’s team is no bueno. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and keep them in for now, but they’ve got to beat Villanova this week to stay in.
- St. Bonaventure (NEW)
- Last Week: Def. VCU 70-54 and def. Duquesne 65-61
- Giving another nod to a good mid major here. The Bonnies unfortunately didn’t have much of a non-conference slate to prove their worth, but they’ve won 6 in a row, including games with at-large contenders Richmond and VCU.
- Oklahoma State (-2)
- Last Week: Lost to #2 Baylor 81-66
- Keeping OK State here because outside of a 90 second outburst, they hung with the #2 team in the country without Cade Cunningham. Couldn’t justify Drake’s undefeated record with their weak strength of schedule over OK State’s performance.
Dropped Out:
Clemson (was 20) – Last three games: 85-50, 83-65, and 80-61, all losses. I guess that 85-50 drubbing wasn’t a one-off, after all.
Minnesota (was 21) – Minnesota has gotta be one of the most frustrating teams this season, and now they’re going against the grain by losing at home. My Top 25 polls include a power ranking element and losing 4 out of 6 doesn’t do well in that aspect.
Louisville (was 25) – Louisville drops out by default with the loss but realistically, they didn’t do anywhere near as badly this week as the previous two teams, especially with how Florida State is ripping teams apart. Still, they drop out and get leapfrogged by a few teams that keep winning, so they’re down to #32 for me.
Next 5: Drake, Oklahoma, Oregon, Minnesota, Loyola-Chicago