We are still very early in the college basketball season but it’s already feeling like March Madness. Upsets continue to occur and giants continue to fall. We are also finally starting to learn who’s going to be at the top come time for conference play and several teams are starting to gel and mold with each other, getting better and better and ascending to the top of the polls.
|
RANK |
TEAM |
RECORD |
POINTS |
PREVIOUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 | Purdue (61) | 8-0 | 1,525 | 2 |
| 2 | Baylor | 8-0 | 1,421 | 4 |
| 3 | Duke | 7-1 | 1,390 | 1 |
| 4 | UCLA | 8-1 | 1,293 | 5 |
| 5 | Gonzaga | 7-2 | 1,240 | 3 |
| 6 | Villanova | 6-2 | 1,175 | 6 |
| 7 | Texas | 6-1 | 1,101 | 7 |
| 8 | Kansas | 6-1 | 1,068 | 8 |
| 9 | Alabama | 7-1 | 1,029 | 16 |
| 10 | Kentucky | 6-1 | 972 | 9 |
| 11 | Arizona | 7-0 | 919 | 11 |
| 12 | Arkansas | 8-0 | 905 | 10 |
| 13 | Tennessee | 6-1 | 762 | 13 |
| 14 | Houston | 7-1 | 686 | 15 |
| 15 | Connecticut | 8-1 | 527 | 17 |
| 16 | Southern California | 8-0 | 510 | 20 |
| 17 | Iowa State | 8-0 | 499 | 19 |
| 18 | Auburn | 7-1 | 419 | 21 |
| 19 | Michigan State | 7-2 | 405 | 22 |
| 20 | Florida | 6-1 | 386 | 14 |
| 21 | Ohio State | 6-2 | 370 | NR |
| 22 | Wisconsin | 7-1 | 338 | 23 |
| 23 | Seton Hall | 7-1 | 177 | 25 |
| 24 | BYU | 7-1 | 157 | 12 |
| 25 | LSU | 8-0 | 135 | NR |
Unanimous Voting for Purdue
With both Gonzaga and Duke falling to lower-ranked opponents this week, Purdue was the obvious choice to take the top spot in the polls and they did, securing every first-place vote. The Boilermakers are the first team to receive every first-place vote and for good reason. Purdue will start conference play this week by traveling to Rutgers before going into NC State later in the week.
Baylor Continues to Ascend
The defending national champions lost a ton of production after their postseason run last year but it hasn’t affected them at all yet. Baylor’s one game this week saw them blowing out Arkansas Pine-Bluff by 45. The real test for the Bears is this week, however, with a matchup against Villanova coming on Sunday. Here, Baylor can prove to the college basketball world if they really are impacted by the loss of production or if they are a legit contender once again.
Alabama Upsets Gonzaga; Sees Massive Rise
After following to Iona just two weeks ago, the Crimson Tide has bounced back in a big way. Coming into the week, this team sat at 16 but upsetting Gonzaga 91-82 with an electric offensive performance has put them all the way at the nine spot. The team now turns to a home game against Houston this week where we’ll learn a lot more about both top 25 teams.
LSU Remains Disrepescted
Another team that lost a ton of talent heading into this year is LSU. They’ve beaten some quality opponents like Wake Forest and Virginia Tech but are only getting ranked for the first time this week. The main gripe here is that teams like Iowa State sit all the way at 17 because of their win over teams we thought were good but are not anymore. LSU has played more impressively than Iowa State does and deserves to at least be in their vicinity.
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