The regular season has wrapped up, and we are officially into the depths of March. With conference tournaments already underway, the AP has dropped their final poll from regular season play. Tons of upsets went down last week, and there are a number of shakeups. Let’s see what they got right.
Check out all of PTST’s March Madness articles here.
|
RANK
|
TEAM
|
TEAM
|
POINTS
|
PREVIOUS
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gonzaga (52) | 24-3 | 1,514 | 1 |
| 2 | Arizona (6) | 28-3 | 1,435 | 2 |
| 3 | Baylor (3) | 26-5 | 1,402 | 3 |
| 4 | Auburn | 27-4 | 1,331 | 5 |
| 5 | Kentucky | 25-6 | 1,306 | 7 |
| 6 | Kansas | 25-6 | 1,170 | 6 |
| 7 | Duke | 26-5 | 1,100 | 4 |
| 8 | Villanova | 23-7 | 1,096 | 11 |
| T-9 | Purdue | 25-6 | 967 | 8 |
| T-9 | Tennessee | 23-7 | 967 | 13 |
| 11 | Providence | 24-4 | 951 | 9 |
| 12 | Wisconsin | 24-6 | 857 | 10 |
| 13 | UCLA | 23-6 | 737 | 17 |
| 14 | Texas Tech | 23-8 | 730 | 12 |
| 15 | Arkansas | 24-7 | 687 | 14 |
| 16 | Illinois | 22-8 | 612 | 20 |
| 17 | Saint Mary’s | 24-6 | 506 | 19 |
| 18 | Houston | 26-5 | 502 | 14 |
| 19 | Murray State | 30-2 | 424 | 22 |
| 20 | UConn | 22-8 | 370 | 18 |
| 21 | Southern Cal | 25-6 | 279 | 16 |
| 22 | Texas | 21-10 | 216 | 21 |
| 23 | Colorado State | 24-4 | 194 | NR |
| 24 | Iowa | 22-9 | 189 | 24 |
| 25 | North Carolina | 23-8 | 56 | NR |
Murray State Should be Higher
At this point, the Racers have a serious claim for a ranking above No. 19. This is a team with an astounding 30 wins, and one of their losses came against Auburn. While in a weak conference, Murray State has key wins over Memphis and a tournament-bound Chattanooga team. On top of that, they haven’t lost since December 22. If the voters took a step back to look at their full resume, they would see a top 15-16 team.
Texas May be an Early March Exit
Texas being ranked 22nd is fine, considering the opponents they have beaten. However, when you look at the Longhorns from a broader perspective, you see a team that could lose to the unranked. This is a team that cannot shoot the basketball. They play solid defense, but at the end of the day, a mid-major school, like Chattanooga could light them up from the arc. Texas could get bounced from the first round for the second year in a row.
Duke Lower Than Kansas!?
We cannot act like one loss to a Top 25 team is going to send Duke down three spots (and below Kansas of all teams). The Jayhawks lost as well last week to a worse team than North Carolina. Before the devastating loss in Coach K’s final home game, the Blue Devils had won back-to-back games by 30 points. This is at least the sixth-best team in the country, and recency bias was clear with this ranking.
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