Each week on Monday, I will be posting a breakdown of the AP Top 25, as well as other headlines from power conference teams around the country.
*AAC, A10, and WCC included in power conferences*
AP Top-25
- Villanova
- Virginia
- Purdue
- Duke
- Kansas
- MSU
- West Virginia
- Xavier
- Cincy
- UNC
- Arizona
- Oklahoma
- Ohio State
- Texas Tech
- Gonzaga
- St Marys
- Wichita State
- Clemson
- Auburn
- Florida
- ASU
- Tennessee
- Nevada
- Rhode Island
- Michigan
Top-25 Breakdown
#4 Duke and #5 Kansas are finally back where they are supposed to be, vowing for a one seed in the NCAA Tournament. #13 Oklahoma and #17 Wichita State suffered bad weeks and dropped right where I thought they would, as the AP nailed the poll once again. My one complaint is Gonzaga still being #15 and St. Marys being behind them at #16, when the Gaels are clearly the better team in the WCC. Also, I do not see what everyone sees in Florida. Yes, they beat Kentucky, but Kentucky cannot figure anything out yet. Along with St Marys and Florida, the new teams are Nevada (the best mid major team), and Rhode Island (the clear A10 favorite).
Top-25 Notes
- #25 Michigan’s guard Rahkman is fouled in the final seconds allowing him to nail two free throws to grab Michigan a win over Maryland. Michigan then had a major off day when they traveled to Nebraska in a loss. The Wolverines still remained ranked at #25.
- #9 Cincy holds UCF to just 39 points on the road in a win.
- #10 UNC beats #18 Clemson at home for the 59th time in a row.
- Trae Young finally returns back down to earth, and racks up 12 turnovers in a bad upset loss for #13 Oklahoma by 18 in the hands of Kansas State.
- SMU grabs (in my eyes) the best upset of the year over #17 Wichita State. It is nearly impossible to win in Wichita and the Mustangs did it, leaving the Shockers knowing that they may not be a one seed come march. Wichita State also falls on the road to Houston on the bad week.
- #21 ASU’s plummet continues, as they fall to most “out of nowhere team” in Stanford.
- #6 Michigan State ends the “Indiana is getting better” hype with a 28-point win.
- #8 Xavier makes a statement in the Big East with a road win at Seton Hall.
- #22 Tennessee got a win they desperately needed to stay in the top-25, winning on the road at South Carolina.
- #19 Auburn pulled off an incredible win Saturday over Georgia. The Tigers trailed by 14 at half only to outscore the Bulldogs by 28 to win the game by 14. Auburn is still #1 in the SEC.
Other Headlines
- Providence flips the game on Butler in the second half to gain a solid home win within the Friars’ hot streak. Providence keeps the win streak alive with a win vs Creighton
- BC controls an entire game at home for a great win over Florida State, who has struggled big time the last two weeks. BC then barely fell to Louisville on the road.
- Penn State continues to drop games they need on their resume to show up on the bracket come March. The Nittany Lions fell to Minneosta in overtime at home, and to add to it they fell to Northwestern.
- The Big 12 had a crazy week, as more than half of the ten teams had one win and one loss on the week.
- Georgia squeaks out a win by one point at LSU.
- Memphis shows a sign of dominance, beating UConn by 25 as they continue to rise in the AAC. The dominance went away shortly after, as they fell to Tulsa.
- Texas A&M survives to win at home over Ole Miss to get somewhat back on track after they attracted the injury bug. With Texas A&M back healthy, they got a great win over Missouri to end a solid week.
- Kansas State keeps upsetting teams, this time it was a minor upset over TCU.
- Stanford has played fantastic basketball after a slow start to the season, and they fell just two points short to #11 Arizona.
- UCF is stumbling, as they lose center Tacko Fall for the season to injury, and almost fall to the worst power conference team in USF.
- Colorado is drifting away from a tournament appearance, as they fall to Washington at home.
- Tulane has continued playing very well, but they came up short on the road against SMU.
- USC is turning it around as they pulled off a nice sweep of the two Oregon teams on the road this week. Then in a high scoring game late on Saturday Night, Oregon finds a way to win at home over UCLA.
- NC State stumbles at home when they had a great chance to pull another upset, this time over Miami.
