Every Monday, I will be posting a breakdown of the AP Top-25, as well as other headlines from power conference teams around the country. Each highlighted team will be in bold.
*AAC, A10, and WCC included in power conferences*
AP Poll
- Duke
- Kansas
- MSU
- Villanova
- Florida
- Wichita State
- Texas A&M
- Kentucky
- Notre Dame
- Miami
- UNC
- Gonzaga
- Xavier
- Minnesota
- Virginia
- Arizona State
- Cincy
- West Virginia
- Seton Hall
- TCU
- Purdue
- Nevada
- Baylor
- Tennessee
- USC
Top-25 Breakdown
The AP once again nearly hit spot on, in my opinion. My one problem with the poll is Kentucky getting jumped by fellow conference member, Texas A&M. I understand it’s only because Kentucky has struggled with non power conference teams, such as Harvard, who they only beat by nine, but I still do not agree that they are the third-best team in the SEC. Also in the poll, Nevada finds themselves ranked #22 after starting the year 8-0. Lastly, I have to say it. If you told me that Arizona State or Tennessee would be ranked at any point this season, I would have told you there is no chance. Well, both are now ranked, showing us how beautiful college hoops really are.
Big Ten/ ACC Challenge (12-2 ACC)
- #15 Virginia easily handles Wisconsin in a win by 12 where they held the Badgers to 37 points. Virginia has the best defense in the nation just like last year, but they will need to produce enough offense.
- Syracuse causes havoc in a win over Maryland, with their 2-3 zone once again. However, Kevin Huerter for Maryland looked like one of the best shooters in the country. He could certainly help the Terrapins in Big Ten play. Even though the way to beat a zone defense is to shoot over it, Huerter was impressive even with a hand in his face.
- In a battle of unbeatens, Florida State holds off long enough to defeat a Rutgers team that seems to be much improved.
- Northwestern receives an unneeded loss as GTech gets a much needed win on a buzzer beating lay-up.
- #21 Purdue goes on a late run to charge ahead of Louisville for a crucial win after their poor Battle 4 Atlantis performance.
- VTech and Iowa were tied at half, then VTech pulled away to win by 24. Iowa disappoints once again.
- Wake Forest was upset three times early this year, so they needed a momentum-boosting win, and they got it giving Illinois their first loss.
- NC State, coming off a great showing at the Battle 4 Atlantis, defeats Penn State for another solid win.
- Clemson takes care of business against the struggling Ohio State Buckeyes.
- Michigan came out on fire from three, but #11 UNC upped their perimeter defense to handle the Wolverines with ease.
- Nebraska got a much needed win over Boston College, who has actually played very well this season.
- #10 Miami got their first real challenge of the year when they went to The Barn to face #14 Minnesota. The Hurricanes played very well and beat the Gophers by five.
- #1 Duke struggled to beat the struggling Indiana Hoosiers for a very ugly win.
- #3 MSU has no trouble taking out #9 Notre Dame at home for another great win to cement themselves as a national championship favorite, along with the team that gave them their one loss, #1 Duke.
- ACC takes the challenge with no problem, winning it 12-2.
Other Headlines
- #13 Xavier shoots the lights out to knock off (at the time) #16 Baylor for a bounce-back after falling to Arizona State. Also, #21 Xavier comes out on fire and maintained their big lead to take out at the time #11 Cincy.
- Ole Miss trailed South Dakota State by 20 at the half, but stormed back to send it to overtime, where they eventually lost. This loss hurts Ole Miss, as they looked to have a turnaround year.
- Auburn has just one loss and they went to Dayton to get a very meaningful win by 13.
- #19 Seton Hall plays fantastic at home to beat Texas Tech to most likely move back into the top-25
- Memphis gets absolutely dismantled by UAB in a terrible loss by 15 to show us that they are for sure going to fall off this year in the AAC.
- Temple grabs another resume-boosting win, taking out South Carolina, who was a final four team last year. However later in the week, the resume took a hit with a loss to GW.
- #21 Purdue opens up Big Ten conference play with a great win over Maryland by five, and Northwestern needed overtime to beat Illinois. Then, Purdue and Northwestern met and Purdue came out on top by five.
- Also in Big Ten play, Michigan demolished Indiana, Ohio State showed us how bad Wisconsin really is by beating them by 25, and Penn State beat Iowa by four for an action-packed Saturday of Big Ten basketball.
- Oregon takes another tough loss as they fall to Boise State by three at home.
- In an intriguing top-25 matchup, #12 Gonzaga uses a perfect second half to knock off (at the time) #25 Creighton by 17.
- Colorado suffers their first loss to in-state rival Colorado State.
- In the game of the week (in my opinion) #6 Wichita State plays stellar basketball all around to beat (at the time) #23 Baylor.
- Washington State takes a bad loss for their first loss being upset by UC Davis.
- Rhode Island grabs another fantastic win on the year, beating Providence by 7.
- #2 Kansas blows out Syracuse to hand the Orange their first loss of the year.
- Houston shocked us a bit, blowing out Arkansas by 26, proving they actually can contend in the AAC even after a slow start.
- SMU upsets at the time #14 USC as the Trojans struggled to compete.
- Arizona’s difficulties continue as they went to overtime to sneak out of UNLV with a victory.
- Bama falls to UCF at home for a loss that was not needed for the ranked Tide, who fell out of the AP poll.
- Kansas State has not been impressive, but they have not had a chance to until they beat Vandy by five.
- Mississippi State stays undefeated by holding off a late push from Dayton.
- And to close out Week 3, Illinois gets robbed off of a late foul call to lose to Maryland in overtime to start the year 0-2 in Big Ten play.
