Both top teams stumbled on saturday, opening the door for other hot teams to claim the top spots. Remember, this is based on recent success, not full body of work. The SEC continues to have the most teams in these rankings. Some teams continue to impress and win games, climbing these rankings . These rankings do not include games being played on tuesday, Feburary 11.
1: Alabama (This week: 1-0 @Arkansas, Overall: 20-3)
Last week Alabama was 3rd and they jump to 1 as a result of Auburn and Dukes losses. Im looking foward to seeing them face off with in-state rival Auburn on saturday the 15th. Against Arkansas they weathered a run from the razorbacks in the 2nd half and won by 4. I do expect Alabama to stumbled and loose at least one more game in conference play, but that shouldent hurt their resume too much. When the selection commitee looks at alabama they should take note of the fact that their losses have only come from Quad 1 opponents. They won at Kentucky, at Texas A&M, and vs Houston, All of which are projected top 4 seeds in most bracketologists bracket.
2: Tennessee (This week: 2-0 vs Missouri, @Oklahoma, Overall: 20-4)
Tennessee continues to win games with their defense, being 3rd the nation in points allowed at 59 ppg, leading the nation in holding their opponent to the lowest FG percentage at 36% and leading the nation in 3 point percentage defense at 27%. Tennessee is this high in the rankings because they won 2 quad 1 games this week. Against Missouri, they were lead by Zakai Zeigler and Igor Milicic with 21 a piece. Against Oklahoma, sharp shooter Chaz lanier dropped 21. Up next for the vols is an oppourtunity for revenge against Kentucky and for revenge against Vanderbilt.
3: Arizona (This week: 2-0 @BYU, vs Texas Tech, Overall: 17-6)
Arizona has jumped from 7 in last weeks rankings to 3 this week. This is due to back to back Q1 wins against formittable opponents. Arizona currently sits atop the Big 12 at 11-1 , tied with houston. Caleb Love leads them in scoring at 16 ppg. Although Arizona has lost more games than anyone on these rankings, their 7 Quad 1 wins speak for themselves. The only teams in the nation with more Quad 1 wins than Arizona are Tennessee and Auburn. These wins make up for their Q1 losses. They have oppoutunities on the road coming up against K-State and Baylor as well as Kansas and Iowa state later on. I am confident that Arizona can win at least a couple of these road tests.
4: Florida (This week: 2-0 vs Vanderbilt, @Auburn, Overall: 20-3)
I was splitting hairs between Arizona and Florida. While many would argue that Floridas win over Auburn should warrent their ranking being higher than 4 I still moved them up 5 spots from 9 last week. Arizona got 2 quad 1 wins and Florida got 1 quad 1 win and 1 quad 2 win. While some may that thats being picky, the quadrant system differenciates betweem 2 close teams. Against Auburn, Walter Clayton showed out, scoring 19, dropping 9 dimes, and grabbing 6 rebounds, Alex Condon chipped in 17 and 10 rebounds, and Thomas Haugh scored 16 and grabbed 9 rebounds. Florida has a easy stretch of games coming up (By SEC standards) with a couple of Q2 games against Oklahoma and @LSU, and 1 Q3 game vs South Carolina in their next 4 games.
5: Texas A&M (This week: 1-0 @Missouri, Overall: 18-5)
Texas A&M is another team, compared to others in these rankings that have climbed a lot. They were on my honorable mention list last week but are trending in the right direction. I feel that this program is underrated every year but is projected as either a 2 or 3 seed by many high profile bracketologists. They have remaining games against the likes of Tennessee, Florida, and Auburn, and the SEC tournement to further solitify themseves as a top 3 seed when selection sunday rolls around
6: Auburn (This week: 1-1 W vs Oklahoma, L vs Florida, Overall: 21-2)
Auburn remains at the top of most rankings due to their superior full body of work. But in these rankings full body of work is not relevent. They lost at home to Florida which is enough to drop them from 2 to 7. Both Auburn’s and Duke’s losses were Q1 losses. I fully expect Auburn to bounce back and not allow this single dud to carry momentum going forward. Johni Broome continues to lead this team after coming back from his ankle injury. He dropped 18, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists against Florida and he dropped 15 5 rebounds and 6 assists in the game prior vs Oklahoma. As the season progresses we will get to see what this team is really made of and if they are indeed final 4 caliber.
7: Duke (This Week: 1-1 W @Syracuse, L @Clemson, Overall: 20-3)
Duke made light work out of a Syracuse squad that is struggling more than in years past. Then they lost in a close game @Clemson. Clemson is the ACC’s second best squad so you may be wondering why Duke drops from 1 to 7. Its because the other teams did not lose. I could even give the advantage to some other teams that had a undefeated week. Duke could easily bounce back with some fresh wins, however, a team like Auburn has more opportunity to get better wins. For example, Duke has 2 remaining Q1 opportunities as things stand right now, (not including the ACC tournement) and Auburn has 6 remaining Q1 oppourtunities. I will say that Clemsons 20 point win over North Carolina monday night makes Dukes loss look less bad.
8: St. John’s (This week: 2-0 vs Marquette, @Uconn, Overall: 21-3)
St. John’s is arguably the hottest team in the nation with back to back Q1 wins defeating Marquette and Uconn. Lead by guards Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis Jr this team this team is stringing togather consecutive quality wins. Hall of fame coach Rick Pitino credited their win at Uconn to be because they did not turn the ball over which was true as they only had 7 to Uconn’s 22. Kadary Richmond had 18 and 8 assists vs Marquette in the game prior. Up next the Jonnies’ face Villinova on the road.
9: Houston (This week: 3-0 vs Oklahoma State, @Colorado, vs Baylor, Overall: 20-4)
Houston continues to make a case to crack the 1 seed line with win after win in the Big 12. Although 2 of the games 2 were Q2 and Q3 its still impressive to win 3 straight in the Big 12. Preseason number 1 Kansas has not done it since early January. They are an impressive 6-0 on the road with a 10 point win over Colorado in their most recent away game. Houston is battling Arizona for the regular season Big 12 crown, both have just one loss in conference. Well college basketball fans on Feburary 15 you get Arizona vs Houston, a 6 vs 13 matchup that will have imlications regarding the winner of the big 12 regular season.
10: Texas Tech (This week: 1-1 W vs Baylor, L @Arizona, Overall: 18-5)
The way I see Texas Tech’s performance this week is I see the lose @Arizona barely hurting them. They were in the game from start to finish. With the other game, a 14 point win against Baylor is very impressive. Texas Tech can hang with anyone. All their losses have been by single digits. This is another team that I feel is flying under the radar. Up next they have 4 straight Quad 2 games before facing Houston and Kansas in back to back games.
Honorable Mentions:
Wisconsin, Purdue, Ole Miss