This week brought more upsets with Kansas state beating Iowa State, Houston lossing to Texas Tech, USC beating Michigan State and more wins by good teams over ranked teams which I dont really consider an upset. The top 3 teams took care of business and are widening the gap between them and the rest of the teams futher helping their case as number 1 seeds come march. The gap isnt huge, but as long as these top tier teams dont slip up greatly they should be happy with their seed come selection sunday. Remember, this is a ranking based on recent performance, not a full body of work. These rankings dont include games being played on tuesday, Febuary 4,
1: Duke (This week: 1-0 vs North Carolina, Overall: 19-2)
Duke remains at the top of the list. They took care of North Carolina in their lone game this week and continue to beat teams handily. The UNC game was never close Cooper Flagg and company jumped out to a double digit lead and never looked back. Kon Knueppel shot the ball well going 7/11 and 5/6 from the charity stripe and lead them in the scoring department with 22. Their upcoming battle against Syracuse shouldnt be the toughest of games. Syracuse is having a down year, however, i give them a punchers chance as the big crowd should help them with the energy and hustle they must play with for 40 minutes if they want a shot at dethroning the ACC’s top team.
2: Auburn (This week: 2-0 @LSU, @Ole Miss, Overall: 20-1)
Auburn continues to lead the national in multiple metrics including the NET and Kenpom. Johni Broome is back from his injury and dropped 20 and 12 rebounds against Ole Miss. In that game Auburn shot 50% from three in 28 attempts. It isnt just Broome running the show. Guards Chad Baker-Mazara and Tahaad Pettiford have provided enough support to help Auburn to the 2 spot on these rankings. They have a date with Florida on saturday.
3: Alabama (This week: 2-0 @Mississippi State, vs Georgia, Overall: 19-3)
Alabama has the highest ceiling on this list. 8 out of their 9 remaining conference games are Q1 oppourtunities. They still have the best offense in the nation in scoring offense. They will ride their five game win streak into Fayetteville where they will take on a Arkansas team lead by hall of fame coach who just beat Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
4: Tennessee (This week: 1-1 L vs Kentucky, W vs Florida, Overall: 18-4)
SEC conference play continues to prove much more difficult for Tennessee than non-conference play. The reason Tennesse continues to crack the middle of the top 10 in these rankings week after week is due to their strength of scedule and not having an oppourtunity for a bad loss. For other conferences, one loss is equivilent to 3 losses in the SEC. They got sweet revenge on Florida thanks to Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey who picked up point guard duties for the injured Zakai Zeigler. Tennessee should expect to see barely any easy games in their 9 remaining conference games.
5: Texas Tech (This week: 2-0 vs TCU, @Houston, Overall: 17-4)
Texas tech is new to this list thanks to a huge, huge win @ Houston on saturday. The truth is the red raiders have been rolling for weeks. They have flown under the raider for a long time in my eyes. If they continues to rack up wins like the one @ houston they can quickly climb up bracketology projections. Texas Tech is top 10 in numerous metrics. Up next they have a pair of Q1 opponents in Baylor who impressively came back against Kansas and Arizona who luckily beat Iowa State, but a win is a win.
6: Maryland (This week: 1-0 vs Wisconsin, Overall: 17-5)
Maryland is coming off a win vs Wisconsin which was a back and forth battle the whole way through. It was a balanced scoring attack from Maryland’s five starters. It benefits Maryland to be in a tough conference for the same reason as Tennessee, more to gain and less to lose. They are near the top of the BIG 10, behind Michigan State, Purdue, and Michigan. They play Rutgers and Ohio State next.
7: Arizona (This week: 1-0 @Arizona State, Overall: 15-6)
Arizona keeps getting better each week this week reaching 20 in the AP poll. Caleb Love leads them with 16 points a game. Arizona started off the season rocky but all the losses were Quad 1 losses but since December 14 they have only lost 1 game to Texas Tech who themselves are trending in the right direction. Up next for Arizona is a couple of Q1 oppournunities @BYU and vs Texas Tech.
8: Houston (This week: 1-1 W @West Virginia, L vs Texas Tech, Overall: 17-4)
Houston has the number 1 scoring defense in the nation allowing opponents to score only 57 points per game. They are 6th in the nation in 3 point percentage at 39 percent. They are lead by senior transfer LJ Cryer and senior Juan Roberts. They suffered a 1 point loss to Texas Tech but I fully expect them to bounce back against a weak Oklahome State. Hopefully they can take the momentum from the Okla St. game to help them the rest of the way through march 8.
9: Florida (This week: 0-1 @Tennessee, Overall: 18-3)
I could be giving Florida some unwarrented love considering their only game this week was a loss. Well, that loss was to Tennessee. Sure maybe just one more loss would knock Florida off the power rankings. Although full body of work is irrelevent with these, I dont want you to get the wrong impression with Florida at 9 here. They are a expected 2 seed by many bracketologists. Florida fans should be more optimistic rather than pessimestic due to the strength of the SEC and oppourtunities that await including a road test @Auburn on Feburary 8th.
10: Purdue (This week: 1-0 vs Indiana, Overall: 17-5)
Coming in at 10 on this weeks power ranking is purdue. They beat rival Indiana in their lone game this week. To say Purdue will do what they did last year and make the national title game is a reach. They have upperclassmen Fletcher Loyer, Braden Smith, and Trey Kaufman-Renn leading the way, and a experienced head coach in Matt Painter. They travel to Iowa for their next game @Iowa.
Honorable Mentions:
St Johns, Kansas, Texas A&M, Kentucky