Rank | Team | Reason |
---|---|---|
1 | Villanova | Roughly the same top tier, but I'm not sure there is a sharp drop off after UNC like I did before. |
2 | Kansas | KU did what they were supposed to this week. Nothing more to say. |
3 | Duke | Will Duke look better with the freshmen, or will Kennard and Jefferson's reduced roles actually hurt? They've been great this year. |
4 | North Carolina | Oddly, moved up this week, but that's due to UK's drop. My opinion on UNC is pretty much the same as before the IU loss. |
5 | UCLA | Impressive win at Kentucky. Better resume than UNC, but I don't think they are quite on the same tier. |
6 | Indiana | Great win against UNC, but I don't think they are better than UNC on a neutral, hence the ranking. |
7 | Baylor | Great (best?) resume at first glance. But Oregon & MSU have really disappointed, Xavier was at home and Louisville was an adventure. |
8 | Kentucky | This was the hardest drop for me. I feel like they are a Top 5 team, but I need to see more to put them back that high. |
9 | Gonzaga | Good win against Arizona, but I don't think Arizona is all that good. Three high quality wins now though. |
10 | West Virginia | Win at Virginia more than outweighs the Temple loss at this point. Second best win of any team so far this season. |
11 | Louisville | Looked very impressive against Purdue. Louisville matches up very well with Purdue. The upcoming games with UK & UVA will tell us a lot. |
12 | Virginia | I think Virginia is probably better than #11, but I need to see it. Near loss at home to Ohio St. wasn't good. Loss at home to WVU hurts. |
13 | Saint Mary's | Some good wins, but this is largely projection at this point. Great offense, but I wish I saw them against a high level D. |
14 | Wisconsin | I was pretty down on Wisconsin, but they have looked very good over the last week. |
15 | Creighton | Holding steady on my opinion of Creighton. No new evidence for a couple weeks now. |
16 | Xavier | Tough loss at Baylor. Looked good for a while, but then the wheels came off. I still think they have a bright season ahead. |
17 | Cincinnati | What Hilton Magic? |
18 | Butler | Solid road win at Utah, but nothing Butler did this week really moves the needle. |
19 | South Carolina | I was holding off on putting South Carolina where I thought they could be (#25 last week) but the more I see, the more I like. |
20 | Purdue | Looked miserable against Louisville, but that's about as bad of a matchup as Purdue can get. |
21 | Oregon | Nothing to note here as Oregon played two terrible teams and won by a million. |
22 | Florida | Unranked last week and didn't do anything to move up, but a lot of teams ahead of Florida disappointed this week. |
23 | Ohio State | Just a few possessions away from being undefeated with a win at Virginia. |
24 | Iowa State | I thought I would be dropping ISU out this week after the home loss to Cincinnati but there were plenty of losses by borderline teams. |
25 | Syracuse | A loss at Wisconsin is understandable, but Syracuse had to sneak past North Florida at home, too. Serious question marks around this team. |