Rank | Team | Reason |
---|---|---|
1 | Villanova | Villanova keeps taking care of business. Nothing flashy, but incredibly solid. |
2 | Kansas | Very good win in Ames. KU has a hellish next 3 games @WVU, @UK and home against Baylor. Going 1-2 should be expected. |
3 | Kentucky | I'm not sure we will learn anything about UK the rest of the year other than this coming weekend when they host KU. The SEC is bad. |
4 | Gonzaga | Gonzaga has been good, but like Kentucky, we aren't going to learn much about them the rest of the year. |
5 | Arizona | One of the best wins of the year in Pauley. This Arizona team is really good, but nobody has been talking about them. |
6 | Baylor | Baylor has picked up two tough road wins @KSU and @TCU the past two weekends. That will go a long way to trying to dethrone KU. |
7 | North Carolina | Not a great performance at BC, but they won and it was a road game. Nothing to be overly concerned about. |
8 | Florida State | FSU could end up on the 1 line at this rate. Great resume. I think their resume is better than their ability, but they are very good. |
9 | UCLA | The lack of defense hurt them against Arizona. Will their defense improve or will they rely on their offense all year? |
10 | Oregon | What will Brooks' availability be like in Oregon's next few games? If he's back by the time they host Arizona, they'll be fine. |
11 | Louisville | Took it to Clemson at home and then put up a good fight at FSU. No shame in that two game stretch. |
12 | Notre Dame | Like Louisville, losing at FSU should not be viewed negatively - particularly with how ND played. |
13 | West Virginia | Bad home loss to a struggling (but perhaps rejuvenated) OU squad. Road loss to K State isn't terrible, but really hurts WVU's Big 12 hopes. |
14 | Virginia | BC and Georgia Tech in one week is about as easy as it gets. |
15 | Purdue | Two dominant home wins against mediocre competition. |
16 | Duke | Great second half against Miami. Can we expect to see that going forward? |
17 | Creighton | Tough to rank Creighton right now. Could easily be lower, but I'll keep them here for now. We'll learn more in the coming weeks. |
18 | Wisconsin | They didn't lose, but they didn't give me confidence about them moving forward. |
19 | Cincinnati | Still just two losses, but this Cincinnati team just hasn't impressed me. But that's sort of Cincinnati's thing, right? |
20 | Butler | Definitely not a week of impressive performances, but at least they didn't lose to Marquette or DePaul. |
21 | Kansas State | Great win against WVU and a very solid, and underrated, win at Oklahoma State. |
22 | Maryland | I don't think Maryland is a Top 25 team, but at some point you have to respect their record. |
23 | Iowa State | Gritty 2OT win at Oklahoma. I still don't understand this ISU team very well. Probably matchup dependent but they're capable of making noise |
24 | Xavier | I'm disappointed in Xavier's season. They don't feel like #24 to me, but I don't know who should be here instead. |
25 | UNC Wilmington | I like this UNC-W team. Like some others, we may not learn much about them moving forward. I hope they are considered for an at large bid. |