College Basketball Top 25 – #1 and #4 Lose Tough Road Tests
#1 – Duke (13-1) – Up 2
Duke adds a win over Florida State to their already great resume, and the Blue Devils jump up to the top spot due to Villanova’s loss.
#2 – Michigan State (14-1) – No Change
Michigan State has won thirteen straight games since the loss to Duke, including North Carolina and Notre Dame.
#3 – Villanova (13-1) – Down 2
Villanova’s kryptonite struck again, as the ‘Cats lost to Butler, but Jay Wright’s club still owns victories over Gonzaga and Tennessee.
#4 – Oklahoma (11-1) – Up 4
Oklahoma keeps climbing in my top 25, the Sooners are led by the brilliant Trae Young, and have wins @ Oregon, @ USC, @ Wichita State, and @ TCU.
#5 – West Virginia (12-1) – No Change
West Virginia’s win over Virginia is their crowning achievement, but the Mountaineers added a win @ Oklahoma State, and the will face Oklahoma this Saturday.
#6 – Virginia (12-1) – No Change
Virginia got a scare in their first game of ACC play, but the Cavaliers escaped despite best the best efforts of Boston College.
#7 – Arizona State (12-1) – No Change
Arizona State’s only loss is to a top 20 team on the road by single digits, this is still a very good team.
#8 – Purdue (13-2) – Up 1
Analytics love this team, the Boilermakers climbed to third in KenPom this week, and they haven’t lost a game played in the United States.
#9 – Kansas (11-2) – Up 1
Kansas keeps climbing little by little after a close victory over a Texas team I think is pretty good.
#10 – Xavier (14-1) – Up 1
Xavier’s only loss was early on to Arizona State, since they’ve added a win against Cincinnati, as well as a conference play victory @ Marquette.
#11 – Texas A&M (11-2) – Down 7
Not only did Texas A&M lose to Alabama in their SEC opener, the Aggies got blown out, so they tumble out of the top ten.
#12 – Gonzaga (12-3) – Up 9
Gonzaga played a couple of sub-200 teams this week, but I realized last week I dropped them way too far, the Bulldogs posses wins over Ohio State, Texas, and Creighton. And their only losses are to tournament teams.
#13 – Wichita State (11-2) – Up 3
Wichita State played their first conference game of the American Athletic Conference era on Saturday, beating Connecticut 72-62.
#14 – North Carolina (12-2) – Down 1
North Carolina didn’t do much to calm me after their loss to Wofford, nearly dropping another home game to Wake Forest.
#15 – Florida State (11-2) – No Change
Florida State went on the road and gave my #1 team one hell of a game, they shouldn’t drop for that.
#16 – Arizona (11-3) – Up 1
Arizona can’t quite crack the top 15 despite their win over Arizona State, those losses to NC State and SMU hurt.
#17 – Kentucky (11-2) – Up 3
Kentucky murdered Louisville on Friday afternoon, and I’m feeling a lot better about ranking the Wildcats now.
#18 – Arkansas (11-2) – Up 1
I had Arkansas ranked for two whole weeks before the AP finally decided to put the Razorbacks in. A win over Tennessee is starting to turn heads.
#19 – TCU (12-1) – Down 7
TCU’s best wins come against Nevada and SMU, and the Horned Frogs don’t crack the KenPom top 25.
#20 – Miami (12-1) – Down 2
Miami’s wins are less impressive than TCU, and the loss to New Mexico State is much worse.
#21 – Texas Tech (12-1) – NEW
Texas Tech ranks 7th in KenPom, despite having no A level wins. They’ll get a chance to change that @ Kansas tomorrow.
#22 – Creighton (11-3) – Down 8
Like the opposite of Gonzaga, I realized I had Creighton way too high, and to add to that, the Bluejays lost to Seton Hall.
#23 – Tennessee (9-3) – Up 1
That Purdue win is looking better and better for Tennessee, and all three losses are to top-20 teams.
#24 – Cincinnati (12-2) – Down 2
Cincinnati will have an interesting doubleheader this week, with two A Level KenPom opportunities @ Temple and vs SMU.
#25 – Clemson (12-1) – NEW
Good chance Clemson is the least talked about really good team in the country. The Tigers have won eight in a row.
Others Considered: #26 Seton Hall, #27 Baylor, #28 Butler