This past week, I was quite busy with school work, so unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to watch as much basketball as I wanted to. I still followed results, but I'm a little out of the loop with college basketball. I'll be able to catch up a lot more over the next two weeks, but this week was tough. Still, I think I have a good feel for the Top 25. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @ThreePointRange and let me know why you disagree with me rankings.
Top 25
1. Duke (+1)
Record: 4-0
Results: W 105-54 vs Central Arkansas, W 74-63 vs Georgia State
Upcoming Games: 11/21 vs California (in MSG), 11/22 vs Georgetown or #19 Texas (in MSG)
2. Louisville (+1)
Record: 4-0, 1-0
Results: W 91-62 vs Indiana State, W 87-58 vs North Carolina Central
Upcoming Games: 11/20 vs USC Upstate, 11/24 vs Akron
3. Michigan State (+3)
Record: 2-1
Results: W 76-73 at Seton Hall
Upcoming Games: 11/18 vs Charleston Southern
4. North Carolina (N/A)
Record: 3-0, 1-0
Results: W 77-61 vs Gardner-Webb
Upcoming Games: 11/20 vs Elon
5. Ohio State (+2)
Record: 3-0
Results: W 76-51 vs Villanova
Upcoming Games: 11/18 vs Stetson, 11/22 vs Purdue Fort Wayne
6. Kansas (-1)
Record: 2-1
Results: W 112-57 vs Monmouth
Upcoming Games: 11/19 vs East Tennessee State
7. Oregon (+2)
Record: 4-0
Results: W 82-74 vs Memphis (in Portland), W 67-47 vs UT Arlington
Upcoming Games: 11/22 vs Houston
8. Arizona (+2)
Record: 4-0
Results: W 87-39 vs San Jose State, W 83-55 vs New Mexico State
Upcoming Games: 11/21 vs South Dakota State, 11/24 vs Long Beach State
9. Kentucky (-8)
Record: 2-1
Results: L 67-64 vs Evansville
Upcoming Games: 11/18 vs Utah Valley, 11/22 vs Mount Saint Mary's, 11/24 vs Lamar
10. Gonzaga (+6)
Record: 4-0
Results: W 97-66 vs North Dakota, W 79-49 at Texas A&M
Upcoming Games: 11/19 vs UT Arlington, 11/23 vs Cal State Bakersfield
11. Texas Tech (+1)
Record: 3-0
Results: W 103-74 vs Houston Baptist (neutral site)
Upcoming Games: 11/21 vs Tennessee State, 11/24 vs LIU Brooklyn
12. Seton Hall (-4)
Record: 3-1
Results: L 76-73 vs Michigan State, W 83-66 at Saint Louis
Upcoming Games: 11/23 vs Florida A&M
13. Maryland (+1)
Record: 3-0
Results: W 80-50 vs Oakland
Upcoming Games: 11/19 vs Fairfield, 11/22 vs George Mason
14. Virginia (+3)
Record: 3-0
Results: W 60-42 vs Columbia
Upcoming Games: 11/19 vs Vermont, 11/23 vs UMass (at the Hall Of Fame), 11/24 vs Arizona State or St. John's (Hall of Fame)
15. Xavier (+9)
Record: 4-0
Results: W 63-58 vs Missouri (OT), W 59-56 vs Missouri State
Upcoming Games: 11/21 vs Towson (in Charleston), 11/22 and 11/24: Charleston Classic Games
16. Baylor (+3)
Record: 2-1
Results: W 72-63 vs Texas State
Upcoming Games: 11/21 vs Ohio (in Myrtle Beach), 11/22 and 11/24: Myrtle Beach Invitational Games
17. VCU (+6)
Record: 4-0
Results: W 84-82 vs LSU, W 93-65 vs Jacksonville State
Upcoming Games: 11/23 vs Florida Gulf Coast
18. Michigan (NR)
Record: 3-0
Results: W 79-69 vs Creighton, W 70-50 vs Elon
Upcoming Games: 11/22 vs Houston Baptist
19. Texas (+3)
Record: 4-0
Results: W 67-54 vs Cal Baptist, W 70-56 vs Prairie View A&M
Upcoming Games: 11/21 vs Georgetown (in MSG), 11/22 vs California or #1 Duke
20. Memphis (-7)
Record: 3-1
Results: L 82-74 at Oregon (in Portland), W 102-56 vs Alcorn State
Upcoming Games: 11/20 vs Arkansas Little Rock, 11/23 vs Mississippi
21. Florida State (-3)
Record: 2-1
Results: W 79-74 vs Western Carolina
Upcoming Games: 11/20 vs Chattanooga, 11/23 vs Saint Francis (PA)
22. Washington (-7)
Record: 2-1
Results: W 56-46 vs Mount Saint Mary's, L 75-62 vs Tennessee (in Toronto)
Upcoming Games: 11/19 vs Maine, 11/22 vs Montana, 11/24 vs San Diego
23. Georgia (+2)
Record: 3-0
Results: W 95-86 vs The Citadel, W 100-66 vs Delaware State
Upcoming Games: 11/20 vs Georgia Tech
24. Auburn (+5)
Record: 4-0
Results: W 70-69 at South Alabama, W 116-70 vs Cal State Northridge
Upcoming Games: 11/18 vs Colgate
25. Utah State (+2)
Record: 4-0
Results: W 97-56 vs Denver, W 81-54 vs North Carolina A&T
Upcoming Games: 11/18 vs UTSA, 11/22 vs LSU (in Jamaica), 11/24 vs North Texas (in Jamaica)
Next 5
26. Florida (-15)
Record: 2-2
Results: W 66-60 vs Towson, L 62-59 at UConn
Upcoming Games: 11/21 vs Saint Joe's, 11/22 and 11/24: Charleston Classic Games
27. Mississippi (+1)
Record: 3-0
Results: W 68-55 vs Norfolk State, W 85-58 vs Western Michigan
Upcoming Games: 11/19 vs Seattle, 11/23 at Memphis
28. Villanova (-7)
Record: 2-1
Results: L 76-51 at Ohio State, W 78-54 vs Ohio
Upcoming Games: 11/21 vs Middle Tennessee State (in Myrtle Beach), 11/22 and 11/24: Myrtle Beach Invitational Games
29. Tennessee (NR)
Record: 3-0
Results: W 82-63 vs Murray State, W 75-62 vs Washington (in Toronto)
Upcoming Games: 11/20 vs Alabama State
30. Oklahoma (NR)
Record: 3-0
Results: W 77-69 at Oregon State (in Portland)
Upcoming Games: 11/18 vs William & Mary, 11/21 vs Maryland Eastern Shore
Dropped Out: Saint Mary's (21), Houston (26), LSU (30)
Also Considered: Alabama, Arizona State, BYU,Cincinnati, Colorado, Creighton, Dayton, Houston, LSU, Oklahoma State, Providence, Purdue, Saint Mary's San Diego State, USC, Vermont
Thoughts
- I feel great about my the top 14 teams in my rankings. Beyond that, it's a pretty big mess. I don't feel good about Xavier at 15 or Baylor at 16, but they seemed like the best options. I do think the first fourteen teams are the best 14 in the nation, and I think the order is pretty good for now, but it's still early. Still, I think the back half of the rankings are hard to separate right now and there could be a lot of movement in that area in the future.
- Kentucky was my #1 team heading into the year, and I felt really good about that after they beat Michigan State to start the year. Then, they came out and lost at home to Evansville. The main takeaway from everyone in the college basketball world was that this further proves that there isn't a dominant team in college basketball this year, and it looks that way to me. Beyond Tyrese Maxey, they don't have a bucket getter, and their shooting will be a problem all year. I think they'll be fine, but it's a tough start to the season for the Wildcats.
- Gonzaga made a jump, and that had more to do with me than the Bulldogs. I was too low on the team heading into the year, and they have proven that they are an elite offense in the sport this year. They are averaging 95.3 points per game, and have 6 players averaging double digits. And that's without big man Killian Tillie, so they have more firepower coming. Filip Petrusev has been great this year, and grad transfers Admon Gilder and Ryan Woolridge have fit in seamlessly. They are once again elite and I'm a fool for underestimating this team heading into the year.
- Michigan was team that I had no feel on coming into the year. They had key returners in Zavier Simpson, Isaiah Livers, and Jon Teske, but they lost a lot on the court with Charles Matthews, Jordan Poole, and Ignas Brazdeikis leaving school, and on the sideline with coaches John Beilein and Luke Yaklich departing. Juwan Howard had pedigree as a coach from his time with the Miami Heat, but I didn't know how the team would look under his leadership, both in terms of quality and style. However, the Wolverines have been good early. Their win over Creighton was impressive, as despite trailing at the half against a hot shooting team, they stepped up defensively and made some big shots, getting a big win over the Blue Jays. I think they will be good this year and have moved them into the Top 25 after getting a chance to see them play.
- Both Florida teams look very bad right now. Florida State's big win is over the Gators, and they have lost to an OK at best Pittsburgh team and struggled with Western Carolina, while the Gators struggled with Towson, only winning by 6, and lost at UConn who is still rebuilding under Dan Hurley. Both came in with high expectations, I had them both in the top 15 coming into the year, and neither looks like a good team right now. I moved Florida outside of the Top 25 because they just do not look the part at the moment, and the Seminoles are barely in there at the moment. Neither team looks like they can make a shot, and they need to fix a lot of things to get back to preseason expectations.
- One thing to look forward to in the next two weeks are Exempt Events, or the tournaments that many teams play in during the end of November. This week, the Charleston Classic, Myrtle Beach Invitational, 2k Empire Classic, Paradise Jam, Hall of Fame Tip-Off and Jamaica Classic are all on, and more start next week. They are going to greatly affect some of the rankings as quality teams face off, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the top teams play each other in the coming days.
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