The Big East and Big Ten Conferences continue to dominate the upper portion of the weekly Power 16 ratings, with six teams among the top nine.
The Big East is represented by Villanova, Xavier and Providences (No.’s 3, 4 and 9, respectively) while the Big Ten has No.’s 5 (Michigan State), 6 (Maryland) and 8 (Iowa).
Rank (Last week’s rank) | Record | Comment |
1. North Carolina (1) | 19-2 | The Tar Heels’ ACC winning streak (now at 8) gets severely tested in Louisville (Monday) and South Bend (Saturday). |
2. Oklahoma (2) | 18-2 | Sooners’ only two losses by a collective eight points in Ames and Lawrence. |
3. Villanova (3) | 18-3 | The Wildcats get another pop at Providence (on the road) Saturday. |
4. Xavier (5) | 19-2 | The Musketeers have won four Big East road games in a row. |
5. Michigan St. (8) | 19-4 | Five toughies over the next three weeks (Michigan, Purdue and Ohio State on the road; Indiana and Wisconsin at home). |
6. Maryland (9) | 19-3 | The Terps looked every bit a Big Ten favorite in wins over Iowa and Ohio State. |
7. Texas A&M (4) | 18-3 | The Aggies bounced back nicely from their loss at Arkansas to a win over Iowa State in College Station. |
8. Iowa (7) | 17-4 | The Hawkeyes rebounded from the loss to Maryland in time to handle Northwestern in Iowa City |
9. Providence (6) | 18-4 | Like Xavier, the Friars are 4-0 away from home in the Big East. |
10. Kansas (11) | 17-4 | Wayne Selden (33 points, three rebounds and two steals) in the Wildcats’ overtime win over visiting Kentucky Saturday. |
11. SMU (12) | 19-1 | Coming out of Houston with victory No. 20 Monday night will be quite a challenging task, indeed. |
12. Virginia (14) | 17-4 | Weren’t a lot of analyst-types pondering “what’s wrong with the Cavaliers?” not so long ago? |
13. West Virginia (10) | 17-4 | The Mountaineers didn’t hold up their end of the Big 12-SEC tussle in Gainesville. |
14. Kentucky (NR) | 16-5 | Six Wildcats have more rebounds than oh-so-highly touted 6-11 freshman Skal Labissiere – including 5-9 sophomore Tyler Ulis. |
15. Oregon (NR) | 18-4 | There seems little debate that, at least for the time being, the Ducks are clearly the best in the Pac 12. |
16. Wichita St. (NR) | 16-5 | There have been 11 wins in a row – with just one of those games decided by a margin of fewer than 13 points. |
ON THE CUSP: Arizona 17-5, Arkansas-Little Rock 19-2, Baylor 16-4, Dayton 18-3, Duke 15-6, Indiana 18-4, Iowa State 16-5, Louisville 17-4, Miami-Fla. 16-4, Pittsburgh 17-4, Purdue 19-4, Saint Mary’s 18-2, San Diego State 16-6, South Carolina 19-2
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK (Jan. 18-24)
*Devin Coleman (Temple): The senior guard came off the bench to hit all eight shots – seven of those from behind the arc – to score 23 points as the Owls handed SMU its first loss of the season Sunday in Philadelphia.
*Yogi Ferrell (Indiana): The senior point guard averaged 16.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists in wins over Northwestern and Illinois as the Hoosiers improved to 7-zip in the Big Ten.
*Brice Johnson (North Carolina): The 6-9 senior averaged 23.0 points, 14.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 3.0 steals in ACC wins over Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
*Trey Kell (San Diego State): The 6-4 sophomore averaged 21.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals as the Aztecs knocked off Fresno State and Utah State to improve to 7-0 in the MWC.
*Jakob Poeltl (Utah): The 7-foot sophomore picked up Pac 12 POW honors for the third time after averaging 21.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in road victories against Washington State and Washington.
Follow Frank on twitter @FrankieBur. Also make sure to follow his website at www.burlisononbasketball.com. College coaching staffs interested in Burlison’s scouting service should contact him at [email protected].
Rick Pitino is doing a great
Rick Pitino is doing a great job….just not for the Oregon Ducks.
Rick Pitino is doing a great
Rick Pitino is doing a great job….just not for the Oregon Ducks.
You realize Iowa beat the
You realize Iowa beat the shit out of MSU twice, and they have the same record? Iowa has one conference loss and MSU has 4. Makes sense guyz.
You realize Iowa beat the
You realize Iowa beat the shit out of MSU twice, and they have the same record? Iowa has one conference loss and MSU has 4. Makes sense guyz.