Welcome back to the spotlight college basketball! With the Super Bowl over and the NBA Playoffs still two months away, most eyes will be redirected to college hoops for the next few weeks of football withdrawal. If you’re looking to catch up on all that’s gone on the last few months, we’ve got you covered with the latest power rankings!
1. UConn (22-2)
This might be the year we see a back-to-back national champion for the first time since 2007. The Huskies continue to roll over every Big East opponent placed in their way but it will get a whole lot tougher on Saturday when red-hot Marquette comes to Hartford.
2. Purdue (22-2)
The Boilermakers are the only team keeping pace with UConn right now in college basketball. It’s an ugly year in the Big Ten but that doesn’t take away from how impressive this team has looked over the past month. Zach Edey is even banking in 3’s now!
3. Kansas (19-5)
Kevin McCullar means everything to this Kansas team. The fact that the Jayhawks held off No. 13 Baylor without him is a much bigger revelation than people think. Any contribution from Bill Self’s bench is a win at this point in the season, so if he can win with one of them starting and playing 30 minutes, who can’t they beat?
4. Arizona (19-5)
Look out everyone… Arizona figured out how to win on the road. It took three overtimes on Thursday against Utah, but that might make it even more impressive. They needed no extra time over the weekend in a 99-79 romp of Colorado. This team has what it takes to win in March, with a guard in Caleb Love who is no stranger to the biggest moments. Just ask Duke.
5. Houston (21-3)
Not many teams can surrender a 15-0 run on the road and still find a way to win. But this Houston team is clearly as strong mentally as they look physically on the court. The win placed them in sole possession of first place in the Big 12, which is quite the turnaround from a 1-2 start in a brand new conference.
6. Marquette (18-5)
Winning at Hinkle Fieldhouse is no easy task but if Marquette is able to do so on Tuesday night, we could be in for one of the games of the season when they head to Connecticut on Saturday. The game will be invigorating either way, but with the added layer of fighting for a conference championship, this matchup will be appointment television.
7. North Carolina (19-5)
If anyone can get a read on this North Carolina team, let me know! They snapped a 10-game winning streak last week to Georgia Tech of all teams, dominated No. 7 Duke, then lost at home to an unranked Clemson! To summarize, at their best, the Tar Heels are a legitimate contender in the same tier as UConn and Purdue. At their worst, we could be looking at another historic upset in March.
8. Tennessee (17-6)
One thing that Tennessee hadn’t done to this point in the season was get blown out. That changed on Saturday. The loss dropped the Vols to fourth in the SEC but with a favorable two-week schedule ahead of them, they could climb to the top before you know it.
9. Duke (18-5)
The Blue Devils needed a week like this to regain confidence that they can still win on their home floor. It doesn’t get much easier in high-major conferences than hosting Notre Dame and Boston College, so that was also very helpful. On a more serious note, with the growth of Mark Mitchell in his sophomore season and Jared McCain’s continued development, Duke is a serious player in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments beginning in just a few weeks.
10. Baylor (17-6)
Baylor is the only team that can rival North Carolina’s streakiness. That’s what happens when all 10 of your games in the best conference in the nation have been decided by single digits. The Bears desperately need to show the ability to win decisively against a top opponent because it’s simply not possible to survive and advance six times in a row in a tournament like March Madness.
11. Iowa State (18-5)
Raise your hand if you had Iowa State in sole possession of second place in the Big 12 on Feb. 12 coming into the season. T.J. Otzelberger needs a lot more respect for what he’s doing in Ames because this is not a program used to controlling its own destiny with this little time left in the season.
12. Auburn (19-5)
The SEC is a complete bloodbath right now. Days after stomping their rival 99-81, the Tigers were run out of the building by Florida, who is sneakily nudging its way into the NCAA Tournament field. Two ranked teams will come to the jungle this week, South Carolina and Kentucky, making this do-or-die time for Bruce Pearl if he wants another regular season SEC Championship.
13. Alabama (17-7)
The Tide responded to their loss to Auburn by scoring 109 points on LSU for the SECOND time this season. It’s this offensive ceiling that Alabama needs to bring with them outside of its home arena and maybe this will be the spark to continuously do so.
14. South Carolina (21-3)
The run of SEC teams ends here with South Carolina who used another undefeated week to climb into first place in the conference. Any National Coach of the Year ballot that doesn’t have Lamont Paris at the top right now should be thrown in the fire.
15. Illinois (17-6)
A five-minute scoring drought and complete collapse in the second half from the Illini turned what would’ve been a season-shifting win into a backbreaking loss in East Lansing. There isn’t a single win on its schedule that suggests Illinois is a top team, and unless they can defeat Purdue, it’ll enter the NCAA Tournament with the same dilemma that will crush its seed.
16. Saint Mary’s (20-6)
The Gaels and Yale are now the only two teams remaining without a loss in conference play. The turnaround that Randy Bennett is leading this season is incredible and has his team back in consideration for an at-large bid after a dreadful 3-5 start. This is not a team I’d want to play at any point come March.
Next 5: Creighton, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Indiana State, FAU
Players of the Week:
Tyler Kolek, No. 9 Marquette Golden Eagles
Kolek (pictured) put on a show back-to-back Saturdays to continue Marquette’s ascent in the national and Big East rankings. St. John’s had no answer for him in an 86-75 loss as the senior fell just three rebounds shy of a triple double. His 13 assists marked a new season-high and complemented one of his highest scoring outputs as well with 27 points.
Dylan Disu, Texas Longhorns
Although the record doesn’t show it, Texas has been a different team with Disu back in the lineup. His seven 3-pointers in Saturday’s beatdown of West Virginia was a career-high and continued the momentum from a 28-point effort earlier in the week against Iowa State.
Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest Demon Deacons
To continue on the theme of career-highs, Hunter Sallis scored 33 points against NC State to set one of his own. His resurgence this season in Winston-Salem doesn’t just have Wake Forest in contention for the NCAA Tournament, it also has him in contention to be a first-round pick in this summer’s draft.
Pelle Larsson, No. 8 Arizona Wildcats
Even though it took 48 minutes and three overtimes, Pelle Larsson tallying 27 points, eight assists and seven rebounds was one of the most impressive performances in college basketball this week. The senior constantly contributes winning plays on both ends of the floor and will carve out a role somewhere after his collegiate career because of it.
Maxime Raynaud, Stanford Cardinal
On a team filled with fascinating prospects you may not have heard of, Maxime Raynaud is easily the one who sticks out the most. Standing at 7’1, 250 pounds, the Parisian certainly has an NBA-body and now has the numbers to back it up as a junior. His points per game average is doubling for the third straight season and with a 25-point, nine-rebound performance against USC, who have scouts watching them every game, Raynaud should be firmly on every team’s radar now.
Play of the Week
There’s nothing quite as disrespectful as letting a 3-pointer fly for just the second time in your four-year career because you’re beating your bitter rival so badly it doesn’t matter. Well, that’s what Edey did on Saturday and what made it even better is that he banked it in. He had as many threes as the Indiana starting lineup because of it!
https://www.foxsports.com/watch/fmc-f3plg4vm9qqc1ux7
Video Credit: FOX Sports
