NCAA Power 16 Rankings - NBADraft.net

Wichita State continued its dissection of everything on its schedule while rolling through the Missouri Valley Conference competition one last time this past weekend in St. Louis.

Now the Shockers get to kick it – well, I’m sure they’ll practice and attend class, too – at home this week in anticipation of Sunday’s Selection Show on CBS, when their expected top seed in the tournament is announced.

Who gets the other three No. 1 slots in the 68-team field?

Florida seems a lock, regardless of what happens in the SEC tournament, based upon its regular-season dominance.

And Arizona, despite its loss in Eugene Saturday, seems set to bag a No. 1, as well, regardless of what takes place during the Pac 12 tourney in Las Vegas.

Who gets the fourth?

Kansas – assuming a decisive run through the Big 12 tourney – is a strong possibility.

The ACC tourney winner will also be in the hunt – especially if the winner is Syracuse or Duke.

The cool thing about all of the speculation – here and elsewhere – is that it becomes moot Sunday evening when we see what the folks’ whose opinions really mattered think.

Rank (Last Week)	Record	Comment
1. Florida (1)	29-2	The Gators chewed up South Carolina and Kentucky to become the first-ever SEC club to accomplish 18-zip in conference play.
2. Wichita State (2)	34-0	Jerry Tarkanian, Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony and Stacy Augmon know something about finishing a regular season unbeaten.
3. Arizona (3)	28-3	The Wildcats ran into the hottest team in the Pac 12 Saturday in Eugene, Ore.
4. Duke (5)	25-7	The Blue Devils brought an abrupt end to UNC’s winning streak by way of a 30-point performance by freshman Jabari Parker in what was likely his final game in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
5. Virginia (4)	25-6	There will be no ACC title at stake but a lot of other stuff on the line on Saturday when the Blue Devils host that squad from Chapel Hill.
6. Creighton (7)	24-6	A Big East title game, third meeting with Villanova seems inevitable, doesn’t it?
7. Villanova (9)	28-3	Has a 28-3 regular-season record by a team in a “power” conference ever garnered such relative lack of national hype?
8. Syracuse (8)	27-4	The Orange returned to pre-slump form with a 16-point punch out of host Florida State Sunday.
9. Kansas (6)	23-8	The Jayhawks need a healthy, and effective, Joel Embiid to make a deep tourney run – especially if the run is to take to them to Dallas.
10. San Diego State (11)	27-3	The Aztecs had to dig really deep into their bag of tricks to pull out a come-from-behind win Saturday night.
11. Michigan (13)	23-7	Who could have imagined the Wolverines winning a Big Ten title minus Mitch McGary?
12. Louisville (14)	26-5	It’s been a heck of a senior season for Russ Smith.
13. North Carolina (12)	23-8	A rubber match with Duke couldn’t taken place until Sunday in ACC tourney final.
14. Wisconsin (10)	25-6	The hammer was dropped in Lincoln Sunday on the Badgers’ eight-game winning streak.
15. Cincinnati (15)	26-5	One more time – what a terrific coaching job by Mick Cronin and his staff this season.
16. New Mexico (NR)	24-6	The Lobos came-oh-so-close to a win at San Diego State and the MWC title that would have gone along with it Saturday.

THE NEXT 16: Connecticut 24-7, Gonzaga 26-6, Green Bay 24-6, Harvard 26-4, Iowa 20-11, Iowa State 23-7, Kentucky 22-9, Memphis 23-8, Michigan State 23-8, Nebraska 19-11, Ohio State 23-8, Oklahoma State 20-11, Oklahoma 23-8, Pittsburgh 23-8, Saint Louis 26-5 and SMU 23-8.

TEAMS OF THE WEEK

*Florida. Coach Billy Donovan’s team wrapped its Gator arms around the program’s first-ever unbeaten SEC record.
*Michigan. The Wolverines bagged their first outright Big Ten title since 1986 with their 31-point beat-down of host Illinois Tuesday night.
*Oklahoma. The Sooners sealed a second-place finish in the Big 12 with their victories against West Virginia and TCU.
*Oregon. The Ducks extended their winning streak to seven with Pac 12 wins over Arizona State and regular-season champion Arizona, both in Eugene.
*Wichita State. The Shockers will be the first program in 23 years (since UNLV) to go into the NCAA Tournament unbeaten after beating three MVC tourney foes by an average margin of 20.7 points per game.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

*T.J. Warren. The sophomore forward averaged 41.5 points (hitting 30 of 45 shots from the field), 9.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.5 steals as North Carolina State collected ACC wins against Pittsburgh and Boston College.
*Michael Frazier. The sophomore guard hit 14 of the 25 shots he attempted from behind the arc Florida in SEC wins over South Carolina (a career-high 37 points) and Kentucky.
*Doug McDermott. The soon-to-be John R. Wooden Award winner averaged 33.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game as Creighton split its final two regular-season Big East Conference games.
*Fred Van Vleet. The sophomore point guard averaged 13.3 points, 5.0 assists, 2.3 steals and only 1.7 turnovers per game as Wichita improved to 34-zip with Missouri Valley tournament wins over Evansville, Missouri State and Indiana State.
*Andrew Wiggins. The freshman forward had quite the performance in what will prove to be his final regular-season Big 12 game, scoring 41 points and grabbing eight rebounds to go with two assists, four blocked shots and five steals although his Kansas club dropped a 92-86 decision at West Virginia.

Frank Burlison has been covering hoops for 30+ years for a variety of publications.

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].