The Most Important Fake Top-25 College Basketball Rankings On The Internet
So every Monday I’ll be putting these together. But, what I want to do each week, besides rack up hopeful pageviews by people getting mad about where their team is, is address some of the biggest questions of the previous week. Now, the way I plan on doing these rankings is a combo of looking forward and looking behind. So take some of the results that we’ve seen, but also try to predict who will be the best teams going forward.
Top 25
1. Duke (1)
2. Michigan (2)
3. Virginia (3)
4. Tennessee (4)
5. Gonzaga (5)
6. Texas Tech (9)
7. Michigan State (10)
8. Virginia Tech (16)
9. Kansas (7)
10. NC State (13)
11. Nevada (6)
12. Florida State (8)
13. Auburn (14)
14. Kentucky (11)
15. UNC (15)
16. Iowa State (24)
17. Ohio State (12)
18. Mississippi State (19)
19. Houston (21)
20. Marquette (17)
21. Indiana (18)
22. Oklahoma (23)
23. Seton Hall (NR)
24. Buffalo (25)
25. Texas (NR)
Dropped Out: Nebraska (20), Iowa (22)
Well needless to say that was a bizarre week and really what I expect going forward. Conference road games are going to be a complete pain in the ass for pretty much every team. We saw Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Marquette, Nevada and Florida State all lose on the road this week to teams of various degrees. That doesn’t even take into account Cincinnati losing to East Carolina preventing them from being in the top-25.
What we are starting to see though is the top group of 5 really separate themselves as tier 1. We know all about Duke. Michigan continues to roll and has one of the best resumes in college basketball. Virginia is great again, no matter what you say about UMBC. Tennessee is coming off of a dominating performance against Georgia – a sign of a good team, dominating bad teams. Gonzaga is finally back to full strength with the return of Geno Crandall and Killian Tillie playing for the first time this year.
Michigan State got arguably the best win of the weekend though as it went to Ohio State and came back from 7 down without Joshua Langford. It was an impressive win as it looked like Ohio State was ready to run away with the game at half. They are starting to get more help from the wing and the difference between this year and last year is roster fit. Last year Izzo was playing guys out of position. This year he has the ability to mix and match lineups with guys like Ahrens, Henry and McQuaid all playing well.
I have St. John’s right at No. 26 because I know a lot of people will be asking about them. I’ve talked about it before but that nonconference slate was just awful. Yes, they got the win over Marquette at home and then beat Georgetown on the road in overtime. They are a good team, don’t get me wrong. But, their wins don’t match up yet to say Texas who has wins over UNC (neutral), home to Purdue and at Kansas State. This week though, St. John’s has a chance to really fly up the rankings.
Top-25 Matchups This Week
No. 15 UNC at No. 10 NC State – Tuesday, 9pm
No. 22 Oklahoma at No. 6 Texas Tech – Tuesday, 9pm
No. 6 Texas Tech at No. 25 Texas – Saturday, 2pm
No. 1 Duke at No. 12 Florida State – Saturday, 2pm
No. 23 Seton Hall at No. 19 Marquette – Saturday, 2pm