Week of 1/29/24
This week was really tough for some teams, and their entire seasons got flipped around. However, some other team’s seasons were changed in a good way. Although it may not have seemed like it, but there were a lot of upsets this week, making it one of the hardest weeks for me to rank.
Throughout the uncertainty, however, many things stayed the same. The top 4 teams of UConn, Purdue, North Carolina, and Houston don’t move at all in the rankings. UConn played just 1 game this week, taking down Xavier, 99-56. Tristen Newton led the way with 22 points, while Donovan Clingan had 8 rebounds. It was never close, as UConn never led and started the game up 10-0. The Huskies shot 58% from deep, but didn’t skip out down low, with 40 points in the paint. UConn’s largest led was 44. UConn has won 8 straight, and take on Providence and Saint John’s this week. Overall, a nice win for UConn. Purdue had a strong showing this week, destroying Michigan and beating Rutgers. They beat the Wolverines 99-67, off the back of a season high for Lance Jones. Jones scored 24, and the most he had before this game was 17. Jones also had 3 steals in the win. Zach Edey had 16 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes, his fourth straight game with a double-double. Edey is looking like the repeat national player of the year, as he’s averaging 23 points per game and 11.4 rebounds per game, both top 5 in the country. Braden Smith also had a double-double, with 11 points and 10 assists. He’s averaging 7.3 assists per game, 4th in the country. Purdue never trailed against Michigan, and had a lead as big as 35 at one point. Against Rutgers, Purdue won 68-60, and it was a lot closer than what Purdue originally wanted. After going up by 12 at halftime, Rutgers outscored Purdue in the second half 40-35, but Lance Jones once again had a big game, with 5 steals, 8 assists, and 10 rebounds. He did only have 4 points, but Zach Edey had his 5th straight game with a double-double, as he had 26 points and 12 rebounds. He also had 4 blocks. Braden Smith had 19 points as well. He did have just 2 assists, but Purdue still got the win and that’s what matters. Purdue takes on Northwestern and Wisconsin this week, which is going to be a problem. Northwestern already upset Purdue this season, and Purdue is traveling to the Badgers. Knowing Purdue, they could drop 1 of these games. But with the way they’ve been playing recently, they shouldn’t. UNC took care of business against Wake Forest and FSU this week, winning 85-64 and 75-68, respectively. UNC was actually losing at halftime in both games, but they scored 52 in the second half against Wake Forest and 39 against FSU to win. RJ Davis had 36 against Wake Forest and 24 against FSU, leading UNC in scoring in both games. Likewise, Harrison Ingram led UNC in rebounds in both games, with 14 against Wake Forest and 17 against FSU. Ingram had a double-double in bot games, and now has 3 straight double-doubles. Armando Bacot was shut down, however, as he had 5 points in both games, and had 4 rebounds against FSU and 7 against Wake Forest. Bacot is still averaging 13 points per game and 10 rebounds, but a potential UNC loss could come at the hands of him, at least with the way he’s playing. UNC has a 10-game winning streak, and have a chance to move it to 12 with wins over Georgia Tech and their fierce rival, Duke. If UNC can beat Duke, they should have the ACC wrapped up. Houston was rebounded after their 2-loss week a few weeks ago, beating BYU and Kansas State for 4 straight. They forced BYU, who shoots the second most threes in D-1, to go 11-38, which is 29%. BYU averages 36% this year. LJ Cyrer had 23 points and 4 rebounds in his 37 minutes, wile Jamal Shead had 16 points. Against K-State, Houston started up 11-0, and never looked back. They were never behind and once led by 29. Houston dominated Kansas State, and now look ahead to Texas and Kansas. Both games are on the road. Finally, Tennessee rounds out the top 5. Just like UConn, they played 1 game this week, taking down Vanderbilt, 75-62. Dalton Knecht had another big game, with 32 points and 6 rebounds. He’s averaging 19.5 points per game, which is 34th in the country. In Tennessee’s last 5 games, Knecht has scored 25 or more points in all 5, and has gone over 30 points 3 times. He has 4 30+ point games on the season. Knecht also had 3 assists and 3 blocks against Vandy. The rest of Tennessee’s team is playing well too. Jonas Aidoo had 9 points and 10 rebounds, along with 2 steals and blocks. Santiago Vescovi had 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. Jordan Gainey had 10 points in 15 minutes off the bench. Knecht is playing his best ball, and Tennessee is going to need him to deliver against two ranked teams, as they play both South Carolina and Kentucky this week.
Right outside of the top 5 is Duke, and following them is Kentucky, Marquette, Arizona, and Wisconsin. Duke demolished Louisville before grinding out a close win over Clemson. Tyrese Proctor dropped a career high against the Cardinals, with 24 points off the bench. Kyle Filipowski also had a big game, with 15 rebounds and 5 assists. 4 of Duke’s 5 starters were in double digits, and both Filipowski and Mark Mitchell had a double-double. It seemed like everyone was playing well, as Duke dominated in every stat. Duke also led in most categories against Clemson, but it was not a blowout. Duke’s largest lead was 12, and they led for most of the game. Clemson made it close at the end, and had an 83.6% chance to win with 7 seconds left. Josh Beadie fouled Procter with less than a second left, and Proctor sunk both free throws for the win. Just like North Carolina, Duke has a cupcake game before taking on each other. Duke plays Virginia Tech in that cupcake game. As for Kentucky, they don’t move a spot after a loss to South Carolina and a win over Arkansas. Both games were on the road, and South Carolina is now ranked, so I guess you can see it as a quality loss. Against the Gamecocks, Rob Dillingham led the way with 16 points in 26 minutes off the bench. You can’t expect to win a game when your top scorer is coming off the bench and 3 of your 5 starters score less than 5 points. Reed Sheppard only had 3 points as well. It’s not like South Carolina’s players were scoring so much better either. They did shoot better though, and that’s what won them that game. They did redeem themselves against Arkansas, as they went into Fayetteville, where GameDay was, and won. Antonio Reeves had 24 points, Reed Sheppard had 14, and Tre Mitchell had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. They still had some problems, as Aaron Bradshaw and Adou Thiero scored a combined 1 point in their combined 24 minutes, as they both had 3 fouls. Kentucky takes on Florida and Tennessee this week, both at home. Following Kentucky is Marquette, who needed a big second half to take down Seton Hall. Seton Hall has been the king of the upset this year, and they already took down Marquette once this year. Marquette was up 30-29 at half, and outscored Seton Hall 45-28 in the second half to win. Neither team was at full strength, as Kam Jones sprained his ankle the day before and could only play 5 minutes. Tyler Kolek wasn’t hurt, but Marquette only got 4 points out of him. Kolek had 22 points the game before in a win over DePaul. Kolek did have 11 assists, and has had 11 assists in 3 of his last 4 games. Oso Ighodaro had 21 points and 7 rebounds, while David Joplin had 20 points. Marquette also took down DePaul, with Kolek scoring 22, Joplin had 21, and Ighodaro had 19. Kam Jones had just 3 points. DePaul is the worst P6 team this year, so it was no surprise that Marquette won. The Golden Eagles take on Villanova and Georgetown this week, both on the road. Arizona falls back a spot after their loss to Oregon State, but they also did take down the other Oregon team, both on the road. Against OSU, Caleb Love had just 23 points, while Keshad Johnson had 18 and Pelle Larsson had 17. That’s about the only good things Arizona had going their way in that game. Kylan Boswell shot 0-3 from the field in just 24 minutes, as he had 4 fouls. Zona shot 3-14 from deep, and even though they dominated in fast breaks and in the paint, they blew a 12-point led. Caleb Love then had a career high against Oregon, with 36 points. He also had 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Love is now averaging 19 points per game, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. After shooting 21% from three against Oregon State, Arizona shot 52% against Oregon. This time around, Oregon never led, And Zona’s biggest lead was 16. Arizona takes on Cal and Stanford this week, both at home. Rounding up the top 10 is Wisconsin, moving up 3 spots. They barely beat Minnesota on the road before taking down Michigan State on Friday. Tyler Wahl led the way for Wisconsin against Minnesota, with 16 points of 6-7 shooting. AJ Storr had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Max Klesmit had 11 points. Both Storr and Klesmit shot badly, as Storr went 5-14 and Klesmit shot 4-10. Although the percentage might not be bad, a lot of these shots were in key situations. Wisconsin largest lead was 15, and they almost choked it away. They are lucky that they won, but if they have a lead against Purdue on Sunday, they can’t choke it away. That game will further the gap between the top 2 teams in the Big Ten. Wisconsin also has to play Nebraska on the road, who already upset Purdue earlier this season. Those games are going to be hard for Wisconsin, and hopefully they can play like the way they did against Michigan State and not Minnesota. Against MSU, AJ Storr led the way with 28 points, while Steven Crowl had 15. Outside of those two, however, no one went over 10 points. However, 7 other players did score, all with 3 or more points. Wisconsin out rebounded MSU by 10, and the Badgers didn’t fall behind. If Wisconsin can pull of the upset against Purdue on Sunday, then the gap between these two teams will be wider, setting up an epic showdown between the 2 on March 10th, but only if both teams stay at the same level of play.
Following Wisconsin are Kansas, Illinois, Auburn, Creighton, and Iowa State. Iowa State had an incredible week, taking down Kansas State at home before upsetting Kansas a few days later in the same arena. ISU forced Kevin McCullar Jr. to shoot 5-18 from the field and 2-8 from deep. Iowa State forced Hunter Dickinson to shoot 1-5 from deep as well. I’ll get into Kansas’s side of the game in a bit, but what Iowa State did against Kansas showed that they are the scrappiest team in the loaded Big 12 conference. Although they were only behind by 5 points at the most, ISU still had to make clutch shots. Tre King had the biggest day, with 21 points and 9 rebounds. King is only averaging 10 points per game and 5.5 rebounds, but if he can play for the rest of the season like the way he is playing now, King could make a serious push at the NBA, as this is his fifth year of college ball. Tamin Lipsey leads the team in scoring on the year, averaging 14 points per game. He’s also averaging 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Lipsey had 10 points and 8 assists in the upset win. Keshon Gilbert had 16 points against Kansas, and is averaging 13.7 points per game. Gilbert had a double-double in the win over Kansas State as well, with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Curtis Jones was big off the bench against the Jayhawks, as he had 15 points in 26 minutes. On the defensive side, Iowa State forced 8 steals, which is something that they’ve done very well as of late. Against K-State, they had 10 steals. When they upset Houston a few weeks ago, they had 8 steals as well. The best case of this, however, was the game against TCU, when they came up with 18 steals. ISU averages 11.2 steals per games, tied for 4th in the country. Tamin Lipsey is averaging 3 steals a game, tied for second in the country. Iowa State has just 1 game this week, taking on Baylor. Iowa State has the momentum, and I see them winning that game. As for Kansas, they need to change something. They’ve lost 3 of their last 6, all of them coming on the road. Like stated earlier, McCullar shot poorly against the Cyclones, and so did Dickinson, at least from deep. Dickinson had 20 points and 15 rebounds; his 12th double-double on the year. KJ Adams scored more than half of his points from the free through line as well. Out of 4 players that came off the bench, they scored just 2 points in a combined 24 minutes. Bill Self was also relying on the bench early in the game, mix-matching the lineups nearly every dead ball. One thing that we can take away from Kansas’ slump is that they can and are still winning at home. That’s good news of Jayhawk fans, as Kansas has both of their games at home this week. They play Oklahoma State, who they already beat this season, and Houston. If they can play like they do at home, then no problem. However, I they don’t, Kansas is in grave danger off not even making March Madness. As for Creighton, they beat Xavier and got their 20th straight win over DePaul, 85-62. In that game, 4 of Creighton’s 5 starters went for 16 or more points, with both Ryan Kalkbrenner and Baylor Scheierman having double-doubles. Trey Alexander had 23 points, along with 4 rebounds and 7 assists. Creighton coasted to a win over the lowly Blue Demons, which they also did against Creighton. Coming off a triple-overtime game, Trey Alexander had 27 points and 9 rebounds, and is averaging 17 points per game, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Baylor Scheierman, who had 20 points and 4 rebounds against Xavier, is averaging 18 points per game, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Once again, Creighton had 4 of their 5 starters in double digits, with Alexander and Kalkbrenner both being 1 rebound shy of a double-double. Creighton plays very copy and paste basketball, which led to them being upset earlier this season. Creighton has just 1 game this week, taking on Butler at home. In between Kansas and Creighton is Illinois and Auburn. I’ll start with Illinois, who don’t move at all in the rankings after a scary week. Even with Terrence Shannon Jr. back, The Illini struggled. They started their week with a 96-91 overtime loss at Northwestern. It was a close game throughout, as Illinois’ largest lead was just 5 and Northwestern’s was 10. Illinois out rebounded Northwestern, but had 5 more turnovers. Northwestern capitalized off that, as they had 17 points off turnovers. Coleman Hawkins and Marcus Domask both had 22 points, with Hawkins adding 13 rebounds and Domask adding 6 assists. Quincy Guerrier had 15 points ad 11 rebounds, while Shannon Jr. had just 12 points. Illinois was fine on offense, but not so much on defense. They allowed Boo Buie to score 29 points, and let up 23 from Brooks Barnhizer. Problems persisted into the Indiana game, as it was back and forth throughout. IU had the game tied with 1 and a half minutes left, but Terrence Shannon’s 6 free throws in the final minute help the Illini seal the game. Illinois forced Indiana to shot 0-9 from deep, but that just led to more problems. IU had 16 more points in the paint than Illinois. They have to change that when they play Ohio State on the road and Nebraska this week. As for Auburn, they’ve hit a wall. Coming into last week, they were 16-2, with an 11-game winning streak. They were also the only undefeated team in SEC play. They started the week with a game against their rival Alabama. It was on the road, which added even more atmosphere to the game. This overwhelmed Auburn, and they fell 79-75. Johni Broome carried the starters, as he had a 25-point, 14 rebound double-double. He also had 5 blocks. No other starter had double digit points, and Jaylin Williams was the only other starter to make an impact, as he had 11 rebounds. Auburn didn’t seem to improve against Mississippi State, either. This time, Broome didn’t play that well. He still led Auburn in scoring, but he only had 14 points. He had 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. After shooting 20% from 3 against Bama, Auburn shot 25% from deep this time. Auburn got bullied down low, as Mississippi State had 15 more rebounds then Auburn, and 14 more points in the paint. Nearly all of Auburn’s bench players shot badly, and they took way too many 3’s than needed. Auburn will look to change course this week, as they take on Vanderbilt and Ole Miss.
The teams in the last quadrant of the top 20 are Texas Tech, Baylor, FAU, Dayton, Utah State. Texas Tech played just 1 game last week, beating Oklahoma 85-84. Chance McMillian had a season high 27 points off the bench. He also had 8 rebounds, and made 6 of his 8 3-point shots. Pop Isaacs and Joe Toussaint both had clutch free throws late to ice the game for Texas Tech as well. Isaacs ended up with 18 points, while Toussaint had 14. Toussaint also had 6 assists. Texas Tech takes on TCU and Cincinnati this week, and if they win, they have a very strong chance at being the regular season champions of the Big 12. As for another Big 12 team, that being Baylor, they’ve lost 3 straight. They lost to Kansas State and Texas earlier this month, and in their only game this week, they went into triple overtime with TCU and lost. Baylor shot just 22.7% from deep, a stark contrast from TCU’s 40%. With 13 seconds left, Baylor had a 75.6% chance to win. Jameer Nelson Jr. made a shot for TCU to go up 103-102. After Ja’Kobe Walter got an offensive rebound, he turned the ball over. RayJ Dennis fouled Nelson, and he made 2 free throws. If Baylor shot a bit better, they very well could’ve won this game. However, they couldn’t. The Bears take on UCF and Iowa State this week. FAU suffered a scare against North Texas on Sunday, winning 66-63. Johnell Davis did everything for the Owls, as he had 28 points and 8 rebounds, both leading the team. FAU also beat Rice last week. They only have 1 game this week, taking on Tulsa at home. Dayton suffered their third loss this season last week, falling to Richmond. Although it dropped them 5 spots in the AP Poll, it only dropped them 1 spot in my rankings. Dayton also had a win over La Salle last week. Dayton should still win the A-10, as they’re just 1 game behind Richmond, who also have a good program and are getting 4 votes from the AP Poll. Dayton takes on George Washington and Saint Bonaventure this week, both at home. Just like Texas Tech and Baylor, Utah State played just 1 game last week. Utah State traveled to Boise State, and went out with a 90-84 win. Utah State did struggle from deep, going 6-23. 4 of USU’s starters were in double digits, and Great Osobor and Isaac Johnson both had double-doubles. Josh Uduje added 18 points off the bench. Utah State takes on San Jose State and San Diego State this week.
Rounding out the top 25, TCU has made a strong push as of late. The teams in front of them are Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Caroliana, and Alabama. TCU is 15-5, and have wins over Oklahoma, Houston, and now Baylor. They also lost to both Kansas and Iowa State by just 1 point. They entered my top 25 a few weeks back after they upset OU and Houston in the same week, but then went 0-2 the following week. Last week, they took down Oklahoma State and Baylor, with the game against Baylor going into 3 overtimes. Jameer Nelson Jr. had 30 points in 42 minutes off the bench, while Emanuel Miller led the starters in points with 21. In their loss to Iowa State earlier this season, the Cyclones had 18 steals on TCU. The Horned Frogs flipped the script against Baylor, as they had 12 steals to Baylor’s 5. TCU takes on Texas Tech and Texas this week, both at home. Alabama reenters the poll after a long time out of them. They upset Auburn earlier this week, and also took down LSU on Saturday. With a prior win over South Carolina, Alabama is building up a good resume. Bama takes on Georgia and Mississippi State this week. South Carolina is 17-3 on the season, and Lamont Paris has a good shot to win SEC Coach of the Year. SC had a big week, taking down Kentucky at home and Missouri. The only thing they lost this week was 100k, after rushing the court in the win over Kentucky. SC shot insanely well from deep, going 11-24. South Carolina shared the ball really well, as they had 20 assists to Kentucky’s 7. Talon Cooper had 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Meechie Johnson hit a logo 3 late, which sealed the win. South Carolina has a big game with Tennessee tomorrow, and that will show us if South Carolina is for real. That game is on the road, along with another road game against Georgia. New Mexico cruised this week, taking down San Jose State and Nevada. They beat SJSU by 20, and Nevada by 34. They take on Boise State this week. Oklahoma has had a fall from grace recently, losing 4 of their last 6. They lost to Texas and Texas Tech last week. I doubt things are going to turn around for OU either, as they play Kansas State and UCF this week, both on the road.