Week of 12/4/23
There was major chaos this week, with upsets left and right, one of the longest streaks ending, and there’s much to talk about.
The top five consists of Arizona, Kansas, Houston, Purdue, and Baylor. 3 are undefeated, and those are Arizona, Houston, and Baylor. Zona defeated Duke in Cameron Indoor already this year, and also took down Michigan State. They’re undefeated, and climbed to number one with Purdue’s loss, which I’ll get to later. Arizona does have a tough upcoming month, with Wisconsin, Purdue, Alabama, and FAU all coming up. If Arizona can come out of the month undefeated, they have the best shot at the first overall spot in March Madness. Houston and Baylor also climb up even more this week, and both are undefeated. These teams play each other just once this year, coming on February 24th. Whoever wins will be contending with Kansas for the Big 12 crown, assuming they’re both undefeated before that game. Purdue falls to number 4, as they once again got upset by Northwestern. This same thing happened last year, also when Purdue was number one. Purdue turned the ball over 17 times, compared to Northwestern’s 3. Outside of the turnovers, Purdue played very well, and had 52 rebounds, while Northwestern had just 27. There is much optimism left for the Boilermakers’, they just have to overcome sleeping giants in the Big Ten. If they can beat Arizona later this month, then Purdue is going to be looked at as one of the best teams in the country again. Then there’s Kansas, who’s only loss came to Marquette, and they’re went undefeated this week. They beat UConn 69-65, and that’s why they jumped Houston. KU shot 64.3% from 3 against UConn, although they just shot 14 three-pointers.
Coming in at number 6 is UConn, followed by Marquette, Gonzaga, UNC, and Creighton. Like I just stated, UConn lost to Kansas last week. That is their only loss, but it’s their first game in a long time that they didn’t beat a non conference opponent by double digit points, and that’s includes the tournament last year. Kansas is one of the best teams, so UConn’s loss isn’t horrible, especially because they lost by just 4. Marquette got upset by Wisconsin this week, losing by 11. Marquette got dominated on the glass, with Wisconsin coming down with 38 to Marquette’s 23. Gonzaga and UNC both went undefeated this week, and both have just one loss. Gonzaga’s came to Purdue, while UNC’s came to Villanova. In the same tournament that UNC lost to Villanova in, they beat ranked Arkansas and Tennessee. Creighton also has one loss this season and went undefeated this week, with their only loss being a blowout to Colorado State.
Then come FAU, Texas, Colorado State, BYU, and Kentucky. Those first four are the exact same as the AP Poll, with FAU and Texas both have a loss, while the other 2 don’t. FAU was upset by Bryant, but have beat Texas A&M since. Texas’s only loss came to UConn. They do take on Marquette on Wednesday, and if they win, they could be shot up to the top 10. Rounding out the top 15 is Kentucky, and they’ve been an interesting case this year. They started out hot, with just one loss through the month of November, which came to Kentucky. They beat Miami to end month, but their first game in December resulted in a loss to UNC Wilmington. Any good team can get upset, but UNC Wilmington? When have you ever heard of that college. Kentucky is lucky that this is their second loss, and that’s their first one came to Kansas, because otherwise, they wouldn’t be on this list.
Following Kentucky is Miami, JMU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Illinois. Miami lost one game this week, which was to Kentucky. James Madison and Oklahoma are both undefeated and have some upsets over Michigan State and USC, respectively. Illinois has just one loss this season, which was to Marquette, but went undefeated this week. They’re ranked under Tennessee, although the Vols have the worst record in the top 25, at 4-3. They lost to Purdue, Kansas, and North Carolina, so they’re “quality” losses. They also struggled with Wisconsin. 3 losses is 3 losses, and that’s bad. However, if they slip up one more time, they’re be out of the rankings. Tennessee and Illinois play each other on the ninth, and that’ll show us who’s the better team, as I had a struggle deciding which team will go where.
Finishing the top 25 are Texas A&M, Clemson, SDSU, Wisconsin, and Duke. A&M has now lost 3 of their last 4 games, and are now in jeopardy of falling out of the rankings. A&M has a really tough game coming up this month against Houston, but the rest of their games should be winnable this month. Clemson is undefeated, and upset Alabama to jump in the rankings. SDSU suffered an early season loss to BYU, but have bounced back since, and are at 7-1. They got right past UC San Diego last week, winning 63-62. As for Wisconsin, although they have 2 losses, they upset Marquette, and also beat Virginia earlier this season. I doubt they stay in the rankings for long, as they have Arizona and Michigan State this month. Finishing the rankings are the Duke Blue Devils. This season, it’s felt like the devil trying to watch one of their games. They now have 3 losses, to Arizona, Arkansas, and Georgia Tech. They lost to Arizona at home, and Arkansas and Georgia Tech were both unranked when they played Duke. The Arkansas and Georgia Tech losses both came last week, and that’s why they fell an insane 18 spots this week. Hopefully they can get it back on track, but we have to wait and see.