Week of 1/1/24
It was a holiday week, so not a lot of teams played, so there’s not a lot of shake up in these rankings. However, 2024 starts today, and all of these teams have some important New Years Revolutions.
Starting with the top 5 of Kansas, Purdue, Houston, UConn, and UNC, and they didn’t get in a lot of action this past week. Kansas beat Wichita State, while Purdue thrashed Eastern Kentucky. I still have Kansas ranked over Purdue, for reasons I specified last week. Houston beat Penn big, 81-42. They’re now 13-0, and even with a tough conference schedule that includes playing Kansas twice, Houston has a very good shot at winning the Big 12. UConn and North Carolina both move up a spot after Arizona’s loss, but I’ll get to that later. UConn didn’t play this week, and North Carolina crushed Charleston Southern 105-60.
Then come Tennessee, Arizona, Marquette, Kentucky, and Illinois. Tennessee didn’t play this week, but moved up because of Arizona’s loss. Speaking of Arizona’s loss, it marks their 3rd loss this season, and have now lost 2 of 3. They lost to FAU in a close game in double overtime last week, and followed that up with a 100-81 win over Cal. They then played on New Years Eve, and Stanford obliterated them, as the Wildcats lost 100-82. Combined with their earlier loss to Purdue, Arizona is now 10-3. With some tough teams coming up on the schedule, Arizona needs to shape up before they start to slip out of postseason contention. Marquette picked up a big win this week with a 72-67 win over Creighton. That was also their 20th straight Big East home win, tying the Big East record. They have a chance to set the record on the tenth against Butler. Kentucky and Illinois both had a similar week, at least on the court. They both played on the 29th, and both won easily. However, Illinois leading scorer Terrance Shannon Jr., who’s averaging 21.7 points this year, was arrested on rape charges last Thursday, and was suspended indefinitely. Its going to be interesting to see how Illinois carries along into Big Ten play without their best player.
The top 15 finishes with Oklahoma, FAU, BYU, Colorado State, and Gonzaga. OU played 2 games this week, destroying both Central Arkansas and Monmouth. BYU and CSU have practically been the same team this season. They’re both 12-1, lost their only games on the same day, and have been right next to each other in all AP Polls that’ve been in, and that’s the same for my rankings. They both played just one game this week and they both took care of business. As for FAU and Gonzaga, they’ve been sliding lately. After upsetting Arizona, FAU lost on the 30th to FGCU, 72-68. FAU is now 10-3. Gonzaga’s poll streak continued this week in the AP Poll, as its now 142 weeks. However, they’re 24th in that poll. Gonzaga lost to San Diego State last week, falling by 10 points at home. It was Gonzaga’s first double digit home loss since Illinois beat Gonzaga by 11 in December of 2012. Although some teams are 9-3, Gonzaga now has the worst record out of the teams in my rankings at 9-4.
The next teams in the top 25 are Duke, Clemson, James Madison, Baylor, and Texas. Duke has been on a rise since their most recent loss to Georgia Tech nearly a month ago. They’ve won 4 straight, including a win last week. They also beat Baylor on December 20th by 8 in New York. Duke is playing the best basketball right now, and it couldn’t come at a better time as the main part of conference play starts for them. One of their conference foes is Clemson, who destroyed Radford last week. They’re no 11-1, with their only loss coming against Memphis, and it was by just 2 points. James Madison is undefeated this season, and just like their football team, they’ve came out of nowhere. They beat Texas State last week, and with no ranked team left on their schedule, James Madison has a very good chance to finish the season undefeated. However, that comes with a cost, as they will probably stay around this spot for the rest of the season. Baylor didn’t play this week, and they get moved back a spot because JMU did. Texas destroyed UNC Greensboro, only allowing 37 points. I highly doubt Texas is going to keep the level of play that have had throughout the non-conference schedule, as their Big !2 schedule is really hard.
Rounding out the list are Memphis, Ole Miss, Wisconsin, Providence, and San Diego State. Starting with Memphis, they blew out Austin Peay 81-70, and are on a 6-game winning streak as American play starts on Thursday for them. As for Ole Miss, Memphis’ most recent loss, they’re undefeated so far this season. They’re 13-0, and they’re conference play starts with a big game against Tennessee on the 6th. Whoever wins that game will undoubtedly come out as the favorite in the SEC. Neither Wisconsin or Providence played this past week, and with Creighton falling out of the rankings, Wisconsin stays at 23rd and Providence moves up to 24th. San Diego State is 25th in my rankings instead of Auburn. SDSU was in the preseason rankings, but fell out after a loss to BYU. As the season unflooded, BYU became really good, but even with that quality loss, they rarely re-entered the rankings. Their second loss of the season was an upset to Grand Canyon. Since then, they’ve won 4 straight, including their upset of Gonzaga last Friday. Their upset of Gonzaga contributes to way SDSU is now ranked.