My Top 25/Power Rankings [12/1 - 12/8]

[elijah]

1.) KENTUCKY (7-0)
Kentucky isn't going to make it through the NCAA as easily and handily as most people are thinking. And they've given us multiple clues and hints that they won't., mainly the fact that they've struggled with Buffalo, Bradley and now Providence. Yes, they have depth. Yes, they have a lot of talent. But I've yet to see someone on the team that can just take over scoring. Booker is the closest to it, but he's not even on the main platoon. The platoon system won't make it to the championship. Kentucky can make it, but not with the platoon system. It'll be cool if it does work, so hopefully Kentucky proves me wrong, but I don't think they're going to. However, like I said last week, you can't move Kentucky from the #1 spot until they move themselves.

Past Week (#1): W 92-44, Texas-Arlington | W 58-38, Providence
Upcoming Week: Dec. 05, #5 Texas | Dec. 07, Eastern Kentucky

2.) DUKE (7-0)
This Duke team has continued to give me reasons to believe that they're the best team in the nation. Two more easy wins of beautiful basketball for them, and they don't seem to be slowing down. If Tyus Jones could knock down one or two more big shots in a game, then this team would be scary good. And how about Grayson Allen? 7.4 points per game in just over 10 minutes per game, maybe the kid should get a couple more minutes.

Past Week (#2): W 93-54, Furman | W 93-73, Army
Upcoming Week: Dec. 03, at #3 Wisconsin

3.) WISCONSIN (7-0)
Wisconsin survived a close game with Georgetown (that I absolutely regret missing), and then ran Oklahoma out of the water in the 2nd half of their last game. With Kaminsky on the floor, Wisconsin stretches the floor incredibly. They have too many options on offense, and it's hard to defend them all. The bigs can play around the arc, and the guards can play in the paint. Everyone on the team can score when they need too. Wisconsin is a good team, once they're in mid-season form the offensive chemistry may just simply overwhelm other teams.

Past Week (#3): W 72-43, at UAB | W 68-65, #24 Georgetown | W 69-56, Oklahoma
Upcoming Week: Dec. 03, #2 Duke

4.) ARIZONA (6-0)
I've been doubting the Wildcats, not too sure why, but I have been. This past week certainly hasn't helped my doubts, as Arizona barely survived a 4 point game with an unranked Kansas State team, and then just held on to slip past SDSU by 2 points. Stanley Johnson is someone that I wanted to see play a little bit better from the field, but he hasn't done that yet.

Past Week (#4): W 72-53, Missouri | W 72-68, Kansas State | W 61-59, at #14 San Diego State
Upcoming Week: Dec. 02, Gardner-Webb | Dec. 06, #7 Gonzaga

5.) TEXAS (6-0)
Texas just slipped by UConn thanks to a beautiful buzzer-beater by Holmes. The close game and poor play by Felix showed how much Isaiah Taylor means to this team. Taylor is a tremendous point guard, and the Longhorns could use him for this upcoming game against Kentucky. It doesn't help that they have to travel to Lexington either. For a Kentucky team that has yet to find a dominant scorer, this Texas team may give them fits.

Past Week (#5): W 78-46, St. Francis (Pa.) | W 55-54, at #25 Connecticut
Upcoming Week: Dec. 02, Texas-Arlington | Dec. 05, at #1 Kentucky

6.) VIRGINIA (7-0)
Virginia continues to play smothering defense, allowing just 26 points to Rutgers the other day. That goes along with 36 points allowed to Tennessee State as well. The Cavaliers look good, but I want to see them play well against a better team first before I call them a legitimate threat. They get two tests this week, one against VCU and the other against Maryland. Both games are on the road.

Past Week (#7, Up 1): W 79-36, Tennessee State | W 64-56, La Salle | W 45-26, Rutgers
Upcoming Week: Dec. 03, at #17 Maryland | Dec. 06, at Virginia Commonwealth

7.) GONZAGA (6-0)
Kevin Pangos has played absolutely beautiful basketball so far this year. He has an assist/turnover ratio of 9, that's incredible. Not too mention he's shooting 61% from the field, 47% from the arc and 89% from the line. He's leading a team that's doing extremely well in finding the open shot, they move the ball very well. This Gonzaga team is a threat to anyone and everyone.

Past Week (#9, Up 2): W 88-76, Georgia | W 73-66, St. John's
Upcoming Week: Dec. 02, Southeastern Louisiana | Dec. 06, at #4 Arizona

8.) LOUISVILLE (5-0)
Not a fan of this Louisville team. I said last week that this offense was something to be leery of, an inconsistent Blackshear and a backcourt that doesn't live up to their expectations could be the death of Louisville. Well, those were the exact reasons for a game that was all too close with Cleveland State. The Cardinals were 15 of 47 (31%), and Jones, Rozier and Blackshear combined for a pathetic 8 of 30 (26%). I don't know exactly how much of a threat this team is, we may just be waiting on time to make them fall apart.

Past Week (#6, Down 2): W 87-26, Savannah State | W 45-33, Cleveland State
Upcoming Week: Dec. 02, #14 Ohio State | Dec. 05, Florida International

9.) WICHITA STATE (4-0)
For a team with a weak schedule, it's good that they won convincingly over Tulsa. Had the game been any closer, the Shockers would've likely had a world of doubt surrounding them.

Past Week (#10, Up 1): W 75-55, Tulsa
Upcoming Week: Dec. 03, at Utah | Dec. 06, Saint Louis

10.) VILLANOVA (6-0)
Two wins over ranked opponents and a tournament championship is a pretty nice week. I didn't think 'Nova was going to pull out a win against VCU, but they proved me wrong. Villanova plays incredible as a team, and it's going to be hard to unseat them in what's been a surprising Big East conference so far.

Past Week (#12, Up 2): W 77-53, at #13 VCU | W 60-55, at #21 Michigan | W 78-47, Delaware
Upcoming Week: Dec. 03, at La Salle | Dec. 06, Saint Joseph's

11.) KANSAS (5-1)
Just when you consider counting Kansas out, they come back. I posed the question last week of whether it was time to be on edge with them, and they came back saying that it wasn't. They did have a good week, but they could have made it atleast a little more convincing. The game with Tennessee was a little too close for comfort.

Past Week (#11): W 87-60, Rider | W 76-60, at Rhode Island | W 82-67, Tennessee | W 61-56, at #18 Michigan State
Upcoming Week: Dec. 05, Florida

12.) NORTH CAROLINA (5-1)
The Tar Heels did take a lose to Butler, but they rebounded strong with big wins over UCLA and Florida. Marcus Paige hasn't quite been the player we were expecting just yet. Granted he has a nice 15 points per game, but that's on 37% shooting and with just 3.5 assists per game. The all-american leader has to step it up for the Heels.

Past Week (#8, Down 4): L 74-66, Butler | W 78-56, at UCLA | W 75-64, at #19 Florida
Upcoming Week: Dec. 03, Iowa | Dec. 07, East Carolina

13.) SAN DIEGO STATE (5-1)
San Diego State played a good, tight game against Arizona. Now imagine if one of their players stole the show, that two point loss would likely have been a three to four point win. It'd be huge for the Aztecs if Shepard could become a more dominant scorer.

Past Week (#14, Up 1): W 92-87, Brigham Young | W 74-57, Pittsburgh | L 61-59, #4 Arizona
Upcoming Week: Dec. 04, San Diego | Dec. 07, at Washington

14.) OHIO STATE (5-0)
The talent pool in college basketball takes a pretty big drop-off after #13. Everyone above OSU has some proven talent, from OSU and down, most of what's being looked at is unproven potential. Ohio State is the perfect example of that, they've yet to play anyone to be considered a decent team. D'Angelo Russell has played phenomenal so far though, and he could be the key to an Elite 8 run this year for the Buckeyes. Although the Buckeyes are unproven, they have Louisville on upset alert in the ACC/B1G challenge.

Past Week (#17, Up 3): W 91-64, Campbell | W 73-56, James Madison
Upcoming Week: Dec. 02, at #8 Louisville | Dec. 06, Colgate

15.) MIAMI (FL) (7-0)
Miami had a close game with Charlotte, but it shouldn't be considered much. The game was a rematch just two days after the teams originally played. The two transfer players continue to shine for the Hurricanes. The Cane's have Illinois this week in what should be a good game, Illinois is undefeated and trying to make a name for themselves.

Past Week (#16, Up 1): W 77-74, at Charlotte | W 87-75, South Alabama
Upcoming Week: Dec. 02 #21 Illinois | Dec. 06, Green Bay

 

[elijah]

Too much for the original post..

16.) MICHIGAN STATE (5-2)
The Spartans played a good game against Kansas today. Had Dawson and Trice shot better for MSU today, they may have came away with a win. It would have also helped if the team could have created better shots for each other. The Spartans take on Notre Dame in the ACC/B1G challenge, a convincing win would mean a lot for this team.

Past Week (#18, Up 2): W 79-52, Santa Clara | W 77-45, at Rider | W 79-68, at Marquette | L 61-56, #11 Kansas
Upcoming Week: Dec. 03, at Notre Dame | Dec. 06, Arkansas-Pine Bluff

17.) MARYLAND (6-0)
The loss of Dez Wells hurts, and the fact that he's out for a month doesn't help much. In that month, Maryland has games against Virginia and Oklahoma State. Trimble and Layman will likely see an increase of minutes and a big increase of the offensive workload. Wells was the senior leader on the team as well, taking a leading role will be challenging for Trimble. He was a 5 star recruit though, the freshman could just be waiting on his moment.

Past Week (NR): W 78-73, Arizona State | W 72-63, at #15 Iowa State | W 61-56, Monmouth | W 95-77, VMI
Upcoming Week: Dec. 03, #6 Virginia | Dec. 06, Winthrop

18.) WEST VIRGINIA (7-0)
Staten continues to play well for the Mountaineers, but he's not the main story their. West Virginia is rebounding about 45% of their misses, they have the most offensive rebounds per game in the nation. That's huge, a lot of their success this year is going to depend on that number.

Past Week (#20, Up 2): W 103-72, VMI | W 86-57, College of Charleston
Upcoming Week: Dec. 04, LSU | Dec. 07, at Northern Kentucky

19.) IOWA STATE (3-1)
Iowa State just could not make shots fall against Maryland. They take on a hot Arkansas team this week, and a win will be crucial. A loss could mean bad things for the Cyclones.

Past Week (#15, Down 4): W 84-74, Alabama | L 72-63, Maryland
Upcoming Week: Dec. 02, Lamar | Dec. 04, #20 Arkansas

20.) ARKANSAS (6-0)
Arkansas has a big opportunity on Thursday. The Razorbacks haven't made too much noise yet, they've simply gone from unranked to climbing up the rankings a little bit. If they can take down Iowa State, it'll make some noise for them on the national scene.

Past Week (#23, Up 3): W 78-72, at SMU | W 89-73, North Texas | W 94-77, Iona
Upcoming Week: Dec. 04, at #19 Iowa State | Dec. 07, at Clemson

21.) ILLINOIS (6-0)
Illinois has been impressive so far, but they haven't really played any real competition other than Baylor. Rice and Hill have both been putting up good number so far for the Fighting Illini and are the two players to watch when they take on Miami.

Past Week (NR): W 89-68, Brown | W 88-62, at Indiana State | W 62-54, at Baylor
Upcoming Week: Dec. 02, at #15 Miami (FL.) | Dec. 06, American

22.) MICHIGAN (5-1)
Michigan took an L to Villanova earlier in the week where they were just simply outplayed. Irvin, LeVert and Walton Jr. have all continued to play well, and Michigan will have another test on Tuesday when they play Syracuse.

Past Week (#21, Down 1): W 70-63, at Oregon | L 60-55, #12 Villanova | W 91-62, Nicholls State
Upcoming Week: Dec. 02, Syracuse | Dec. 06, New Jersey Tech

23.) BUTLER (5-1)
Butler had a good run in the Battle 4 Atlantis and it helped their resume a ton. Butler has shown good defense and they've moved the ball tremendously in all of their games so far. They've been a fun team to watch.

Past Week (NR): W 74-66, at #8 North Carolina | L 59-46, at Oklahoma | W 64-58, at #24 Georgetown
Upcoming Week: Dec. 03, at Indiana State | Dec. 06, Northwestern

24.) OKLAHOMA (4-2)
I do have Butler ahead of Oklahoma despite their head-to-head game. If the Bulldogs and Sooners played a 7 game series, it's Butler's to lose. Oklahoma plays extremely sloppy basketball, I've compared it to my pickup basketball games at the beach. They're sloppy with the ball, play too fast for themselves and chuck three's. They need to change their strategies if they want a chance at any run in the tournament.

Past Week (NR): W 75-65, at UCLA | W 59-46, Butler | L 69-56, at #3 Wisconsin
Upcoming Week: Dec. 05, Missouri

25.) GEORGETOWN (4-2)
The Hoya's took two disappointing losses, but they took them too two respectable opponents. Georgetown was in a very close game with one of the elite teams in the country. They play very good defense, and the size of Joshua Smith is huge for them.

Past Week (#24, Down 1): W 66-65, #19 Florida | L 68-65, at #3 Wisconsin | L 64-58, Butler
Upcoming Week: Dec. 07, Towson



DROPPED FROM RANKINGS: VCU, Florida, Stanford

 

[Texas Jefe]

good read

 

[jontaejones]

Gonzaga is a fun team to watch. They have skill all over the court, though athletic teams can take advantage of them.

I wish Nova had gotten Sabonis' kid. He can play.

 

[tducey]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing.