We are now in the midst of conference play for the 2025 college basketball season, which means teams and seeding for the tournament are starting to shake out. You can start to feel and see who the best of the best are and what teams are going to need to be fighting for a spot come March.
At the top of the poll, there is no change from last week. The same teams are entrenched in the top five: Auburn, Duke, Iowa State, Alabama, and Florida. These five teams will fight for a No. 1 seed for March Madness.
No. 6 through 12 features a bunch of minor changes. Houston and Michigan State both jumped up one spot and Tennessee, after losing a close game against Auburn, fell two spots to No. 8. The Spartans and Cougars have been the most consistent teams in college basketball throughout the past two months and are undefeated in league play. They both captured marquee wins last week, as Houston took down Kansas on the road and Michigan State defeated Illinois at home. If both squads keep winning, they will continue to climb the rankings little by little.
Marquette, Purdue, and Kansas all come in next, as they rose one spot each. Kentucky fell to No. 12 because they lost to an unranked Vanderbilt on Saturday. Marquette and Purdue deserved to go up a spot, but Kansas has an argument to be below Kentucky and Texas A&M (No. 13). It’s wrong to reward Kansas for losing at home, even if it went to double overtime.
St. John’s is the biggest story in this week’s poll, rising five spots to No. 15. In Rick Pitino’s second season with the program, he has the Red Storm atop the Big East standings and is strides ahead of last year’s team. I have high expectations for St. John’s, who have eight wins in conference play, but they still have home games against UConn and Marquette, which should reveal their true colors.
Another big riser this year is Memphis, who jumped five spots to No. 19. Memphis is also the only non-Power 5 team in the rankings, while at the same time showing they can compete against the big guys with wins over UConn, Michigan State, Clemson and Ole Miss. PJ Haggerty has been a star for the Tigers, as he is leading the team in points, assists, and field goal percentage. Memphis should cruise the rest of the way, winning most if not almost every game in AAC play, and could possibly be a No. 4 seed, or higher.
The two big fallers this week are Ole Miss and UConn. Ole Miss dropped seven spots to No. 23 following three straight losses. The Rebels got off to a great start in SEC play, taking down Alabama on the road, which is the main reason why they’re still ranked. The three losses last week were all against ranked teams, but if you want to stay up top with the best you’re going to need to win those ranked games. Ole Miss doesn’t have an easier upcoming schedule either, facing Texas, Auburn, and Kentucky in their next three games. If they can win at least one or more of those, it would be a good resume-builder for them.
UConn dropped six spots to No. 25, hanging onto the rankings by a thread. The Huskies have been up-and-down all year and have struggled early in Big East play, posting a 6-3 conference record, which is most definitely not up to Dan Hurley’s standards. UConn’s only two ranked wins are against teams that are no longer ranked, which is a bad luck of the draw. They still have home games against Marquette and St. John’s, which can help boost their resume. With a couple more wins, UConn could potentially get back into No. 5 seed territory for March Madness, but on the flip side, a couple of bad losses could put them in a tough spot.
The four teams who fell from the rankings were Gonzaga, Utah State, Georgia, and Baylor. Georgia has dropped four in a row and Gonzaga lost two straight as double-digit favorites, so those two deserve to be out for the time being. Baylor and Utah State are questionable, but the latter deserves to be ranked more than the former. The Aggies lost by three to a good UNLV team on the road and bounded back to win two in a row, so they could bounce UConn out and sit at No. 25. I understand Baylor being left out because they lost two straight. They won their next two, but they have struggled against lesser opponents.
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