If you were to tell me that 12 top-25 teams were going to lose this weekend, and six of them were going to be top-10 teams, I would tell you that’s been pretty par for the course this year in college basketball. This year has been filled with upsets, and this week was no different, causing some shakeup in the Week 14 AP Poll.

Iowa State, Florida, Houston, Michigan State, and Marquette are all the top-10 teams that lost last weekend. Iowa State, Houston, and Marquette lost on their home court, which will affect their resume and NET rating more than those who lost on the road. NET rating is a system used to evaluate college basketball teams and determine their seeding and selection for the NCAA tournament. The NET ratings are based on a number of factors, including strength of schedule, game location, game efficiency, and quality of wins and losses.

Auburn and Duke are still at the top, followed by Alabama, who goes from four to three taking Iowa State’s spot after the Cyclones dropped two games last week, but this one came at home to unranked Kansas State. It was a rough loss, which dropped the Cyclones five spots to No. 8. Florida and Iowa State falling caused Tennessee, Houston, and Purdue to climb up, most notably Tennessee who jumped four spots to No. 4.

I said this last week and I will say it again, how can teams who lose rise in the rankings? It doesn’t make sense to me that Houston loses at home to Texas Tech and goes from No. 6 to No. 5. Iowa State loses to a 50-foot buzzer-beater on the road to an Arizona team that has lost three home games in three years and a home game to Kansas State and falls five spots, but Houston loses at home to Texas Tech and goes up a spot? It makes no sense. I would rather put Florida there, or even Purdue who beat Michigan and Indiana this past week. A ranked team losing at home should always be penalized for it.

No. 11 and 12 are Marquette and St. Johns, who just played each other at Madison Square Garden yesterday, with St. Johns coming out on top. Rick Pitino’s team has been as hot as ever, and St. Johns could deservedly find themselves in the top 10 next week following the big victory.

Texas Tech rose nine spots up to No. 13 following their win at Houston. The Red Raiders did this without JT Toppin, who is their leading scorer. This is well deserved for Texas Tech, who fought until the end and has shown they can compete in the best conference in America: the SEC.

Missouri and Kansas come in at No. 15 and 16. Kansas had a blowup in the second half against Baylor, giving up 60 points out of the break. Following last week, Kansas was still looking for that big win in conference play, which came on Monday at home against Iowa State. Missouri picked up huge wins on the road at Mississippi State and Ole Miss. The Tigers are legit and deserve to be brought up this high in the rankings.

No. 18, 19, and 20 are a cloud of big risers with Maryland, UConn, and Arizona all jumping at least six spots. Maryland is finally getting the respect they deserve, as they could have been up this high last week, or even the week before. They are a legit contender in the Big 10 with great guard play from Jakobi Gilespie and Rodney Rice, to go along with freshman phenom Derrick Queen.

UConn jumped up to No. 19 after taking down Marquette on the road. UConn needed this win badly, and they got it. Dan Hurley had his team ready without one of their best players, Liam McNeeley. Solo Ball made seven threes and guided the Huskies to a win that will build their resume for the tournament.

Arizona goes up to No. 20 following some good wins this week. Credit to Caleb Love for making a ridiculous shot from ¾ court to beat Iowa State, and then winning on the road against Arizona State. I’m not a big believer in the Wildcats, but you have to put them in the top 25 after this week, especially when factoring in their record in Big 12 play. However, their team isn’t great in my eyes and I believe they will be an early exit in March.

There are a couple of teams that could have hopped into the rankings this week, including New Mexico, Creighton, Saint Mary’s, and Clemson. You could argue they are all better than Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Illinois, who have all had some sketchy wins and bad losses as of late.

New Mexico traveled to Logan, Utah on Saturday and took down a Utah State team that was ranked earlier this year. Star guard Donovan Dent is an awesome watch, and the Lobos are 10-1 in the Mountain West.

Creighton is 9-2 in Big East play and has won their last seven games. A great and crazy win at Villanova this Saturday was enough for me to say that they play well together and know how to pull out wins. The Blue Jays play Providence on the road and Marquette at home this week. The Providence game will be harder, but if they can pull out a win in both of those games, I would vault them into the top 20 next week.

Saint Mary’s is tied for the most wins in college basketball this year with 20, they just took down Gonzaga and are 10-0 in WCC play. What more do you need up to this point? They have not lost a game since they faced off against a very talented Utah State team back in December. The Gaels need to be ranked.

Lastly, Clemson. The Tigers are 10-1 in ACC play and second behind Duke in the rankings. Their last loss was on the road against a previously ranked Louisville. Clemson has a chance to add a huge win to their resume when Duke visits them this Saturday. If the Tigers win that one they will most definitely be ranked and will rise a couple of seeds in bracketology.

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