It was only a few weeks ago when it seemed as if March’s tournament would be a mostly foregone conclusion; with the top ten teams in the country looking unstoppable. That outlook quickly took a turn in the span of only a week.
WEEK 11 RECAP
Duke lost to an unranked Syracuse team at home, Michigan went on the road to lose to an unranked Wisconsin team, and previously 4th ranked Virginia lost to the same Duke squad that lost their starting point guard to injury in the Syracuse game…and that’s just the top four from week 11.
If it’s not too much; add the fact that Kansas, Texas Tech, and Virginia Tech all suffered losses in the same week and that’s six top-ten losses in the span of six days.
Last week was a bit quieter at the top with the top-five teams going undefeated. As for the rest of the country, let’s just say there was a lot of the same from week 11.
WHERE WE SIT…FOR NOW
Tennessee is now set in as the number one team in the nation. Followed up by Duke, Virginia, Gonzaga, Michigan, and Michigan State; the top-six teams in the country remained the same going into this week despite Michigan State being served a shellacking at the hands of previously unranked Purdue.
Speaking of those Boilermakers in Purdue, they made the biggest jump of the week moving from the land of the unranked (27) to 17 after upset wins over previously (13) Maryland and the aforementioned Spartans.
As for Maryland, a couple weeks ago I alluded to the fact that they always find a way to lose games once they start receiving national attention. They kept the trend going last week losing to both the Spartans and Boilermakers; they subsequently fell eight spots to 21 in this week’s rankings.
North Carolina and Marquette re-entered the top ten while Kansas and Virginia Tech tumbled out following losses.
All in all, outside of the top-six teams, every team in this week’s rankings has a new number next to their name with the exception of (22) Mississippi State.
As of today, we’re less than six weeks away from Selection Sunday and only one thing is for sure; in college basketball this season, nothing is for sure.
THIS WEEK AHEAD
Monday January 28 7:00pm- (2) Duke at Notre Dame
Tuesday January 29 7:00pm- (3) Virginia at (23) North Carolina State
(11) Kansas at Texas
9:00pm- (7) Kentucky at Vanderbilt
Friday February 1 9:00pm- (21) Maryland at (24) Wisconsin
Saturday February 2 12:00pm- St. John’s at (2) Duke
(12) Virginia Tech vs (23) NC State
2:00pm- (9) North Carolina at (15) Louisville
4:00pm- (16) Texas Tech at (11) Kansas
Sunday February 3 12:00pm- Georgetown at (14) Villanova
