College Basketball Couch Power 10 (Feb. 13th)
In a week full of unranked teams smacking ranked teams, Texas Tech earned the most eye-popping scoreline of all last night, demolishing #6 Kansas
Happy Valentine's Eve, college basketball fans! (Yes, I'm aware the overlap between those who have legitimate Valentine's plans and those who are taking time out of their night to read this is likely very small...keep your head up, king/queen.) In one month from now, the regular season will be over and we will be revving up the conference tournaments, which means it's really getting down to the nitty-gritty.
You would think, with three months of the season in the rearview and one remaining, that this would be the time where we start to separate chaff from wheat, contenders from pretenders. And yet, the madness hasn't slowed down at all, and in fact if anything, has only accelerated. The very night I published the second Couch Power 10 of 2024, North Carolina lost to an unranked opponent for the second straight Tuesday night, and as I type this, the trend appears in danger of continuing, as the Heels are tied with 10-loss Syracuse at halftime. This would just be the tip of the iceberg, though, as a whopping 16 ranked teams lost in the next six days, and an even more whopping 12 of them to unranked opponents! The week was already absurd enough, but it came to a head last night when #7 Kansas, fresh off beating Baylor in the game of the weekend, traveled to Texas Tech and lost by 30 points, slipping to 5th place in the Big XII.
True to form for the last few years in the world at large, it's been a wild and unpredictable season. Despite this, I’ll try my hand at ranking the top teams based on what they’ve done to date:
1. Purdue
I said this last week, and it remains true: the two sure things amidst this season of chaos are the top two teams currently. The Boilermakers had just one game last week, but it was a big rivalry showdown against bubble team Indiana, and it wasn't even close. Purdue's 20-point win kept them atop the strength of record rating and the Big Ten by a 2-game margin, and lent credence to the thought that this is the best team in the country.
2. Connecticut
UConn stays #2 in the Couch Power 10 by "virtue" of playing an easier schedule than while maintaining the same record as Purdue. But their #1 rank in the AP belies that many, myself among them, think the defending champs may once again be the best team in the country, and the Huskies gave no reason to doubt that with comfortable wins this week over Butler and Georgetown. In a subpar year for the Big East, we probably won't know much about this team as it stands until it plays Marquette this Saturday.
3. Houston
It didn't seem like Houston would have much of an opportunity to work their way back up the rankings after their blowout loss to Kansas, with two games against unranked opponents. But the Cougars took care of business against those unranked opponents, and last week, in a stretch that saw half of the Top 10 lose to unranked opponents, that was enough. They're back at the top of the Big XII standings and in contention for a 1-seed.
4. Marquette
Similarly to Houston, Marquette didn't do anything all that impressive last week, winning their sole game of the week against struggling St. John's. But evidently, just winning is enough in this wild season, and the Eagles are on an 8-game tear heading into a road trip week that features a visit to Butler tonight, then a flight out East to face #1 UConn. If the reigning Big East champs are gonna make a statement, this is the week to do it.
5. North Carolina
It's been a truly bizarre couple weeks for Carolina. The ACC leaders' perfect start to the conference season ended to Georgia Tech, of all teams, but then the Tar Heels bounced back in a major way, dominating Duke. But then this past week, they returned home to the Dean Dome, and lost to unranked Clemson (in a game they were well and truly outplayed), then danced with disaster at unranked Miami on Saturday, barely skating out of South Florida with a win, and as I type this, they have fallen behind by conceding the first 8 points of the 2nd half to a mediocre Syracuse team. Their strength of record currently is still Top 5 in the nation, and a 5-game stretch from tomorrow to the season finale at Duke sets the Heels up nicely to right the ship, with just one road game and one ranked opponent in those couple weeks (both of them being Virginia), but UNC has got to start winning the games they should actually be comfortably winning if they're gonna keep ACC title and 1-seed hopes alive.
6. Arizona
Arizona started the season with as much buzz as anyone, even shooting up to #1 in the land in December, but it died down after a topsy turvy start to the calendar year. Might it be time to fire the hype machine back up? The 'Cats have won 6 in a row, are clearly the class of the Pac-12, and own the #4 strength of record, according to ESPN (I'm not sure why they're ahead of Marquette and UNC in their metric, given the three have identical records and Arizona's schedule strength is the weakest between them, but I digress). That said, their very narrow, triple OT escape at Utah last week speaks to a running problem for the Wildcats: they're very susceptible on the road. Each one of their 5 losses has come away from home, which makes this weekend's steamrolling of a decent Colorado team in Boulder a very good sign indeed as we near the end of the season.
7. South Carolina
I'll admit, given the way this season has gone, when I ranked South Carolina in the Top 10 last week and lauded them for what a thrilling surprise success they have been this year, I thought there was a very good chance they would immediately capsize and the clock would strike midnight. But nope! The Gamecocks kept winning, against an admittedly dreadful Vanderbilt team, but also a very good Ole Miss team, and don't look now, but they're in a two-way tie for the lead in the SEC! A tough closing stretch awaits, beginning with a road trip to # 13 Auburn tomorrow night, but regardless of how it all plays out, Lamont Paris has to be the frontrunner for national Coach of the Year.
8. Kansas
For the second straight week, I was all prepared to sing Kansas' praises for righting the ship of inconsistency and winning a big, big conference tilt on Saturday, only for them to turn around and lose to an unranked team the following Monday night. One key difference: last week, it was a tough, overtime loss on the road in a heated in-state rivalry clash. Last night, it was demolition derby, as Texas Tech beat the Jayhawks by 20 in the 2nd half, and sent the conference powerhouses out of Lubbock with a 79-50 loss. I truly don't know what to make of this Kansas team, which seems to follow every big win with an immediate loss. With loads of talent but nothing resembling consistency, you get the sense they're either going to win it all this season or be headed home by the first weekend of the tournament.
9. Iowa State
I feel I should start with a disclaimer here: it's usually against my code to rank a team with an identical (or better) record behind a team they have beaten head-to-head, as is the case here with Iowa State, who just 2.5 weeks ago, knocked off Kansas. The reason for the exception in this case is that the Cyclones got the Jayhawks at home, and unlike Kansas and their Top 10 strength of schedule, played an atrocious 277th-ranked non-conference schedule. Those decisions have consequences! But I figure I can win the Ames faithful back by being higher on their team than both major polls and ESPN's strength of record is- I may be alone in my principles, but to me, 6 wins from 7 (the lone loss being a 2-point decision at a Top 20 Baylor) and 6 wins over ranked teams on the season is worth writing home about, and suggests a team that could be real trouble in the postseason.
10. Indiana State
It's been a while since I've reserved the coveted 10 spot for an over-performing midmajor, and it's been vastly longer since Indiana State has been ranked in the AP Poll. Time to put both slumps to an end! The Sycamores are back in the Top 25 for the first time since Larry Bird days (!!!), and sure, they've played a sub-100 schedule strength. But you know what? A 22-3 record, with losses solely to Alabama, Michigan State, and the #2 team in the Missouri Valley? That's a good enough resumé at this point of this season to crash the Power 10.
Just missed: Tennessee, Dayton, Baylor, Alabama, Illinois, ACC Rookie of the Year Elliot Cadeau
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