College Basketball Couch Power 10 (Feb. 14th)
Fresh off seemingly placing one hand on the ACC regular-season crown against North Carolina, Duke immediately took that hand off by letting Virginia stun them on their home court
Happy Valentine's Day! If you're a helpless romantic like me, you're spending this holiday exactly the way St. Valentine intended: lights low, music on, glass of wine in hand, pork belly ramen hot in your soup bowl, still thinking about that epic Super Bowl halftime show, and preparing to write about college basketball.
Yes, football-- at least the American kind --is officially in our rear-view mirror, which means it's time for college basketball to have its moment in the spotlight. And not a moment too soon, either. I mentioned last week that it's been another wild start to the season....the madness is not waiting around for March, in other words. Well, last week was no different. Last Monday to yesterday saw a grand total of 18 ranked team losses, 7 of those victims being Top 10 teams, including the #1 team in the land losing their first game since November. And it would be one thing if last week just happened to feature an abnormal amount of highly-ranked showdowns, but no, a good number of the 18 ranked teams who lost last week were felled by unranked underdogs. Madness!
Once again, true to form for the last couple years in the world at large, it's been a wild and unpredictable season. The world at large is still so unpredictable that it's not even a given that we'll have a tournament this year. Despite this, I’ll do my best to rank the top teams based on what they’ve done to date:
1. Auburn
Auburn's unbeaten run, spanning over two months and 20 games, was bound to come to an end at some point, and last week was that point. The Tigers lost to an unranked opponent and slipped in the AP and Coaches polls, so why do they retain our #1 spot? Well, as far as untimely streak-busting losses go, losing a road game in overtime to Arkansas, a surefire tournament team, is far from egregious. Plus they rebounded nicely on Saturday with a dominant win over Texas A&M. But most importantly- the loss to Arkansas doesn't change the fact that I still think this is the best team in the country, with the most impressive body of work to date.
2. Arizona
Seemingly one of the only top teams that wasn't in danger of losing last week, Arizona won both their games and improved to 22-2 on the season. Sure, it helps that those two opponents were mediocre Washington and Washington State teams, but still, the Wildcats are holding serve in making a serious claim for a #1 seed.
3. Gonzaga
Though I still have them lower than the media and coaches do, I think Gonzaga was the big winner from last week's chaos. They won both games to extend their winning streak to 14 and ascend back to the #1 spot in the AP Poll for the 3rd time this season, and one of those wins was a comfortable one against ranked rivals St. Mary's. The reservations I have on ranking them higher stem only from their weak schedule, but I'd bet they'll have plenty more opportunities to prove those reservations misplaced.
4. Providence
Providence was another Top 10 team that managed to emerge from the chaos unbeaten, creating a natural divide between 2-loss Power 5 teams and those with 4 losses or more. But just barely...the Friars had to close out an almighty upset bid from DePaul to keep their 8-game win streak alive. In doing so, though, they set up a massive Big East battle royale tomorrow night against Villanova; the winner will be tipped to take the conference regular season crown.
5. Kentucky
Kentucky was another big winner from the last week, at least in Couch World, where they rose 5 spots from last week's Power 10. No, it has nothing to do with beating South Carolina and Florida, two teams I would have expected them to dispatch of as easily as they did. But in going 2-0 in a week where so many others faltered, they put themselves on level standing, at least record-wise, with some other top seed contenders, including one they already demolished head-to-head (*cough* *Kansas* *cough*). Like Providence, they have a big conference tilt tomorrow night as they travel to Knoxville, in which a win would make a real statement about the SEC hierarchy.
6. Kansas
Speaking of Kansas, right after I stuck my neck out for them by ranking them 2nd in the inaugural 2022 Couch Power 10, the Jayhawks continued their infuriating trend of underperforming right when they were about to win me over. The very next game after their incredible, gauntlet-throwing rout of Baylor, they went to Austin and were upset by the Longhorns, preventing them from opening a notable lead in the Big 12 race. They almost stumbled again over the weekend, getting pushed to the absolute brink by an underrated Oklahoma team, but were able to hold on at home. Fortunately for Kansas, their next three games (Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Kansas State) would-- at least on paper --appear to set them up nicely for a little winning streak heading into their next showdown with...
7. Baylor
...Baylor! The defending national champions missed out on the previous Couch Power 10 because, well, it's hard to be TOO high on a team that just lost by 30 points to a conference rival. That said, with comfortable wins over Kansas State and Top 20 Texas, the Bears have recovered nicely, and are poised to make a run at the Big 12 title. Sadly, they'll have to do it without star big man Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, who suffered a season-ending injury in the win over the Longhorns, and that could prove to be a serious test as soon as this week, when his team travels to #11 Texas Tech.
8. Purdue
Stop me if you've heard this before: Purdue is a very good team, even elite when they're playing at their top level, but every time they seem to be hitting a stride, they put up a bewildering loss. Take last week: two days after drilling Illinois in a high-stakes battle for the Big Ten lead, the Boilermakers turned around and got draxxed absolutely sklounst by an unranked, underachieving Michigan team. Then, over the weekend, needed last-second heroics to hold off unranked Maryland at home. Purdue has all the parts of a championship team, but they need to put them together more consistently if they're going to actually win a championship.
9. Duke
Did someone say “good team who is unreliable and inconsistent”?? That’s right, it’s Duke! Like Kansas and Purdue before them, the Blue Devils had appeared to finally be hitting their stride in the wake of their dominant rivalry win at North Carolina. Then, a grand total of 50 hours later, they capitulated on their home court to a Virginia team that may not even make the tournament, and scored a grand total of two 3-pointers (one of them being the game-winner). I know I complained just last week about how it's difficult to get a read on how good this Duke team actually is, but I really didn't think they would prove my point so quickly.
10. Wisconsin
Despite having more losses than any other team in this ranking, and dropping one last week to an unranked opponent, the Badgers stay in my Top 10. Sure, the Rutgers loss, especially at home, was pretty baffling. But it came just a few days after a big road win over #17 Michigan State, and Wisconsin still holds a Top 10 'Strength of Record,' according to ESPN. That's enough for them to edge the other 4-to-6 loss teams nipping at their heels, for now.
Just missed: Tennessee, Villanova, Texas Tech, Michigan State, Illinois, double-double machine Armando Bacot
BONUS! Couch Seed Projections
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