College Basketball Couch Power 10 (Feb. 20th)
In probably the biggest game of the calendar year thus far, #1 team and reigning champs UConn threw down the gauntlet by annihilating #4 Marquette
Welcome back, college basketball fans! We've reached the penultimate Power 10 of February, which means less than two weeks from now, we'll be in March. And you know that means....
(If you don't know what that means, I think you may be in the wrong article.)
You would think, with a measly three weeks of the season remaining (and even less, for a select few conferences), that this would be the time where we start to weed out the real contenders from the fake. And yet, the madness hasn't slowed down at all, and in fact if anything, has only accelerated. I didn't think anything would match last week's insanity, but this past week came pretty damn close. 14 more ranked teams lost in the last seven days, and for the 3rd consecutive week, over half of those losses were to unranked opponents! One of those ranked victims were my Tar Heels, who, also for the 3rd straight week, were upset on the very night I was busy ranking them in my Top 5. Another was Indiana State, who not only pulled off the inglorious feat once but twice, fresh off celebrating their first AP ranking in 40+ years. Thanks for coming, Sycamores! South Carolina also celebrated their rare inclusion high in the AP Poll by getting absolutely humiliated by Auburn in a high-stakes game, then following that up with a home loss to a bad LSU team. And of course, there was Couch #1 team Purdue, whose winning streak finally came to an end on Sunday against... 12-loss Ohio State, of all teams.
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. Connecticut
I was a long holdout on putting the reigning champions at #1 (even though I suspected they may be the best team in the country), but this weekend left no doubt. 24 hours before Purdue's shock loss, UConn was playing one of the biggest regular season games we've gotten since the turn of the year, hosting #4 Marquette, the defending Big East champs who rolled into Storrs on an 8-game winning streak. After 40 minutes in Connecticut, that streak was...not intact. The Huskies completely dismissed the Eagles, winning by nearly 30, and showing everyone why they're still the class not only of the Big East, but of the entire country.
2. Purdue
I was a long holdout on thinking Purdue deserved the #1 spot, and that this team was finally ready to be a title contender. Well, the latter sentiment may very well still be true, but the former sure isn't: 24 hours after UConn rolled #4 Marquette, Purdue countered by...losing to an Ohio State team that is near the worst in the Big Ten, playing with an interim head coach. Yikes! It's a bad loss for sure, but the good news for the Boilermakers is that even all three of their losses are somewhat headscratchers (all unranked Big Ten opponents, one of them bad, the others decent but not 'beat Purdue by double digits' decent, which is what they did), they still have the 2nd best strength of record in the country, and a nation-best 11 quality wins to their name.
3. Houston
This week did wonders for Houston in my eyes. I'm still not as sold on the Cougars as most in the media are; their good record is largely built on their sub-130 non-conference schedule strength and losing to the two best teams they have played. But! While many others continue to lose, Houston continues to stay winning, and in this past week they dominated a talented Texas team and then last night, avenged their loss to #6 Iowa State. The two comfortable wins took them two games clear atop the Big XII standings, and it's hard not to see them as close to a lock for a 1-seed at this rate.
4. Arizona
While everyone seems to be paying attention to the dominant teams atop the rankings, and the chaos happening...literally everywhere else, Arizona is just sorta stealthily creeping back up there. It "helps" that the Wildcats haven't played a ranked team since before Christmas, sure, but still, a Top 30 schedule strength, and 9 wins from their last 10 have them sitting pretty right now. Last week, in which they beat a solid Colorado team and rivals Arizona State by a combined 65 points, was a reminder of just how high their ceiling is. This week, a big clash with newly-ranked Washington State, who gave Zona one of their five losses, awaits.
5. Marquette
I think it's safe to say Marquette did NOT take advantage of their opportunity to impress a national audience on Saturday. Beating #1 Connecticut at their place in a high-stakes matchup was always going to be an extremely tall order, but Shaka Smart definitely would have hoped his team could compete for all 40 minutes, rather than lose 53-81. Still, all is not lost for the Golden Eagles; they still own a Top 5 strength of record, a head-to-head victory over Kansas (who's weirdly ahead of them in the strength of recrod despite the head-to-head an an inferior strength of schedule), and 8 quality wins. The Big East race is likely out of reach, but a top seed and a postseason run both still very attainable.
6. Kansas
The Jayhawks had only one game last week, but it was a good one for them- a road win at #25 Oklahoma, which helped boost their resumé, and hey, no Monday night game to promptly turn around and lose this time! KU’s inconsistency might have left their Big XII hopes out of reach, but there’s still plenty to play for, including a possible 1-seed.
7. North Carolina
I have triple checked to make sure this is the case, but I am relieved to report North Carolina is not playing a game tonight. That means for the first time since beginning this series in 2024, they will not lose to an unranked team the very night I publish a Couch Power 10 with them included. Yes, it was Syracuse last week that marked the 3rd consecutive Tuesday night loss to an unranked team for the Heels, who suddenly find their ACC title in real peril despite the 10-0 start to the conference season. That said, the drop in the AP poll to number 10 felt a little drastic, considering they rebounded with a dominant win over Virginia Tech on Saturday, remain in the ACC drivers’ seat, and still own the 6th best strength of record in the country (yes, several spots ahead of Duke, who has the same record, a much weaker schedule, and got waxed by Carolina two weekends ago, and yet are now ranked three spots ahead of them).
8. Tennessee
This week was all about bouncing back for Tennessee, and bounce back they did. After a capitulation at Texas A&M last weekend, they dominated Arkansas and Vanderbilt. Two teams, yes, at or near the bottom of the SEC standings, but the Vols did what they should do and beat the two by an average of 32 points. They still control their own destiny in the SEC, and though they sit 1 game back in the conference from Alabama, they own the head-to-head over the Tide and the superior resumé.
9. Baylor
I agree with the real-life pollsters that there should be 3 Big XII teams in the Top 10. Our disagreement comes on who that team should be. Voters were high on Iowa State, jumping them all the way up to #6 a move that admittedly took place prior to last night's loss at Houston. That was by no means a bad loss for the Cyclones, but it does drop their record to on-par with Baylor's, a team that beat them just two weeks ago, and has played the significantly harder schedule. After a mini-slide in January, the last several weeks have been good to the Bears, their sole loss in the last 6 games coming in a 3-point decision at Kansas. The 2021 national champs have a solid body of work, are just one game back in the competitive Big XII race, and just might be peaking at the right time.
10. Dayton
With Indiana State's lightning-quick moment in the sun over and done with, it's time for the "midmajor #10 spot" to cycle back to Dayton. Welcome back. Flyers! This is not just a token participation award, though, Dayton deserve this spot. Anthony Grant's men recovered well last week from their ugly loss at VCU with two dominant conference victories, and with each of their few losses coming to likely tournament team, have a strength of record that ranks just outside ESPN's Top 10.
Just missed: Iowa State, Alabama, Dook, Illinois, Auburn, sharpshooting icon Cormac Ryan
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