College Basketball Couch Power 10 (Feb. 21st)
Despite more upsets, heated conference races, and Top 10 showdown, the biggest college basketball storyline last week was a postgame handshake line between Michigan and Wisconsin
Believe it or not, college basketball fans, we are one week away from March. Which means the next Couch Power 10 I write will likely be the second-to-last one of the year. That's how close we are to tournament time in college basketball, and unlike most seasons, I don't feel like we have much more clarity on the landscape than we did when it all tipped off in November.
Case in point: in the week since you heard from me last, 11 ranked teams lost games, 4 of them Top 10 teams, and 4 of them to unranked opponents. That's to say nothing, too, of all the near-upsets, the overtime and double-overtime games that occurred over the last 7 days. And oh yes-- this happened.
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. Arizona
Arizona continues to quietly just do what other top teams seem to be allergic to, which is avoid defeat. Wins over Oregon State and Oregon won't move the needle a ton for the Wildcats, but at this point, a 25-2 record and 8 straight wins will.
2. Gonzaga
See above. Gonzaga has reclaimed the top spot in the AP and Coaches polls because they just keep plugging away, winning 16 straight to date. I rate them lower than Zona on my end still because of that (#) ranked schedule strength, but there's no question they're starting to display just how high their ceiling is. They've got an interesting week ahead, with two likely tournament teams on the docket in San Francisco and St. Mary's.
3. Kansas
The topsy-turvy Big 12 continues to seesaw, but more frequently than not, Kansas is the one coming out on top. In a relatively straightforward week, the Jayhawks did what they should do, and dispatched of West Virginia and Kansas State easily. They've opened up a two-game lead in the Big 12, and if they can just see that out, they'll be in good position for a 1 seed.
4. Auburn
Auburn's streak-busting loss at Arkansas two weeks ago was a fluke, if even that. Last weekend's loss to Florida might hint at a worrisome trend. It's one thing to lose your winning streak in an intense overtime game on the road against a ranked tournament team. It's another thing to notch your second loss in less than two weeks to a thoroughly mediocre conference opponent. Auburn still has one of the better resumés in all of college basketball, but the Tigers need to be sure to steady the ship here to avoid entering the postseason in their worst form of the season.
5. Purdue
Early last week, it looked as if Purdue might be continuing their rough patch of form, with yet another shaky win over a subpar opponent (Northwestern), but the weekend's blowout of red-hot Rutgers was a nice palette-cleanser for the Boilermakers. Now, a huge, potentially conference-defining week awaits them with road trips to Michigan State and Wisconsin.
6. Duke
Duke's response to their shock loss to Virginia a couple weeks ago continues to be a good one. The Blue Devils survived a scare against Wake Forest in a game that saw Coach K recuse himself at halftime for health reasons, but a season sweep over this solid Demon Deacon side, coupled with their domination of hapless Florida State over the weekend, means that they are likely just a win or two away from clinching the ACC regular-season title for the first time in over a decade.
7. Providence
It was a bit of a rough week for the Friars, but it was almost a VERY bad week. They had a chance to start etching their names on the Big East trophy, but couldn't see off top contenders Villanova at home, in a hard-fought game. But then over the weekend, Providence came very close to suffering their first really bad loss of the season on the road to Butler. But, they dug deep and gutted it out in Indianapolis, and at 22-3, remain in the driver's seat for the Big East crown and likely the conference's top seed in the tournament.
8. Kentucky
Just when I was finally starting to get won over by Kentucky, they went and laid a massive egg on the road at Tennessee. Now to be fair, the Vols are a good team (a Top 20 team!), and the Wildcats also recovered nicely with a key win at home against Alabama over the weekend. Furthermore, their 'Strength of Record' remains #6 in the nation. But still, for a team as talented and abnormally experienced as they are, it would be nice to see those sort of 13-point loss hiccups in their rearview mirror at this point in the season.
9. Wisconsin
Well, it was an....interesting week for Wisconsin basketball, to say the least. They pushed their winning streak to 3 after the surprising Rutgers loss a couple weeks ago, with comfortable wins over Indiana and Michigan on the week. The wins kept them in a tie for first place in the conference, but the question will be whether the fracas in the handshake line after the Michigan win (and the ensuing media storm) will serve as fuel or a distraction for them to see their conference season out.
10. Villanova
Villanova has had a couple good wins on the year, but for a team that thus far has been a pretty big disappointment relative to their preseason expectations, they were desperate for a signature win. The Wildcats got that last week, in the form of an old-school, high-stakes Big East battle in which they were able to emerge from Providence victorious over their Top 5-ranked foes. Nova followed that up with a win over Georgetown on the week, and now enter a crucial season-ending stretch of road games at Connecticut and Butler sandwiched around a quick rematch with Providence on a 6-game winning streak and still alive in the Big East race.
Just missed: Texas Tech, Baylor, USC, UCLA, Murray State, North Carolina vs. Q2 and Q3 teams
BONUS! Couch Seed Projections
WEST (San Francisco): Arizona
SOUTH (San Antonio): Gonzaga
MIDWEST (Chicago): Kansas
EAST (Philadelphia): Purdue
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