College Basketball Couch Power 10 (Feb. 23rd)
Michigan passed yet another crucial test on their path to a Big Ten title
No sooner than I had published my first College Basketball Couch Power 10 of the season did one of my Top 10 teams lose in stunning fashion, #8 Houston falling prey on the road at Wichita State. Such is the nature of the beast in college basketball, especially in a year as bizarre as this. Anything can change at the drop of the hat.
It didn't end with Houston: there were 7 other instances of ranked teams losing from last Thursday to tonight, and in 4 of those games, they were felled by an unranked team, the most notable of them being Virginia losing in the final seconds to a suddenly resurgent Duke. And in what was easily the most primetime showdown of the weekend, #3 Michigan won a thrilling, high-quality rivalry game over #4 Ohio State. Not much changed at the top, but there's a whole lot of turbulence beneath the established uppercrust of college basketball.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: it's been a wild and unpredictable season. The world at large is 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. Gonzaga
Gonzaga has been the hardly-disputed #1 team in college basketball all year, and all they did since our last ranking was beat two conference opponents by a combined 59 points. So yeah, their ranking isn't changing here.
2. Baylor
Baylor has been the hardly-disputed #2 team in college basketball all year, and all they did since our last ranking was....well, take a COVID break. So it's hard for us to hold not playing any games against them, but it will be interesting to see whether the long layoff (their last game was 3 weeks ago) affects the Bears the way it has many other teams this season.
3. Michigan
I almost wish Michigan hadn't dropped that decisive loss to Minnesota, and/or that one of Gonzaga or Baylor had dropped a game this season. Because while I can't in good conscience have anyone other than those top two atop the rankings, it feels wrong to not move Michigan up at all for the last week they've had. After their impressive return from a COVID break, rallying to beat Wisconsin, they avoided a trap game against a likely tournament team in Rutgers, and then got a statement win to end all statement wins on Sunday. Ohio State had every reason to believe they were going to win this edition of the rivalry game; the Buckeyes needed this win more than Michigan did, from both a Big Ten race and national seeding perspective, and had them on their home court. Yet, once again, the Wolverines were tougher, smarter, and flat-out better down the stretch of a big game. Juwan Howard has Michigan inching closer and closer to the 'elite' tier, if they're not there already.
4. Ohio State
Yet, as much as their loss to Michigan will sting, all things considered, it was not a bad result for Ohio State. For 39 of the game's 40 minutes, the Buckeyes showed they were one of the best teams in the country and are capable of beating other high-quality teams. Given their schedule strength and fairly recent head-to-head win over Illinois, there's no team with a real argument to jump them in the pecking order at this point.
5. Illinois
Illinois has a potentially tricky game at Michigan State tonight, but since our last piece, they spent the weekend demolishing Minnesota in an arena where the latter has hardly lost this season. The real intrigue will be whether the Illini can win one (or even both??) of their season-closing games against Michigan and Ohio State.
6. Alabama
Alabama avoided disaster by pulling out a W over the SEC's worst team Vanderbilt over the weekend. The Tide are undoubtedly one of the better teams out there, but in a weak SEC, they have little margin for error if they want to sneak onto the 1 seed line.
7. Florida State
Florida State pulled out a nice weekend win over Pittsburgh. The Panthers are in a bit of a tailspin at the moment, but for a team desperate for a win playing at home, the Seminoles took care of them with fairly little incident. What I said about Alabama above could apply to them too; an abnormally weak ACC will not present them with many opportunities to improve their resumé.
8. Villanova
One week after getting thrashed by Creighton, the Wildcats steered the ship back on course with a solid win over a tough UConn team. Villanova has a decent body of work and a high ceiling, but still need to string together a consistent stretch of good performances.
9. Oklahoma
Oklahoma's last five days weren't all that impressive, with just a 10-point win over last place Iowa State to write home about. But winning 9 of your last 10 will always draw my attention, especially when you have a season sweep of West Virginia and a win over Alabama that are aging like a fine wine.
10. West Virginia
West Virginia's huge comeback win at Texas this weekend put the Mountaineers in the thick of contention within the Big 12. But it also was a statement on this team's ability to close out crucial games. In a month that saw them play 4 ranked teams, they will enter Thursday's showdown against Baylor 3-1 in those games, the sole loss being a last-second one to Oklahoma.
Just missed: Clemson, Creighton, Iowa, USC, Virginia, K3rwin "automatic buckets" Walton
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