College Basketball Couch Power 10 (Feb. 7th)
Indiana's thrilling win over Purdue in Assembly Hall gave their top-ranked rivals just the second loss of the season, and boosted the Hoosiers' own tournament credentials in the process.
Welcome back to the Couch Power 10, college basketball fans! For the first time in 2023, I am delighted to report that this edition of the Power 10 is coming to you from February. Not, mind you, because I'm happy it's February. Screw February. February sucks. It's the Tuesday of months. But, for college hoops fans, the plus-side of this dark, grey time in the calendar year is that we are in the last month before the month of madness begins!!
Think this season is settling into some normalcy? Witnessing a calm before the storm? Think again. In the week since you heard from me last, a whopping 17 ranked teams lost at least one game. Seventeen!!! And though there were many high-stakes clashes, seven of those losses were to unranked sides. On a wild Saturday alone, 9 ranked teams dropped decisions. That zany zaturday kicked off with Virginia and TCU losing to unranked conference foes, continued with Miami and Texas scoring crucial road wins against fellow ranked teams, as well as (tragically) a 2nd loss at long last for hero of the minnows, Florida Atlantic. It then culminated with #1 Purdue going down to in-state rivals Indiana in a rocking Assembly Hall, and capped off with St. Mary's outlasting WCC rivals Gonzaga in an overtime thriller, in the only two rivalry games that matter and that took place on Saturday.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: 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
It speaks to both how good Purdue is, but also especially to how wide open this year in college basketball is, that the #1 team could lose a high-stakes, primetime rivalry game and retain the #1 spot. To be fair, had Indiana completed the blowout on Saturday that were trending towards, I may have considered dropping the Boilermakers. But Purdue's fight back to force a nail-biting last few minutes was impressive, and their 22-2 record on the season is still good enough for the top 'Strength of Record' of any team.
2. Alabama
Welcome back to my good graces, Bama! One week after drastically dropping my former #1 team in the rankings and reaming them out for a poor performance at Oklahoma, the Tide jump all the way back up to #2. That they do so despite beating any ranked opponents in the meantime speaks more to the high number of good teams that lost in the last week than anything else, to be honest. But, I was encouraged by Alabama's recovery from their embarrassment in Norman, as they absolutely annihilated Vanderbilt (by nearly 60 points!!!!), then followed that up with a good road win against a tricky LSU team.
3. Arizona
ESPN's metrics for strength of record and BPI continue to be fairly unimpressed with Arizona, and it's true that the Wildcats haven't really beaten anyone of note since their win over UCLA nearly three weeks ago. But still, they're in the midst of a 6-game win streak now, sit in a tie for 1st place in the Pac-12, and last week avenged two of their three losses. That basically means they only have a net of 1 loss, right? That's how that works?
4. Houston
Houston played two road games since the time of our last ranking, and passed the road test with flying colors, avoiding a trap game at Wichita State, before avenging their sole conference loss with a comfortable win at Temple. There's still not much to gape at from the Cougars' body of work, but at least the win over Virginia and close loss to Alabama still hold up.
5. Kansas
An intense-- and crucial -- three-game stretch in the last week produced mixed results for the Jayhawks. Last week, they avenged their rivalry loss from just a fortnight prior with a comfortable home win over Kansas State, and last night scored a big W over #5 Texas. Those wins, however, were sandwiched around a comprehensive road loss at Iowa State on Saturday. Still, going 2 for 3 in a brutal stretch shows the defending champs are more than capable of winning the big ones, and even with 5 losses, their top-ranked schedule earns them the #3 strength of record.
6. Xavier
In lieu of a bona fide mid-major candidate now, Xavier takes the reins as the new team The Couch believes isn't getting nearly enough respect. The Musketeers sit at #13 and #15 in the two major polls; yet, according to ESPN, own the 7th-best strength of record in the country. Their inexplicable loss to DePaul a couple weeks ago did them no favors, nor did their blowout loss to Creighton two weekends ago. However, there's no shame in their other losses on the season, early decisions to Indiana, Duke and Gonzaga at neutral sites by a combined 11 points. And there's certainly no shame in a season sweep of UConn and wins over Marquette, Providence and West Virginia.
7. Tennessee
I will reframe a similar question to what I posed last week: will the real Tennessee please stand up? The Vols' last week, in which they followed up their big win over Texas by capitulating at Florida, then ground out an ugly win against a ranked Auburn team, did nothing to quell my commitment issues. They remain a team with an incredibly high ceiling, and a fairly impressive body of work, but until they can figure out some sort of consistency, I won't know what to make of them heading into tournament time.
8. Texas
Texas, like many other teams in this ranking, had a mixed bag in the last week. Like Kansas before them, they underwent their own brutal three-game stretch, dating back to their win against Baylor before our last Power 10. In their case, a big comeback on the road to beat Kansas State on Saturday launched them into the Top 5, but they couldn't complete the sweep of the Sunflower State, falling last night against the Jayhawks. They still sit atop the Big 12 standings, and in almost every way, their resume is superior to Tennessee's, but I can't in good conscience have them ahead of a team with an identical record who smoked them head-to-head not two weeks ago.
9. UCLA
UCLA bounced back nicely from their disappointing loss to USC, sweeping the Washington teams last week to retain a first-place tie in the conference. The Bruins continue to be a fringe Top 10 team on paper, with an incredibly high ceiling.
10. Virginia
The Cavaliers' lone game last week included a tough rivalry loss to underdogs Virginia Tech, an end to their 7-game win streak. However, the Hoos were helped mightily by results elsewhere. Not only did losses by several other ranked teams help them maintain a Top 10 strength of record, losses by Clemson and Miami helped them move into a tie for first place in the ACC. What's more, Virginia have a terrific opportunity to get back on the horse with a matchup against newly ranked NC State tonight.
Just missed: Baylor, Kansas State, Marquette, Iowa State, Gonzaga, Caleb Love in games vs. Duke specifically
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