It was an exciting week in college basketball as there were many games between top 25 teams. The #1 team in the nation, Kentucky, was taken to overtime in both of their games. Kentucky has been the unanimous #1 choice the past five weeks but that changed this week as Virginia is now #2 in the nation and received two first place votes. Gonzaga has been moving up the rankings all year and is now the #3 team in nation, as Duke, who lost this week, and Villanova round out the top five. Louisville and Wisconsin both lost this week as well and are now the #6 and #7 teams in the nation, respectively. Utah is still in the top 10 as they are #8 in the nation and Kansas is back in the top 10 at #9. Arizona lost to Oregon State yesterday but only feel three spots to #10. I think Arizona is a very good team but is overrated, I don't think they are a top 15 team, let alone a top 10 team. There are still three four loss teams in the top 25 this year, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas. North Carolina has not looked like a normal Roy Williams team this year, but wins over ranked teams have them still ranked in the top 25, #15. This is still a good team but may bust a lot of brackets come March. The Sooners blew out Texas this past week then lost a close game to Kansas St. later in the week. Oklahoma is a very good team but has been very inconsistent the whole year, the main reason why they are only #18. Texas was a top 10 team last week but then had two double digit loses to the Oklahoma schools, and as a result they fell all the way down to #20 this week. Ohio State, St. John's and Old Dominion all suffered losses this week, dropping them from the rankings. #23 to #25 were left open and were taken over by Northern Iowa, who rejoined the rankings, Oklahoma State and Wyoming, who are ranked for the first time this year. This was arguably the most anticipated weekend of college basketball, so far this year, and it didn't disappoint.
No one is worried about Ohio State Basketball this weekend as their football team takes on Oregon in the National Championship tonight. Either way the Buckeyes are no longer ranked in basketball and are in the middle of the pack in Big 10 conference play. The Buckeyes started out the season strong, going 5-0, but then hit a wall as they lost by double digits to then #5 Louisville. Ohio State suffered one more loss, to then #24 North Carolina, before they started Big 10 play, owning a record of 11-2. Big 10 play hasn't been nice to Ohio State so far as they have losses to Iowa, Indiana and barely squeaked by Minnesota in OT, giving them a 13-4 record. This past week was another tough week as they were just 1-1 for the second straight week. The Buckeyes started out the week against a decent Minnesota team, but barely squeaked by, winning 74-72 in OT. They then traveled to Indiana to face a surprising Hoosiers team. Indiana has been one of the more surprising teams in the Big 10 so far this year, and showed why on Saturday. Ohio State lost to Indiana 69-66, despite a late surge in the second half. This doesn't seem like a Final Four bound team but is still very good and will have no problems making the tournament. There are a lot of good players on Ohio State but if they don't turn their season around soon they won't be ranked for a while and will struggle in Big 10 play. Ohio State is still #25 in the USA Today Poll and #26 in the AP Poll, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were ranked again next week. They face a below average Michigan team and then will try and get revenge against Iowa this week. Everyone knows how great the Big 10 is so no one will be surprised if Ohio State suffers a couple more losses, but expect them to be ranked soon, possibly even next week.
St. John's started out the year strong going 11-1 through their first 12 games, but has lost their last three and are now just 11-4. The Red Storm were ranked as high as #15 this year but are unranked for the first time since the beginning of December. One positive thing about the four St. John's losses is that they all came to teams that were ranked at one point this season; the Red Storm have lost to Gonzaga, Seton Hall, Butler and Villanova. While all their losses have come to good teams the Red Storm don't have many quality wins. Their best win came against unranked Syracuse, they also beat Minnesota earlier in the year but then only have victories over small mid-major schools. St. John's fell to #24 last week but faced two good opponents, Butler and then #8 Villanova. They didn't fare well as they lost to Butler by 4 and then got blown out by Villanova, losing by 18. St. John's also lost to Seton Hall two weeks ago so they are now 0-3 in the Big East and need to get their season back on track. They face 3-1 Providence and the surprising 3-1 DePaul Blue Demons this week, both winnable games. The Big East is once again a very good conference and St. John's still has an out of conference game against Duke later in the year. This is a good team that has a lot of potential but needs to get their season back on track. They might not be ranked for a few weeks but I wouldn't be surprised if you see them ranked again this year.
One of the most surprising teams this year is Old Dominion. The Monarchs are 13-2 but have two bad losses to Illinois State and Western Kentucky. Both Illinois State and Western Kentucky are average teams so they weren't horrible losses but games they should have won. However, when you have the strength of schedule Old Dominion has you have to win nearly every game. How big was the most recent loss to Western Kentucky for Old Dominion? Well, they went from #25 to barely getting a vote to be ranked in a span of one week. Old Dominion is now 2-1 in Conference USA play this year but I think they are still the favorites to win the conference. This is not a very good offensive team as they are 210th in PPG, averaging 66.6 PPG, and only have one player who averages more than 10 PPG, Trey Freeman. However, they are one of the best defensive teams in the nation as they have held all but one opponent to under 70 points. Even though they have had a fairly easy schedule the Monarchs have some quality wins. They beat then #14 VCU by 6 and a very good LSU team by 9. This was just the second loss for Old Dominion this year and I think they dropped in the rankings too far. This is a better team than given credit for and I think they will be a surprise team come March. They are half way through their season and may be upset once or twice more but I expect them to win their conference and possibly win out. Not many people have heard of this team but they should get to know them because come March they will be a dangerous team.
No one is worried about Ohio State Basketball this weekend as their football team takes on Oregon in the National Championship tonight. Either way the Buckeyes are no longer ranked in basketball and are in the middle of the pack in Big 10 conference play. The Buckeyes started out the season strong, going 5-0, but then hit a wall as they lost by double digits to then #5 Louisville. Ohio State suffered one more loss, to then #24 North Carolina, before they started Big 10 play, owning a record of 11-2. Big 10 play hasn't been nice to Ohio State so far as they have losses to Iowa, Indiana and barely squeaked by Minnesota in OT, giving them a 13-4 record. This past week was another tough week as they were just 1-1 for the second straight week. The Buckeyes started out the week against a decent Minnesota team, but barely squeaked by, winning 74-72 in OT. They then traveled to Indiana to face a surprising Hoosiers team. Indiana has been one of the more surprising teams in the Big 10 so far this year, and showed why on Saturday. Ohio State lost to Indiana 69-66, despite a late surge in the second half. This doesn't seem like a Final Four bound team but is still very good and will have no problems making the tournament. There are a lot of good players on Ohio State but if they don't turn their season around soon they won't be ranked for a while and will struggle in Big 10 play. Ohio State is still #25 in the USA Today Poll and #26 in the AP Poll, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were ranked again next week. They face a below average Michigan team and then will try and get revenge against Iowa this week. Everyone knows how great the Big 10 is so no one will be surprised if Ohio State suffers a couple more losses, but expect them to be ranked soon, possibly even next week.
St. John's started out the year strong going 11-1 through their first 12 games, but has lost their last three and are now just 11-4. The Red Storm were ranked as high as #15 this year but are unranked for the first time since the beginning of December. One positive thing about the four St. John's losses is that they all came to teams that were ranked at one point this season; the Red Storm have lost to Gonzaga, Seton Hall, Butler and Villanova. While all their losses have come to good teams the Red Storm don't have many quality wins. Their best win came against unranked Syracuse, they also beat Minnesota earlier in the year but then only have victories over small mid-major schools. St. John's fell to #24 last week but faced two good opponents, Butler and then #8 Villanova. They didn't fare well as they lost to Butler by 4 and then got blown out by Villanova, losing by 18. St. John's also lost to Seton Hall two weeks ago so they are now 0-3 in the Big East and need to get their season back on track. They face 3-1 Providence and the surprising 3-1 DePaul Blue Demons this week, both winnable games. The Big East is once again a very good conference and St. John's still has an out of conference game against Duke later in the year. This is a good team that has a lot of potential but needs to get their season back on track. They might not be ranked for a few weeks but I wouldn't be surprised if you see them ranked again this year.
One of the most surprising teams this year is Old Dominion. The Monarchs are 13-2 but have two bad losses to Illinois State and Western Kentucky. Both Illinois State and Western Kentucky are average teams so they weren't horrible losses but games they should have won. However, when you have the strength of schedule Old Dominion has you have to win nearly every game. How big was the most recent loss to Western Kentucky for Old Dominion? Well, they went from #25 to barely getting a vote to be ranked in a span of one week. Old Dominion is now 2-1 in Conference USA play this year but I think they are still the favorites to win the conference. This is not a very good offensive team as they are 210th in PPG, averaging 66.6 PPG, and only have one player who averages more than 10 PPG, Trey Freeman. However, they are one of the best defensive teams in the nation as they have held all but one opponent to under 70 points. Even though they have had a fairly easy schedule the Monarchs have some quality wins. They beat then #14 VCU by 6 and a very good LSU team by 9. This was just the second loss for Old Dominion this year and I think they dropped in the rankings too far. This is a better team than given credit for and I think they will be a surprise team come March. They are half way through their season and may be upset once or twice more but I expect them to win their conference and possibly win out. Not many people have heard of this team but they should get to know them because come March they will be a dangerous team.