Kentucky had an impressive 8 point win against a top 5 Louisville team this past week. It was their first true road game of the year and their freshman showed that they were up for the task. After beating Louisville there was no doubt that Kentucky would stay #1 and would be the unanimous choice. Kentucky has been the unanimous #1 team for the past couple of weeks now and I don't see that changing until they lose. The top 10 got shaken up this week after being relatively the same for the past couple of weeks. Arizona, Texas and Kansas all lost which allowed there to be movement in the top 10. Duke stayed at #2 while Virginia, Wisconsin and Louisville all changed spots to round out the top 5. I'm glad that Louisville only fell 1 spot because they played very well against Kentucky and had a chance to upset them for most of the game. Two mid-majors follow Louisville, Villanova and Gonzaga, while Arizona dropped from 3 to 8 after their first loss of the season to UNLV. Iowa State and Utah are new to the top 10 and round it out. Utah is a two loss team but both losses came to ranked teams. TCU fell out of the rankings after just 1 week leading to a three loss Georgetown team to be ranked #25. Georgetown joins #18 Oklahoma and #19 North Carolina as the the only teams in the top 25 with three losses.
TCU did nothing wrong to get them knocked out of the top 25. They won both of their games by a combined 72 points this week and are a perfect 12-0. TCU has won almost every game by double digits, the only problem is that their schedule has been one of the weakest in the nation. Even though they have had a weak schedule I still think they should be ranked. They have beaten the teams they are supposed to beat and have beaten them by a lot. I could see why they wouldn't be ranked if they were barely squeaking by bad teams, but they have been beating teams by 20+. Georgetown replaced them in the rankings, even though they are only 8-3. All three of the Hoyas' loses have come to teams that have been ranked at some point this year, Wisconsin, Butler and Kansas. They also have an impressive win over then #18 Florida and beat a good Indiana team in OT this past week. There is no question that Georgetown has more impressive wins than TCU, however, they are still a three loss team and I don't think there should be any three loss teams ranked at this point in the season. TCU will get a chance to prove themselves on Saturday when they play #17 West Virginia. The Big 12 is a better conference than given credit for this year, TCU has a stretch in late January and early February where they play seven straight ranked teams. Until then I don't think we will truly know how good of a team TCU is. I think TCU should be ranked but understand that their strength of schedule is a big reason why some teams with more losses are ahead of them. TCU is still sitting at #26 and with a win over West Virginia would be back into the top 25. Their tough seven game stretch later this year will give everyone an idea of how good this team really is. I think they are for real and could be a cinderella team come March.
#5 Kansas was supposed to give these freshman a run for their money, they won by 32. These freshman were supposed to barely beat Texas, they won by 12. They were supposed to have a tough three game stretch against North Carolina, UCLA and Louisville, they won by a combined 61 points. Now they start SEC play where not one ranked team is left on their schedule. The SEC is by far the worst basketball conference, out of the 6 major conferences, yet still have the top team in the nation. Kentucky's schedule for the rest of the year is one of the easiest in the nation. They don't have to play any more ranked teams and their supposedly toughest opponent in the SEC at the beginning of the year, Florida, is just 7-4. Kentucky has played four ranked teams this year and have beaten three of them by double digits. Watching them play against Louisville made me even more impressed. Louisville threw everything they had against them and still fell 8 short. Everyone saw how great defensively they are during their game against UCLA where they started the game on a 24-0 run, holding the Bruins to just 7 first half points. The loss of Alex Poythress will be a huge loss for this team but they have still looked like the best team in college basketball. I think Kentucky is the best team since the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers team in 1975-1976. I don't think there is any team in the nation, let alone the SEC, that can beat them. I would be shocked if Kentucky doesn't go 40-0 and win the national championship. This team has a very easy schedule the rest of the way and I doubt they lose a game this year.
TCU did nothing wrong to get them knocked out of the top 25. They won both of their games by a combined 72 points this week and are a perfect 12-0. TCU has won almost every game by double digits, the only problem is that their schedule has been one of the weakest in the nation. Even though they have had a weak schedule I still think they should be ranked. They have beaten the teams they are supposed to beat and have beaten them by a lot. I could see why they wouldn't be ranked if they were barely squeaking by bad teams, but they have been beating teams by 20+. Georgetown replaced them in the rankings, even though they are only 8-3. All three of the Hoyas' loses have come to teams that have been ranked at some point this year, Wisconsin, Butler and Kansas. They also have an impressive win over then #18 Florida and beat a good Indiana team in OT this past week. There is no question that Georgetown has more impressive wins than TCU, however, they are still a three loss team and I don't think there should be any three loss teams ranked at this point in the season. TCU will get a chance to prove themselves on Saturday when they play #17 West Virginia. The Big 12 is a better conference than given credit for this year, TCU has a stretch in late January and early February where they play seven straight ranked teams. Until then I don't think we will truly know how good of a team TCU is. I think TCU should be ranked but understand that their strength of schedule is a big reason why some teams with more losses are ahead of them. TCU is still sitting at #26 and with a win over West Virginia would be back into the top 25. Their tough seven game stretch later this year will give everyone an idea of how good this team really is. I think they are for real and could be a cinderella team come March.
#5 Kansas was supposed to give these freshman a run for their money, they won by 32. These freshman were supposed to barely beat Texas, they won by 12. They were supposed to have a tough three game stretch against North Carolina, UCLA and Louisville, they won by a combined 61 points. Now they start SEC play where not one ranked team is left on their schedule. The SEC is by far the worst basketball conference, out of the 6 major conferences, yet still have the top team in the nation. Kentucky's schedule for the rest of the year is one of the easiest in the nation. They don't have to play any more ranked teams and their supposedly toughest opponent in the SEC at the beginning of the year, Florida, is just 7-4. Kentucky has played four ranked teams this year and have beaten three of them by double digits. Watching them play against Louisville made me even more impressed. Louisville threw everything they had against them and still fell 8 short. Everyone saw how great defensively they are during their game against UCLA where they started the game on a 24-0 run, holding the Bruins to just 7 first half points. The loss of Alex Poythress will be a huge loss for this team but they have still looked like the best team in college basketball. I think Kentucky is the best team since the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers team in 1975-1976. I don't think there is any team in the nation, let alone the SEC, that can beat them. I would be shocked if Kentucky doesn't go 40-0 and win the national championship. This team has a very easy schedule the rest of the way and I doubt they lose a game this year.