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College Basketball Rankings 2016: Projected Week 6 Top 25

By Connor Muldowney

Dec 10, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Duke Blue Devils center Marques Bolden (20) congratulates center Chase Jeter (2) near the end of a game against the UNLV Runnin
Dec 10, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Duke Blue Devils center Marques Bolden (20) congratulates center Chase Jeter (2) near the end of a game against the UNLV Runnin /
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Dec 7, 2016; Madison, WI, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Bronson Koenig (24) dribbles the ball as Idaho State Bengals guard Brandon Boyd (15) defends at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin defeated Idaho State 78-44. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 7, 2016; Madison, WI, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Bronson Koenig (24) dribbles the ball as Idaho State Bengals guard Brandon Boyd (15) defends at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin defeated Idaho State 78-44. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports /

Purdue’s two losses this season are impressive, falling against defending national champ Villanova at home by three points and No. 14 Louisville by just seven on the road. The Boilermakers continue to impress in Week 5 with a 33-point victory over Arizona State and a 24-point win over Cleveland State. Caleb Swanigan and Isaac Haas could make for matchup nightmares in the post this season.

Returning just about everyone to the roster from last season, it was pretty easy to pick the Wisconsin Badgers as favorites to win the Big Ten. The Badgers beat Idaho State to start the week relatively easily and then came back to take down in-state foe Marquette. The Badgers are beginning to click on all cylinders heading into conference play at the end of December.

A week after taking down No. 6 Virginia on the road in a border battle, the Mountaineers of West Virginia beat West Carolina and VMI by a combined 88 points. With a couple of teams losing ahead of them in Week 5, the Mountaineers will get a slight bump. West Virginia is one of the best scoring teams in the nation and there’s still no real go-to scorer. In fact, no one averages over 13 points per game.

Virginia consistently has some of the toughest defensive teams in the country and head coach Tony Bennett has yet another talented team to work with in 2016-17 despite losing Malcolm Brogdon in the offseason and Austin Nichols, who was dismissed, at the start of the year. Can the Cavaliers find a way to make the NCAA Tournament and contend for an ACC title with a defensive-minded team that doesn’t score much?

Since none of the teams in the top 10 lost last week, the Louisville Cardinals will stay put at No. 11 in this week’s poll, barring a surprise bump. However, the Cardinals didn’t exactly beat anyone special with victories over Southern Illinois and Texas Southern. Still, this is not a team people will want to see in March as Louisville is big and athletic, and could easily be 10-0 right now if it didn’t blow a double-digit lead over Baylor.