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College Basketball Rankings 2016: Projected Week 7 Top 25

By Connor Muldowney

Dec 17, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Lonzo Ball (2) and guard Bryce Alford (20) celebrate after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes 86-73 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Lonzo Ball (2) and guard Bryce Alford (20) celebrate after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes 86-73 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Week 7 college basketball rankings will be released Monday afternoon and here are our Top 25 projections.

The college basketball season is moving into the final stages of non-conference play and things will start to heat up in the coming weeks. There were a couple of upsets in Week 6 and that will surely have an effect on the Week 7 college basketball rankings.

Like college football, the basketball campaign has gotten off to an interesting start with plenty of movement up and down the polls. Some teams have exited the Top 25 and others have entered it. Heck, some have been knocked out and even made their way back in — that will be the case for one team this week.

With the AP rankings set to come out on Monday, here is what the poll will likely look like.

After taking a week off from being in the AP Top 25, the Florida Gators snuck back into the rankings with a win over Charlotte. This team is still trying to figure out its identity in the post-Billy Donovan era, but the Gators are playing well despite the three losses. They jump back into the rankings after Notre Dame loses to Purdue and drops out.

Cincinnati had a nice week after sneaking into the rankings seven days ago. The Bearcats beat Texas Southern by 38 points and Fairleigh Dickinson by 51. They made up for a loss at the end of Week 5 to Butler with two blowout wins and this team might just respond to adversity better than expected.

I thought USC might be even higher in the rankings a week ago, but the AP voters aren’t ready to buy in on the Trojans being legitimate Pac-12 contenders just yet. They snuck by Troy in a closer game than they would have liked this week, improving to 10-0, but the Trojans need to add a strong win to their resume as their best victory has been Texas A&M thus far.

Dwayne Bacon is one of the most underrated players in the country for Florida State and he’s one of the main reasons why the Seminoles are 11-1 with a nice win over in-state foe Florida. He’s averaging a team-high 17.2 points per game and he’s also shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor. If the Seminoles can stay healthy, watch out.

Frank Martin has done an incredible job with South Carolina in his short time with the program, even leading them to an 8-0 record to start the 2016-17 season. However, the Gamecocks suffered their first loss against Seton Hall last week and it’s obvious that the absence of Sindarius Thornwell is hurting this team, offensively. They rebounded with a nice win over South Florida on the road.