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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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Dec 17, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Purdue Boilermakers forward Caleb Swanigan (50) dribbles the ball while Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Bonzie Colson (35) defends in the second half of the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Purdue Boilermakers beat Notre Dame Fighting Irish 86-81. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Purdue Boilermakers forward Caleb Swanigan (50) dribbles the ball while Notre Dame Fighting Irish forward Bonzie Colson (35) defends in the second half of the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Purdue Boilermakers beat Notre Dame Fighting Irish 86-81. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Indiana stays ahead of Butler this week even after losing by five just because I can’t see the Hoosiers dropping more than six spots because of a defeat against the No. 18 team. The Hoosiers missed an opportunity to potentially move up further in the top 10, but this team will be fine down the stretch. The Hoosiers are young and talented and with James Blackmon playing well and Thomas Bryant dominating the post, they may be Big Ten favorites.

When a team returns basically everyone from a strong team last season that got hot at the end of the year, there’s very little question that it will be even better. The Wisconsin Badgers almost lost Nigel Hayes to the NBA, but he decided to come back and this team is as talented as any in the Big Ten. Talent and veteran experience could lead them to a conference title, but for now, they’re just taking care of business.

Since Wisconsin only beat Green Bay last week and the Purdue Boilermakers had a nice comeback win over No. 21 Notre Dame, I can see them leap-frogging the Badgers in the rankings. Wisconsin will stay put at No. 14 while Purdue will move up two spots with the victory. How impressive was the win? Well, Purdue was down 14 at the half and came back to win by five.

I can’t stress this enough, the loss of Austin Nichols is going to hurt the Virginia Cavaliers this season in the long run. Although the Cavaliers had an easy 79-39 win over Robert Morris, not having a leading scorer that stands out or a go-to guy in the post will be tough to overcome. No one on this team averages over 10 points per game, so we will see how far defense will take the Cavaliers.

West Virginia will take advantage of an Indiana loss and move up a spot in this week’s ranking, in my opinion. The Mountaineers walloped their only opponent in Week 6 in UMKC by 45 points just two weeks after taking down Virginia. This team is on fire right now and Bob Huggins has the winning formula working as the Mountaineers have won five straight after a Temple loss.