The Week 10 college basketball rankings will be released Monday afternoon and here are our Top 25 projections.
It was yet another wild week on the hardwood and the Week 10 college basketball rankings will surely reflect that.
In fact, five teams ranked in last week’s top 15, in the AP Poll, fell in upset fashion, including top-ranked Villanova, who hadn’t lost since the middle of conference play last year. It was the Wildcats’ first loss, so don’t expect the reigning champs to make it a habit.
One of the newest additions to the rankings, Virginia Tech, was blown out by N.C. State to start the week and added to that disappointment by losing to Florida State. It’s safe to say they won’t be seeing the AP Top 25 again for some time.
There was some major shuffling all week long thanks to losses and poor performances as well as big wins and upsets.
Let’s take a look at what college basketball rankings might look like for Week 10.
First, it was going to be Maryland who I believed would make it into the AP Top 25 for Week 10, but South Carolina impressed more this week. The Gamecocks fell from the rankings a couple of weeks ago, but climb back in after a nice road win over Georgia and then a home victory over Texas A&M. They’re one of just four SEC teams without a loss in conference play remaining.
Minnesota has been one of the biggest surprises in the Big Ten this season and the Golden Gophers keep adding to their resume. They won on the road against Purdue last week and then at Northwestern to start this week. Ohio State came to town Sunday night and this young, athletic squad took care of business. Richard Pitino’s team is starting to play to its potential.
Florida has raced out to a 3-0 start in a very winnable SEC and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Gators were able to win the conference over a team like Kentucky. While the Wildcats are by far and away the best team in the conference, Florida could take advantage of a favorable schedule and take one of two in the series against Kentucky. Still, Florida is playing well right now, winning five straight.
Outside of an ugly 93-91 win over Marshall last week, Cincinnati’s defense has been as lockdown as any in the country. The Bearcats allow just about 61 points per game, which is good for 15th nationally, and just defeated Houston because of their solid defense. Heck, Cincinnati is averaging 18 points more per game than it allows, a recipe for success. The AAC is Cincinnati’s to lose.
Notre Dame had one of the more impressive wins of the week against Louisville at home, but because there were a number of teams ahead of the Fighting Irish that also had big wins, they will likely move up just a couple of spots, in my opinion. Mike Brey has his team sitting at 3-0 to start conference play in a tough ACC.