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Projected college basketball rankings after Baylor loss to West Virginia

By Cody Williams

Jan 10, 2017; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers forward Esa Ahmad (23) drives down the lane during the second half against the Baylor Bears at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 10, 2017; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers forward Esa Ahmad (23) drives down the lane during the second half against the Baylor Bears at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports /
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Looking at the projected college basketball rankings following the Baylor Bears suffering their first loss, falling to the West Virginia Mountaineers

The Baylor Bears entered Tuesday night’s huge road matchup against the 10th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers as one of the two remaining undefeated teams in the country. Thanks to the stifling defense and full-court press of Bob Huggins’ team, though, Baylor didn’t make it out of Morgantown with a zero in the loss column. In fact, they ultimately got run out of the building.

Huggins’ defense forced Baylor to set the season-high mark in the sport for turnovers by one team as the Bears seemingly couldn’t keep possession to save their lives. As a result, the Mountaineers pulled ahead to a double-digit lead and never looked back.

With this loss, it’s clear that Baylor probably isn’t the best team in the country, even if they were deserving of the No. 1 overall ranking at 15-0 when they entered the week. They’ve played well and have quality wins to their credit. While that may be the case, though, there are other teams that have a higher ceiling and are simply better.

In that light, Baylor is likely going to drop from their spot at No. 1 when the new polls come out. And while there still could be more shake-ups, lets take a look at the projected college basketball rankings—the top-10, specifically—following the Bears’ first loss:

1. Kansas Jayhawks
2.Villanova Wildcats
3. UCLA Bruins
4. Gonzaga Bulldogs
5. Baylor Bears
6. Kentucky Wildcats
7. Duke Blue Devils
8. Creighton Blue Jays
9. West Virginia Mountaineers
10. Florida State Seminoles

Baylor certainly doesn’t drop far in the rankings following the loss, staying in the top five. However, the Mountaineers leapfrog the Florida State Seminoles because of the big victory.

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With that said, there are going to be more shakeups on Tuesday as Duke and Florida State play as well. The loser should drop out of the top 10. Then, of course, you never know what other upsets are lurking with a lot of basketball left to play this week.