College Basketball Power Rankings: Week 11

Here’s how the top 25 teams in the nation stack up heading into Week 11 of the 2016-17 college basketball season.

With conference play in full swing, Week 10 of the 2016-17 college basketball season featured plenty of excitement.

The West Virginia Mountaineers picked up the top win of the week with a blowout of the top-ranked Baylor Bears on Tuesday night in Morgantown. That left the Gonzaga Bulldogs as the lone undefeated team in Division I after they put together an impressive victory over WCC rival Saint Mary’s on Saturday.

Elsewhere, the chaos in the Big Ten continued with a number of upsets, leaving the Maryland Terrapins alone in the top of the conference. The ACC has separated itself as the strongest conference in the land, with only the Notre Dame Fighting Irish remaining unscathed through five games.

Along with Gonzaga, the Villanova Wildcats, UCLA Burins and Kansas Jayhawks all have a legitimate claim as the top team in the nation. The likes of Kentucky and North Carolina are lurking just behind the top tier, and certainly have the potential to go on championship runs come March.

Here’s how the top 25 college basketball teams in the nation stack up entering Week 11.

25. Saint Mary’s Gaels

While it’s hard to gauge just how good the Gaels are given their strength of schedule, there’s enough talent on the roster for Randy Bennett’s squad to be a factor in the NCAA Tournament

Saint Mary’s turned some heads by holding Portland to 8-of-41 shooting from the field in a 74-33 blowout on Thursday night. The Gaels couldn’t generate any momentum from the victory on Saturday night in Spokane, as Gonzaga pulled away in the second half for a comfortable 79-56 win.

With limited opportunities to prove themselves in WCC play, the Gaels are barely clinging to a top 25 spot despite a record of 15-2. A road win over Dayton plus victories against Nevada and BYU is better than what some fringe top 25 teams have, but another WCC loss could send Saint Mary’s tumbling down the seed line.

Ken Pomeroy’s ratings are still favorable towards the Gaels, as they rank 18th overall behind an efficient offense that has controlled the pace in every game outside of Gonzaga this season. Leading scorer Jock Landale will need a more productive game when Saint Mary’s hosts the Bulldogs in a February 11 rematch.

Saint Mary’s will head back home on Thursday for a game against Pacific before hosting Pepperdine two days later. A road loss to Gonzaga shouldn’t change the perception of the Gaels much, but they need a signature win to move much further up the power rankings.