College Basketball Rankings 2017: Projected Week 12 Top 25
The Week 12 college basketball rankings will be released Monday afternoon and here are our Top 25 projections.
Week 11 is in the books and the college basketball rankings will look a little different on Monday afternoon. There has been plenty of surprise and intrigue this season and the AP Poll will reflect that this week.
It seems like there’s a brand new team in the top 10 every week and this week will be no different when the AP Poll is released on Monday. Some teams have been gradually rising up the Top 25 and I think we may see one or two finally make that jump into the top-10 range.
For the first time in a few weeks, though, we have a consistent No. 1 team for two consecutive weeks. Villanova will maintain that top spot, but Kansas is knocking on the door.
Let’s take a look at what college basketball rankings might look like for Week 12.
South Carolina Gamecocks
15-4, Last Week: 24
South Carolina suffered a 16-point loss at Kentucky to end the week, but that’s not going to be enough to drop the Gamecocks from the rankings. Why do I say that? Well, Frank Martin’s team recorded an impressive win earlier in the week against Florida at home and Kentucky is one of the toughest teams to beat in the country. Since returning from his six-game absence, Sindarius Thornwell is playing some tremendous basketball. He will need to continue that trend.
Florida Gators
14-5, Last Week: 19
The Florida Gators began the SEC campaign with a 5-0 record and tied atop the conference standings with Kentucky. However, the Gators took a bit of a rough stumble in Week 11 with two losses. The first came on the road against No. 24 South Carolina, but it was a slim defeat, 57-53. The next was at home against 8-10 Vanderbilt by two points. Florida had the lead late, but squandered it. Losing two games by a combined six points won’t be enough to drop them out of the rankings, in my opinion.
Xavier Musketeers
14-5, Last Week: 22
The third team that has lost this week and remained in the rankings is Xavier. Why won’t the Musketeers drop out after losing to Creighton? It was a five-point loss against the No. 7 team in the country which hardly warrants much of a drop, especially when a team right behind in the rankings loses as well. Xavier got off to a 3-0 start in conference play, but after the Creighton loss, dropped to 3-3. The Musketeers finished the week with a win against Georgetown to stop the bleeding.
Maryland Terrapins
17-2, Last Week: 22
Coming into the season, no one knew if the Terrapins were going to be able to make up for the losses of Robert Carter, Jake Layman, Diamond Stone and Rasheed Sulaimon, but they’re doing just that. A trio of talented freshmen have eased the losses of those top scorers and Melo Trimble is playing impressive basketball right now. The junior point guard scored 20 to lead the Terrapins to a big road win over Iowa and Maryland improved to 17-2. It’s only a matter of time before they rise into the top-15.
Saint Mary's Gaels
17-2, Last Week: 23
I’ll admit I was skeptical about the Saint Mary’s Gaels remaining in the Top 25 after losing to Gonzaga by 23 last week, but they only dropped two spots. Luckily for the Gaels, they play in a conference that doesn’t present much of a threat for upsets which means that their next big game will come when they host the Bulldogs. For now, Saint Mary’s will stay around the 20-25 range.