College Basketball Rankings 2017: Projected Week 14 Top 25
Florida Gators
18-5, Last Week: 24
Chomp, chomp. Mike White has Florida in just as successful a situation as Billy Donovan left it. The head coach is doing big things in Gainesville and College GameDay was on hand for the Gators’ thrashing of SEC rival Kentucky. Florida won, 88-66, over the No. 8 team in the country and that marks the fourth straight win for the Gators. Not only do they have four in a row, but they’ve won each by at least 20 points — three out of four have been by at least 30.
Purdue Boilermakers
19-5, Last Week: 23
Purdue had a nice rebound week after losing to Nebraska, beating No. 25 Northwestern and No. 17 Maryland on the road. The Northwestern victory was impressive seeing as the Wildcats were riding a hot streak and the Boilermakers still won by 21. Going on the road to take down Maryland for just its third loss of the season was also eye-opening seeing as the Boilermakers haven’t been able to string together a couple of solid wins in a while. Expect them to make a jump — potentially even higher than No. 19.
Saint Mary's Gaels
21-2, Last Week: 18
No surprise here as Saint Mary’s won two more games. The win at Pacific to start the week was not as easy as the Gaels would have hoped, but they still pulled out the victory, 74-70. They followed that up with a beatdown of San Diego, 71-27, on the road. Not often do you see a college team hold an opponent to under 30 points, but that’s just how dominating the defensive showing was. The only way the Gaels are moving up much the rest of the way is if they can beat No. 1 Gonzaga this week.
Duke Blue Devils
18-5, Last Week: 21
If you’re sick of hearing about Grayson Miller’s on-court antics, or any little thing he may or may not have done, raise your hand. Now that everyone’s hand is in the air, we can talk about how the Blue Devils had a much-needed undefeated week. In fact, they haven’t had an unbeaten week since Jan. 16-22 when they had only one game against Miami. However, Duke went on the road to take down No. 20 Notre Dame and then beat Pittsburgh at home to improve to 18-5.
South Carolina Gamecocks
19-4, Last Week: 19
Frank Martin is doing something right in Columbia. The fiery head coach has been taking care of business in the SEC after coming over from Kansas State. In fact, after beating LSU on the road by 25 and then Georgia by two, the Gamecocks have improved to 19-4 and more importantly, are sitting on top of the SEC standings with a 9-1 record in conference play. This team has been the surprise of the league and has a favorable schedule remaining.