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College Basketball Rankings: Projected Top 25 for Week 17

By Connor Muldowney

Feb 25, 2017; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Malik Monk (5) celebrates with teammates forward Wenyen Gabriel (32) and forward Edrice Bam Adebayo (3) during the game against the Florida Gators in the second half at Rupp Arena. Kentucky defeated Florida 76-66. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 25, 2017; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Malik Monk (5) celebrates with teammates forward Wenyen Gabriel (32) and forward Edrice Bam Adebayo (3) during the game against the Florida Gators in the second half at Rupp Arena. Kentucky defeated Florida 76-66. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 25, 2017; Ames, IA, USA; Baylor Bears forward Johnathan Motley (5) dunks against the Iowa State Cyclones at James H. Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones beat the Bears 72 to 69. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 25, 2017; Ames, IA, USA; Baylor Bears forward Johnathan Motley (5) dunks against the Iowa State Cyclones at James H. Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones beat the Bears 72 to 69. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports /
15

Purdue Boilermakers

23-6, Last Week: 14

Purdue looked like the untouchable team in the Big Ten over the past couple of weeks, but the Boilermakers were brought to a screeching half in their last two games. In fact, the Boilermakers needed overtime to beat lowly Penn State and were beaten by 12 points against Michigan on the road. Caleb Swanigan continues to be a walking double-double, but the Wolverines’ Moritz Wagner out-toughed him on Saturday. Purdue remains a game ahead in the Big Ten title race with two games remaining.

14

Florida Gators

23-6, Last Week: 13

Two games stand between the Florida Gators and an improbable SEC title. While Florida lost to Kentucky on the road Saturday to fall one game behind, the Gators could still tie for the league title with two wins and a Wildcats loss. Not many people thought that Kentucky would have much of a struggle to win the conference crown, but Florida has exceeded expectations this season. Mike White has done a fantastic job with this young team.

13

Florida State Seminoles

23-6, Last Week: 19

There will be a few teams making big jumps this week because of a handful of losses from the 10-20 range from the Week 16 rankings. The Seminoles picked up two crucial wins against Boston College and Clemson — the latter on the road. This team is still only two games out of first place in the ACC standings somehow despite four of its last nine games. If the Seminoles can beat Duke on the road and Miami at home this week while North Carolina loses two, they will tie for the conference regular season title.

12

SMU Mustangs

25-4, Last Week: 17

The SMU Mustangs began the season 4-3, but have been on an absolute tear lately. In fact, the Mustangs have won 21-of-22 games and have all but locked up an AAC title. The Mustangs will make a big jump this week even though they had just one game against Connecticut because of a multitude of losses in the rankings right ahead of them. As long as SMU can win one of its final two home games, the Mustangs will win the conference title and prove to be one of the scariest teams heading into the NCAA Tournament.

11

Baylor Bears

23-6, Last Week: 9

After a 20-1 start to the season, Baylor has lost five of its last eight games to drop to 23-6. While that’s not a terrible record, by any means, the Bears would probably tell you that they’ve under-achieved in some aspects after the red-hot start. They went from Big 12 favorites to now sitting four games out of first place with only two remaining. Baylor took down Oklahoma to start the week but struggled against a scorching Iowa State team on Saturday.