Cincinnati doesn’t really have a weakness. The Bearcats shoot well, score, rebound, pass and have the fifth-best scoring defense in the country and it was on display in Week 7 against Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Cleveland State. Those two wins won’t likely be enough to give the Bearcats a bump in the rankings, especially since no team lower than No. 12 lost a game this week.
How does Baylor drop a spot in this week’s rankings? Well, the Bears were tied at No. 18 in the Week 7 rankings with Arizona, but their one win over Southern University wasn’t as impressive as the Wildcats’ two victories. Senior guard Manu Lecomte has been absolutely on fire this season, especially since coming back from a minor injury. If he’s on his game, the Bears will be tough to beat in the Big 12 this season.
This isn’t the same type of Gonzaga team that Mark Few has gotten used to in recent years that has gone the entire season with one or two losses and then earned a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. No, this team has plenty of work to do, especially after losing its third game of the season in Week 7. The Bulldogs went on the road and fell to San Diego State to drop to 10-3, just a few days after beating IUPUI by 30 points. Will Gonzaga figure things out soon?
As previously mentioned, Arizona and Baylor were tied for the No. 18 spot in the country, but the Wildcats had a much more impressive week. They put together a 30-point win against North Dakota State and then beat Connecticut by 15 points. Star sophomore Rawle Alkins is back and that’s great news for the Wildcats as he’s been scoring 16 points per game since his return four contests ago. Deandre Ayton and Allonzo Trier have been dominant already this year.
Purdue is another one of those teams that didn’t quite do enough to move up in the rankings and that’s because the Boilermakers had just one contest in Week 7 and that was against Tennessee State. They won by nearly 40 points and Matt Painter has this team looking like the second-best from the Big Ten, but we will learn much more about the Boilermakers once conference play gets underway again.