Fansided

College Basketball Rankings – Week 9 Entering Conference Play

By Matt Kobold

TUCSON, AZ - DECEMBER 30: Shannon Evans II
TUCSON, AZ - DECEMBER 30: Shannon Evans II /
facebooktwitterreddit
LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 08: Jaylen Fisher College Basketball Rankings
LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 08: Jaylen Fisher College Basketball Rankings /

College Basketball Rankings: Week 9

Two weeks have passes since my last College Basketball Rankings. There has been major shifting within the top 16. Big games this week include Texas Tech traveling to take on the Jayhawks (1-2 ESPN), Virginia hosting North Carolina (1-6 ESPN), Oklahoma visiting Morgantown to take on the Mountaineers (1-6 ESPN2), and Kentucky playing at Tennessee in an SEC showdown (1-6 SECN).

  1. TCU Horned Frogs 12-1 (0-1)
  • Jamie Dixon’s team lost a battle Saturday to Oklahoma for their first loss of the season. This is a veteran team that takes smart shots and shares the ball. They shoot 52% from the floor (7th nationally) and dish out 20 assists per game (3rd nationally). The schedule picks up this week now that Big 12 play has started. They travel to Waco to take on Baylor before hosting Kansas on Saturday.
  1. Miami Hurricanes 12-1 (1-0)
  • Jim Larranaga’s squad bounced back from their first loss with wins over Middle Tennessee and then at Pittsburgh. They haven’t lost their stingy D, holding opponents to 37% shooting on the year (5th nationally). An achilles heel for this team will be it’s free throw shooting if it can’t improve. Shooting 63% from the line ranks them 342nd out of 351 possible teams. This will lose games for them in ACC play.
  1. West Virginia 12-1 (1-0)
  • Another team on a roll is my beautiful mother’s alma mater, the Mountaineers. They’re now up to 12 wins in a row after beating Oklahoma State in Stillwater to open Big 12 play. Their vaunted full court press defense will be tested starting next week when they face four ranked Big 12 foes in a row. A lot of questions will be answered for the Mountaineers during this stretch.
  1. Kentucky Wildcats 11-2 (1-0)
  • Kentucky had a 2-0 week after smacking in-state rival Louisville by 29 and then holding on against Georgia on Sunday night, both at home. They held Louisville to 12% from behind the arc. They’re holding opponents to 29.4% (17th nationally) shooting from 3pt range on the season. A big week looms as they travel to Baton Rouge followed by a trip to Knoxville.
College Basketball Rankings
College Basketball Rankings /

College Basketball Rankings: Next Tier

  1. Purdue Boilermakers 13-2 (2-0)
  • The Boilermakers come in this week at #12 after smashing Lipscomb at home over the weekend by 32. Purdue is big once again up front with 7-2 Isaac Haas and 7-3 Matt Haarms. This has led them to a top 10 ranking in blocks per game. Let’s not forget, this team is undefeated outside of the Bahamas. The Big Ten doesn’t look as strong as usual so we may see a two team race between them and the Spartans.
  1. Oklahoma 11-1 (0-1)
  • The Sooners have climbed up these rankings faster than anyone. They went into Fort Worth over the weekend and beat an undefeated TCU team. They now own 3 Top 25 wins with previous defeats of USC and Wichita State. If you haven’t seen Trae Young play, you’re missing out. His 29.6 points per game and 10.7 assists per game both rank 1st amongst all players nationally. The college game hasn’t seen a player average this many assists since current Alabama coach Avery Johnson dished 13.3 assists per game for Southern back in 1988.
  1. Wichita State Shockers 11-2 (0-1)
  • The Shockers didn’t shock anyone this week as they went to Connecticut and handled business in their lone game of the week. They held the Huskies to 3-16 shooting from down town and outrebounded them by 13. This may be surprising but the Shockers average 43.3 boards per game (6th nationally) and outrebound opponents by 11.6 boards per game (4th nationally).
  1. Kansas Jayhawks 11-2 (1-0)
  • Kansas went on the road and beat Texas in their Big 12 opener. They have now strung together 4 wins in a row, 3 being on the road, after their lone two losses. How about the season Lagerald Vick is having? You may ask, “who”? You better familiarize yourself with him soon. He’s the Jayhawks leading scorer (17.4), second leading rebounder (6.4), and 2nd leading assister (3.8). This is coming off a year where he averaged 7.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, and 0.9 apg. He has to be on the Most Improved Player radar.
College Basketball Rankings
TUCSON, AZ – DECEMBER 30: Shannon Evans II /
  1. Arizona State Sun Devils 12-1 (0-1)
  • Bobby Hurley brought the best team he’s had at Arizona State into Tucson and lost a heartbreaker for their first of the season. They dished out 11 assists while committing 13 turnovers. This won’t get it done on the road against a quality opponent like Arizona. I was impressed by the way the Sun Devils were able to battle on the boards against the insanely huge frontline of the Wildcats losing 40-39 while sneaking in to grab 16 offensive rebounds.
  1. Texas A&M Aggies 11-2 (0-1)
  • The Aggies got clobbered at Alabama in their lone game of the week. Their 36th ranked strength of schedule gets them the nod over the teams behind them as their other loss was to Arizona. Rebounding will take you far in March and the Aggies do just that with 6 guys averaging over 5 boards per outing. They average 44.9 rebounds per game (2nd nationally) and outrebound their opponents by 9.4 boards per game (9th nationally).
  1. Arizona Wildcats 11-3 (1-0)
  • Sean Miller’s Wildcats leapfrog up to #6 after their huge win over in-state rival Arizona State over the weekend. Deandre Ayton had yet another statement game with 23 points and 19 rebounds. Arizona is shooting 51.5% (8th nationally) on the season led by Ayton’s 62%. Rawle Alkins’ return from injury has this team playing much better on the defensive end.
  1. Villanova Wildcats 13-1 (1-1)
  • The Wildcats fall to #5 after dropping their first game of the season. Butler seems to have their number as Villanova traveled to Indianapolis and got beat for the 3rd time in a row by the Bulldogs. Jay Wright’s squad lost the battle of the boards by 11. This can’t happen to a team that has the girth up front like Villanova possesses.
College Basketball Rankings
DURHAM, NC – DECEMBER 30: Marvin Bagley III /
  1. Xavier Musketeers 14-1 (2-0)

Xavier finds themselves with their highest ranking of the season after kicking off Big East play with wins at Marquette and then at home against DePaul. Chris Mack arguably has his best offensive team since arriving at Xavier. They average 86.5 points per game (19

th

nationally) and shoot 80.3% from the line (2

nd

nationally). This will lead to the Musketeers winning close games.

More from FanSided

  1. North Carolina Tar Heels 12-2 (1-0)
  • The Tar Heels also find themselves with their highest ranking of the season for me. Three teams above them all lost this past week. Even with the loss to Wofford the other week, the Tar Heels still have the 14th ranked strength of schedule. This team is starting to gel nicely with Roy Williams smoothing out his rotation. The young bigs are developing in a way that will have UNC fighting for another conference crown.
  1. Michigan State Spartans
  • Tom Izzo’s team hangs on to their spot after reeling off what is now 12 wins in a row. The only blemish on their resume is still just the Duke loss back at the Champions Classic in the middle of November. They won their two matchups this week over Cleveland State and Savannah State by a combine 106 points. This team is sharing the ball (20.9 assists per game, 1st nationally) and hitting the glass (+12.6 rebounding margin, 2nd nationally).
  1. Duke Blue Devils 13-1 (1-1)
  • Coach K has his young team taking it easy in the month of December. Another week and a half break from action, the Blue Devils only played Florida State at home this week. They actually will play only 5 games in the month of December. This week saw them hold onto a close one at home against Florida State. Marvin Bagley made his statement for being the potential top pick in June’s draft. He finished with 32 points and 21 rebounds on a ridiculous 13-17 shooting. 11 of those 21 boards were on the offensive end. Only two players in the ACC have gone for 30+ points and 20+ rebounds over the last 20 years (Brice Johnson, UNC).

Next: NBA DFS Picks and Pivots

Thanks for checking out Fantasy CPR – stay tuned for all the latest College Basketball Rankings, DFS news and analysis and fantasy sports coverage across all your favorite sports!