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College Basketball Rankings: Projected Top 25 for Week 15

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MI - FEBRUARY 10: The Michigan State Spartans celebrate guard Miles Bridges' (22) game winner during a Big Ten Conference college basketball game between 4th-ranked Michigan State and 3rd-ranked Purdue on February 10, 2018, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing, MI.(Photo by Adam Ruff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - FEBRUARY 10: The Michigan State Spartans celebrate guard Miles Bridges' (22) game winner during a Big Ten Conference college basketball game between 4th-ranked Michigan State and 3rd-ranked Purdue on February 10, 2018, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing, MI.(Photo by Adam Ruff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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RALEIGH, NC – FEBRUARY 10: Sterling Manley #21 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts following a play against the North Carolina State Wolfpack at PNC Arena on February 10, 2018 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC – FEBRUARY 10: Sterling Manley #21 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts following a play against the North Carolina State Wolfpack at PNC Arena on February 10, 2018 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /

Arizona may have as much talent as anyone in college basketball, but the Wildcats continue to have minor hiccups left and right. They have been tough to beat this season, for the most part, but then they’ll lose to a team like UCLA and make people question their mental strength. Sean Miller still has enough talent to make a Final Four run with Deandre Ayton leading the way, but will youth come back to bite the Wildcats?

North Carolina is another one of those tough teams to judge, but the Tar Heels are set to become the highest-ranked seven-loss team in the nation this week. The Tar Heels took down top rival Duke, 82-78, and then went on the road to take out another in-state foe, North Carolina State. That’s two quality wins in a single week and the Tar Heels will likely jump from No. 21 into the top-15.

The NCAA Tournament committee seems to think the Kansas Jayhawks are more valuable than a six-loss team. In fact, they listed them as the sixth-best overall team in the first edition of the top-16 released on Sunday. This came after the Jayhawks lost their fourth Big 12 game of the season, faster than any year under Bill Self, to Baylor. The Jayhawks did beat an improved TCU team earlier in the week, but will be dropped in the AP rankings.

Even with Virginia losing on Saturday, Clemson finds itself 2.5 games out of first place in the ACC. The Tigers need to hope for a couple more losses by the Cavaliers to even have a shot to tie for the conference crown. Clemson has been a surprise, though. No one expected the Tigers to go from unranked to 20-4 by this point in the season and eye-balling a top-10 spot in the rankings.

Yet another ACC team will be slotted from the 10-15 range in the rankings this week, but this time it’s Duke. The Blue Devils will be dropped out of the top-10 after losing to North Carolina on the road. They went on the road again to end the week and beat Georgia Tech, but that win isn’t going to be enough to salvage a spot in the top-10. Still, a two-spot drop after a loss isn’t so bad, but the Blue Devils will get a shot at revenge in the season finale.