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College basketball power rankings: Ohio State on fire, North Carolina has issues

By Shayne Nissen

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 04: Alonzo Gaffney #0 of the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrates as he leaves the floor after a win against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Dean Smith Center on December 04, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Ohio State won 74-49. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 04: Alonzo Gaffney #0 of the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrates as he leaves the floor after a win against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Dean Smith Center on December 04, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Ohio State won 74-49. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – DECEMBER 07: Butler Bulldogs guard Aaron Thompson (2) drives into the lane during the men’s college basketball game between the Florida Gators and Butler Bulldogs on December 7, 2019, at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – DECEMBER 07: Butler Bulldogs guard Aaron Thompson (2) drives into the lane during the men’s college basketball game between the Florida Gators and Butler Bulldogs on December 7, 2019, at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

15. Butler

Kamar Baldwin and the Butler Bulldogs are the real deal, and if you don’t believe me, just watch them. This is one of the more explosive and talented Butler teams we have seen in a while, and they are being led by Baldwin and his scoring. He leads the team with 16.9 points per game this season. Their last four wins have all come against major conference opponents, with the last one coming against preseason darling Florida on Saturday. The Bulldogs will get their biggest test of the season in a showdown with Baylor tomorrow night.

14. Arizona

The Wildcats were rolling in a bounce-back year until they were upended by Baylor in a five-point loss on Saturday night. Nico Mannion had 15 points for the Wildcats despite going just 3-of-14 from the field in the contest. It has been the freshman leading the way so far as Mannion along with fellow freshman Zeke Nnaji has been leading the Wildcats all year. Nnaji leads the team in scoring with 16.6 points per game, while Mannion isn’t far behind scoring 15.3 points per game. The Wildcats will get their biggest test of the season against Gonzaga this coming Friday.

13. Michigan State

The Spartans have definitely been one of the harder teams to get a read on so far early in the season. They are led by super senior Cassius Winston, who on many accounts was the best player in college basketball coming into the season. But they have fallen short of their preseason No. 1 ranking multiple times this season. First with a loss to Kentucky to open the season, then an upset loss to Virginia Tech, then finally getting blown out this past week by Duke. It’s easy to see this team has talent, it’s just a matter of when it will show up.

12. Oregon

Despite the back-to-back losses to North Carolina and Gonzaga, the Ducks have actually done pretty well for themselves. They have wins over Houston, Seton Hall, and Memphis and have looked good doing it. Not to mention both of their losses were close contests as well. Their most recent win comes against Hawaii, where Payton Pritchard scored 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. Pritchard is the heartbeat of this Oregon team and they will only go as far as he takes them this season.

11. Auburn

Auburn was able to stay undefeated this week, but not before enduring a huge scare against Furman on Thursday night. The Tigers needed overtime to overcome the Paladins but were able to get it done behind Isaac Okoro’s season-high 18 points. Okoro also had the game-clinching free throws in overtime to move the Tigers to 8-0 on the season. Bruce Pearl had to deal with a lot of departures from his Final Four squad from last year, but Auburn appears to be primed to compete in the SEC once again this year.