College basketball rankings: West Virginia surges, Kentucky bounces back

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Penn State’s Taylor Nussbaum, Lamar Stevens, Myles Dread and Jamari Wheeler celebrate with the fans as they rush the court after the Nittany Lions beat Maryland 76-69 on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019 at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa. (Abby Drey/Centre Daily Times/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) /

After another fun week of college basketball comes to a close, there is still a ton of uncertainty left in college basketball. However, both Kentucky and West Virginia move up the rankings with big wins this past week.

25. St. John’s

Are the Red Storm actually for real this year? They fluttered with relevancy last year, barely getting into the NCAA Tournament. Right now, they are sitting at 11-2 with their last win coming over Arizona in a big win. Junior guard L.J. Figueroa leads the team with 15.5 points per game and two steals per game as well.

24. Penn State

There hasn’t been a Penn State team this good in a long time. In fact, you have to go back to 1996 to find the last time the Nittany Lions were ranked. But they are making some noise this year, as they have won four straight games, including Maryland back on December 10th. Lamar Stevens is the scorer on offense, but it’s the big man Mike Watkins that really glues everything together on both ends for the Nittany Lions.

23. Saint Mary’s

After being hyped up big time at the beginning of the season, the Gaels have flown under everyone’s radar since falling Winthrop early in the season. But make no mistake, this St. Mary’s team can play, and are the only viable threat to knock Gonzaga off of their perch in the West Coast Conference right now.

22. Wichita State

Wichita State is a team that moved from mid-major to the big time a few years ago. It took them a few years to acclimate to the rough conference schedule, but Greg Marshall definitely has a team that can make some noise on the national level this year. His Shockers are 11-1 with big wins over Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and VCU.

21. Florida State

It has definitely been hard to get a read on the Seminoles this season, as they dropped their season opener to Pittsburgh, then lost another head-scratcher to Indiana. Both games were on the road though, and while that is a bit concerning, this Florida State team has every bit the ability to make a run in March.