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College basketball power rankings: Is Baylor better than last year’s title-winning team?

By Mike Phillips

WACO, TX - DECEMBER 12: James Akinjo #11 and Adam Flagler #10 of the Baylor Bears celebrate a basket against the Villanova Wildcats in the first half at the Ferrell Center on December 12, 2021 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
WACO, TX - DECEMBER 12: James Akinjo #11 and Adam Flagler #10 of the Baylor Bears celebrate a basket against the Villanova Wildcats in the first half at the Ferrell Center on December 12, 2021 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) /
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EAST LANSING, MI – DECEMBER 11: Jaden Akins #3 of the Michigan State Spartans shoots the ball over Jalen Pickett #22 of the Penn State Nittany Lions in the second half at Breslin Center on December 11, 2021, in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – DECEMBER 11: Jaden Akins #3 of the Michigan State Spartans shoots the ball over Jalen Pickett #22 of the Penn State Nittany Lions in the second half at Breslin Center on December 11, 2021, in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

Baylor’s dominant win over Villanova made them the easy choice to top this week’s college basketball rankings.

When Baylor suffered a mass exodus of talent from its national-title winning team, few expected the Bears to be nearly as dominant as they were a year ago. The losses of Jared Butler, MaCio Teague, Davion Mitchell and Mark Vital would decimate most programs but Baylor was still ranked inside the Top 10 of the preseason poll, a sign that there was still talent in the cupboard for Scott Drew to work with.

Baylor’s dominant performance against Villanova, when combined with Purdue’s loss to Rutgers at the buzzer, assured they would climb to the top of this week’s college basketball power rankings. How will the rest of my Top 10 shake out? Read on to find out.

College basketball rankings: Honorable Mentions

Michigan State, Iowa State, Ohio State, Tennessee, USC

The cream of the Big Ten is starting to rise to challenge Purdue as both Michigan State and Ohio State are red-hot. The Spartans are coming off a perfect week in league play with victories against Penn State and Minnesota while the Buckeyes improved to 2-0 in Big Ten play with a dominant victory against Wisconsin.

Tennessee maintained its place in the honorable mentions by rebounding from a tough loss against Texas Tech with a 40-point blowout of UNC Greensboro. Iowa State and USC enter the chat now on the strength of unbeaten starts but their overall resumes aren’t quite Top 10 worthy yet.