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Projected college basketball rankings after Baylor, USC suffer first losses

By Cody Williams

Jan 11, 2022; Waco, Texas, USA; Baylor Bears guard James Akinjo (11) controls the ball against Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Adonis Arms (25) during the first half at Ferrell Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 11, 2022; Waco, Texas, USA; Baylor Bears guard James Akinjo (11) controls the ball against Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Adonis Arms (25) during the first half at Ferrell Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports /
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No more unbeaten teams remain with Baylor and USC both falling for the first time on Tuesday. How will the Top 25 college basketball rankings look now?

You can look throughout the country, but no longer will you find an undefeated team in college basketball.

Entering Tuesday’s action, the Baylor Bears and USC Trojans — ranked No. 1 and 5, respectively, in the latest Top 25 college basketball rankings — were the only unbeaten programs in the nation. But that all changed before we even got fully into the late slate of games on Tuesday.

The Trojans had an afternoon date at Stanford and continuously shot themselves in the foot. USC struggled from the foul line in a game where they were sent to the charity stripe an inordinate amount of times. With that plus a hungry Cardinal team, they couldn’t survive and dropped to 13-1 on the season.

As for Baylor, the top team in the college basketball rankings was the only remaining unbeaten team for just the length of their matchup against No. 19 Texas Tech. With injuries leaving the Bears slightly short-handed and a heroic effort from the Red Raiders, Baylor slipped up just enough in a three-point loss.

Now, the Top 25 is going to get shaken up at the top (or at least it could), so we have to assess the situation with our projected rankings after the only two undefeated teams left now leave us with every college basketball team in the country having tasted a loss.

Projected college basketball rankings after Baylor, USC lose for the first time this season

  1. Baylor Bears
  2. Gonzaga Bulldogs
  3. UCLA Bruins
  4. Auburn Tigers
  5. Arizona Wildcats
  6. Purdue Boilermakers
  7. Duke Blue Devils
  8. Kansas Jayhawks
  9. Michigan State Spartans
  10. USC Trojans

Though it is a loss to put a blemish on a perfect record, the fact of the matter is that Baylor shouldn’t drop from their No. 1 ranking. With big wins loaded on their résumé, including victories over Villanova, Michigan State and Iowa State, it’s hard to match their body of work. And they also lost to a top-20 team. Even if it happened in Waco, how can you be that harsh in that capacity?

The bigger question is what happens to USC in this mix. With long pauses and, more importantly, not many signature wins to speak of, there was a reason that the Trojans were only at No. 5 despite entering Tuesday at 13-0. I have them dropping five spots to No. 10 but it wouldn’t be that much of a shock to see them fall even more than that.

Next. Top 25 college basketball teams of all time. dark

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