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Projected college basketball rankings after Kentucky falls at Arkansas, Purdue upset by Michigan State

By Cody Williams

Feb 26, 2022; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks guard JD Notae (1) drives against Kentucky Wildcats guard TyTy Washington Jr. (3) during the second half at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas won 75-73. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 26, 2022; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks guard JD Notae (1) drives against Kentucky Wildcats guard TyTy Washington Jr. (3) during the second half at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas won 75-73. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports /
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Purdue started off a loaded Saturday by losing at Michigan State and Kentucky followed suit at Arkansas. Now, the college basketball rankings are moving.

With the college hoops regular season winding down, fans are in store for some truly massive conference matchups down the stretch that will shake up the college basketball rankings heading into March Madness. Saturday’s slate was the perfect example of that and the calamity got started early thanks to the Kentucky Wildcats and Purdue Boilermakers.

Matt Painter’s Boilermakers, ranked No. 4 in the country coming into the game, went on the road to East Lansing to face a Michigan State team that, frankly, had been struggling. They didn’t struggle on Saturday, though, as they controlled the majority of the action and kept a late flurry at bay to secure an upset victory over Purdue.

In the next slate of games, the Wildcats also went on the road. John Calipari’s group, armed with Tyty Washington back in the lineup, traveled to face an Arkansas Razorbacks team that has been surging of late, particularly at home. After falling behind early, Kentucky rallied back and had an opportunity to win, but it wasn’t meant to be as they took a road loss on the day.

With two top-10 losses already on the docket, we have to check in on the college basketball rankings and our projections for how things will move after these upset losses.

College basketball rankings: Projections after Auburn upset by Florida, Kentucky and Texas Tech win comfortably

  1. Gonzaga Bulldogs
  2. Arizona Wildcats
  3. Auburn Tigers
  4. Kansas Jayhawks
  5. Duke Blue Devils
  6. Kentucky Wildcats
  7. Texas Tech Red Raiders
  8. Purdue Boilermakers
  9. Baylor Bears
  10. Villanova Wildcats

Both Kentucky and Purdue are going to drop in the next batch of college basketball rankings but, even though both upsets came on the road, the fact of the matter is that losing to unranked Michigan State for the Boilermakers looks quite a bit worse than losing to a Razorbacks team that might be the hottest in the country right now.

Also of note, Villanova losing earlier in the week will see the Wildcats drop two spots as well in the rankings.

Of course, these projections will remain fluid. Kansas and Baylor also play on Saturday night while Auburn has a tough road test ongoing at Tennessee and Gonzaga will have its regular-season finale on the road at a feisty St. Mary’s team. Thus, we should expect to see more changes forthcoming.

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