It was another topsy-turvy week in men's college basketball, highlighted by a wild Saturday that saw No. 1 Auburn survive a trip to No. 2 Alabama while big names like Kansas, Kentucky, Purdue and Arizona all went down. With officially less than a month to go until Selection Sunday, every game is critical, and each win and loss could have a spot in the NCAA Tournament in the balance.
While we got a decent idea of what the selection committee is thinking with the reveal of its top 16 seeds over the weekend, we can also use the AP Top 25 poll to give us an idea of how each team's resume stacks up. Of course, like always, this week's version is sure to kick up plenty of controversy, as some teams continue to get a mystifying amount of love while others can barely seem to get noticed at all.
Kansas doesn't have much of an argument to be ranked at this point
The Jayhawks dropped six spots down to No. 23 in this week's poll, but you could argue that even that much is too kind to Bill Self's team at this point. KU is now just 10-8 since the start of December, 3-4 in its last seven games, and the most recent loss might have been the worst: a 74-67 defeat on the road to a Utah team that entered Saturday just 13-11 overall and 5-8 in Big 12 play.
This is, put simply, not a very good team right now, one that doesn't have nearly enough offensive juice on nights when center Hunter Dickinson can't carry things by himself. Those early wins against Duke and Michigan State were nice, but that was almost three months ago at this point; eventually, voters need to remove the name on the front of the jersey and be honest about a team's overall resume. Right now, Kansas' isn't nearly good enough, at just 3-7 in Quad 1 games since Dec. 1.
Maryland still isn't getting the respect it deserves
On the one hand, I get it. Kevin Willard's Terps don't have a ton of statement wins on the resume, narrowly missing chances against Marquette and Purdue early in the year. And there have been some ugly losses, particularly to Big Ten bottom-feeders Northwestern and Washington (not to mention the come-from-ahead collapse against Ohio State two weeks ago).
But Maryland does have an increasingly impressive win over Wisconsin to hang its hat on, and after convincing wins over Nebraska and Iowa last week, the overall body of evidence suggests that this is simply a very, very good basketball team. The starting five is one of the best and most balanced in the entire country, with Derik Queen and Julian Reese anchoring the frontcourt and point guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie a menace from everywhere on the floor. They're top-20 in KenPom in both offensive and defensive efficiency, and they could make their No. 20 ranking look very silly over the next couple of weeks.
How is UConn still getting votes in the AP Top 25?
Okay, so UConn finally dropped out of the top 25 after a truly gobsmacking (albeit controversial) loss to a previously 6-18 Seton Hall team over the weekend. But just barely! Dan Hurley's team still garnered 22 votes, which is ... approximately 22 too many, based on how the Huskies have played of late.
They're now 5-5 over their last 10 games, and while St. John's and Creighton are no slouches, losses to Seton Hall, Villanova and Xavier don't inspire a ton of confidence. The culprit? A defense that has improved slightly but not nearly enough over the course of the season, one that makes up for a lack of requisite athleticism at the point of attack by fouling the bejeezus out of their opponents. When the machine is whirring, they show flashes of looking like the Huskies of old. If you removed the name from the resume, though, I don't think any voters would have trouble ignoring UConn right now.
What does St. Mary's have to do to finally crack the AP poll?
St. Mary's too is unranked in the latest AP Top 25, but unlike UConn, it's a downright travesty. This is one of Randy Bennett's very best teams during his time at the helm with the Gaels, grinding out enough offense to support one of the fiercest defenses in the country. With wins over Santa Clara and Washington State last week, they're now 23-4 overall and 13-1 in the WCC, with a win over Gonzaga already under their belt.
Granted, a 4-2 record in Quad 1 games isn't anything to write home about, but given the sketchy resumes in the back half of the current Top 25, it's a mystery that St. Mary's isn't getting more love right now. This is a rock-solid team, one that still very much has something to prove against the country's elite but which at least deserves some recognition.
Clemson is coasting on one resume-defining win
Admittedly, Clemson is coming off of another excellent week, bombing both UNC and Florida State to improve to 21-5 overall and 13-2 in the ACC. But the ACC this year is such that overall records are a bit misleading: The Tigers have only played five Quad 1 games all season, and they're 3-2 in those five with losses to Louisville and Boise State.
Of course, one of those three wins is an awfully big one, the home upset over previously No. 2-ranked Duke that has propelled Brad Brownell's team all the way to No. 18 this week. That win is among the best any team has recorded all season long, and I'm not here to claim that it was a complete fluke or that Clemson doesn't deserve to be ranked at all. But putting them safely inside the top 20 feels a little rich right now, based on how little else they've proven over the course of this season. Survive a trip to SMU next weekend and maybe we'll talk.
New Mexico is another mid-major being snubbed by the voters
Speaking of non-brand names who have been quietly excellent but continue to go unnoticed by most AP voters: How about those Lobos? Richard Pitino's team earned some votes in last week's poll, then went out and took control of the Mountain West with a huge home win over 22-4 Utah State. Their reward? New Mexico is now ... still in the "others receiving votes" category, sitting at No. 26 in the country.
This is always how it goes with mid-majors in the AP poll, but that doesn't make it any more just. The Lobos have won 15 of their last 16 games, boasting one of the most physical and athletic frontcourts you'll find anywhere outside of the SEC and Big Ten thanks to Nelly Junior Joseph and Mustapha Amzil. This team wants to get under your jersey for a full 40 minutes, and they've overwhelmed just about everyone they've played this year. The lack of Power 4 competition is a knock against them, but they are 3-1 in Quad 1 games and 11-2 across Quads 1 and 2, numbers that compare pretty favorably to some other teams on this list.