College Basketball Power Rankings: Auburn Takes Top Spot
By Reed Wallach
The college basketball world is about to hit its busy season with conference play starting across the country on a nightly basis. While we are still sifting through the contenders at the top of the rankings, sports bettors always have an eye on the NCAA Tournament and some valuable bets to make in the Futures market.
Every week here at BetSided, we will be power ranking the top 25 teams relative to their futures odds.
Here's how things stand as conference play enters full swing. All odds listed are via WynnBET.
Tier 1: The Top 2 Teams This Season
1. Auburn (+800)
The Tigers have taken down every team in their way, winning 15 straight against some of the best teams in the nation, most recently Kentucky at home.
Auburn is top 15 in the country on both sides of the ball according to KenPom and have the potential No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft in Jabari Smith. However, it was guard KD Johnson who took over on Saturday in the win over the Wildcats, scoring 17 points, posting an offensive rating of 161.
2. Gonzaga (+550)
Tier 2: A lot of Elite Teams
3. Arizona (+800)
4. Baylor (+1200)
5. Villanova (+2000)
Villanova has been on a tear this month, winning seven of eight games, but that one loss was a home game to Marquette in the final seconds on Wednesday.
However, the Wildcats are still looking the part of a Final Four contender with a ton of versatility. Jay Wright's team is elite on offense, dominating foes inside with a 53% two-point percentage in Big East play, and have been shutting teams down on defense, holding teams below 30% shooting.
6. Purdue (+800)
It was an up-and-down week for the Boilermakers, who won in double overtime at Illinois on Monday but squandered a late lead at Indiana.
They recovered to blowout Northwestern without Jaden Ivey. The team has a tough week coming up at Iowa and home for Ohio State, which is going to be a big test for their middling defensive numbers (67th in the nation per KenPom).
7. Kansas (+1200)
8. Duke (+1000)
The Blue Devils lost at Florida State on Tuesday, another instance where the team went away from their best offense in the second half.
Duke struggled with the length of Florida State and couldn't find star Paolo Banhcero for most of an ugly second half.
The Blue Devils were able to recover to beat Syracuse by 20 at home, but may be without guard Trevor Keels, who was injured in the loss at FSU.
9. Kentucky (+1500)
Kentucky has had some untimely injuries play a role in their losses. Sahvir Wheeler left in the first few minutes of the team's loss to LSU and Tyty Washington was hurt in the defeat at Auburn on Saturday.
Don't fret Big Blue Nation, this team will have plenty of opportunities to prove themselves with elite rebounding and shot making on the perimeter, namely Kellan Grady, who hit four-of-seven three's on Saturday.
Coach Cal's team plays at Kansas on Saturday in the game of the day.
10. Houston (+3000)
11. Texas Tech (+2500)
Tier 3: Good, but How Good?
12. UCLA (+2000)
13. Connecticut (+5000)
14. Wisconsin (+5000)
Wisconsin's seven game winning streak that included wins at Purdue and home for Ohio State came to an end on Friday night against Michigan State.
However, the team has two inferior foes this week in Nebraska and Minnesota to get back on track with National Player of the Year Candidate Johnny Davis leading the way.
15. Marquette (+30000)
Marquette's winning streak grew to six this week with an outstanding win at Villanova and a home win against Xavier, two teams inside KenPom's top 25.
The team is playing at a top 50 pace with Shaka Smart at the helm, and are elite on the defensive end, holding teams to 45% on two-point shots and 30% from three, both inside the top 60 nationally.
We'll see if they can crack the top 10 this week with road games at Seton Hall and Providence.
16. Ohio State (+4000)
17. Michigan State (+3000)
18. USC (+5000)
Tier 4: Best of the Rest
19. Illinois (+2000)
Rough week for the Illini who lost in double overtime to Purdue and then at Maryland without their star player, Kofi Cockburn, who was out with a concussion.
This could be a great time to buy Brad Underwood's club long term, who have a complete offense around Cockburn and the shooting prowess of Trent Fraizer and Alfonso Plummer.
Andre Curbelo returned from his neck injury on Monday and played very well, a promising sign for the Illinois back court.
20. Tennessee (+5000)
21. Alabama (+5000)
22. Iowa (+10000)
23. Xavier (+5000)
24. Oregon (+10000)
Could Oregon be living up to preseason expectations? The Ducks have won six straight, including wins at UCLA and USC before steamrolling Washington at home on Sunday, 84-56.
The Ducks need to figure out their bottom 30 free throw percentage, but it's starting to look like the team Dana Altman had in mind when he acquired transfers like De'Vion Harman, Jacob Young and Quincy Guerrier this offseason.
25. LSU (+4000)
LSU's regression has come quickly without point guard Xavier Pinson, who has been nursing an injury for the past four games.
The Tigers are 1-3 in those games but still boast the No. 1 defense in the country, per KenPom.
The claims of LSU being elite are long gone, thankfully, but now they could be underrated a bit in the market. Keep an eye on buy points for the Tigers moving forward after they have dropped a handful of games.
All of Reed's college basketball plays can be tracked here, his best bets column for college basketball is 21-29-3 for -9.02 units.