College Basketball Power Rankings: Baylor Takes Top Spot

The college basketball season is officially underway, and while we are still sorting out the national landscape, 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 after the first few weeks of action. All odds listed are via WynnBET.

Tier 1: Revolving Door at the Top

1. Baylor (+1200)

The defending National Champions have reloaded around some new faces like transfer guard James Akinjo, and boy do they look good.

The team swarmed Villanova's high octane offense on Sunday, winning 57-36. On the year, the club is inside of KenPom's top 10 in efficiency metrics. Despite losing the trendy names of Davion Mitchell and Jared Butler to the NBA Draft, Scott Drew has a legitimate title contender on his hands.

2. Purdue (+800)

I'm not going to overreact to Purdue's lone loss on the road at the buzzer to Rutgers, or that they went to overtime on a neutral floor to North Carolina State, this team is still an offensive power house with a future lottery pick in Jaden Ivey.

3. Duke (+600)

4. Gonzaga (+600)

5. Arizona (+1500)

The Arizona hype train has left the station and there may be no stopping them for a little bit. In Tommy Lloyd's first true road test as a head coach, the Wildcats went to Illinois and knocked off a formidable foe in the Fighting Illini, 83-79.

The offense is 16th in KenPom's offensive efficiency metric and eighth on defense while posting a top three assist metric. The Wildcats are a legitimate Final Four contender.

6. Alabama (+2000)

In back-to-back weeks, the Crimson Tide have knocked off top 10 foes, this time beating Houston at home in a chaotic finish.

Goaltend or not, a wins a win, and Alabama appears to be poised for another run atop the SEC again. Keep an eye on the hero of Saturday's game, JD Davison, who continues to impress for Nate Oats team.

7. Kansas (+1200)

8. Villanova (+1500)

Tier 2: Knocking on the Door

9. UCLA (+2000)

10. Houston (+2500)

11. Auburn (+5000)

12. Ohio State (+2000)

E.J. Liddell continues to make waves for the Buckeyes, who blew out the red hot Wisconsin Badgers 73-55 last week, and is now the favorite at WynnBET Sportsbook to win Naismith Player of the Year behind 20 points and seven rebounds per game on 56% field goal percentage.

13. Connecticut (+4000)

14. Texas (+2000)

This is setting up as I predicted for the Longhorns, who are struggling out of the gate against high level competition. Seton Hall was able to shut them down at home in the final minutes en route to a 64-60 loss.

However, don't count out Chris Beard's team just yet, this team is full of high level and veteran transfers and Beard is one of the best tacticians in the sport.

15. Arkansas (+4000)

16. Illinois (+3000)

17. Wisconsin (+10000)

Tier 3: Impressive Weeks

18. Iowa State (+7500)

Iowa State has been one of the most impressive teams in the country, all things considered. The team entered projected to come last in the Big 12 under first year head coach T.J. Otzelberger, but have wins over Xavier, Memphis, Creighton, and most recently Iowa in the Cy-Hawk rivalry.

The Cyclones are paced by Izaiah Brockington and stud freshman guard Tyrese Hunter and the No. 11 defense, per KenPom.

19. Colorado State (+10000)

The Rams went to a neutral floor and rallied to beat a physical Mississippi State team. While he likely won't get the public sentiment to be in the National Player of the Year conversation, but forward David Roddy continues to dominate, averaging 20 points and seven rebounds on nearly 59% shooting.

20. BYU (+10000)

21. Texas Tech (+5000)

Tier 4: Best of the Rest

22. Kentucky (+2000)

Kentucky has played two teams inside KenPom's top 100 and lost both, most recently on the road to Notre Dame, 66-62. The Wildcats will improve as the year goes on, but there is still a ton of time for the team to come together.

23. LSU (+5000)

24. Seton Hall (+4000)

25. DePaul (N/A)

Put some respect on DePaul's name!

The Blue Demons went to once ranked in this weekly article Louisville and handled the Cards, 62-55 in a defensive struggle. The team has another non conference opponent of note on the horizon, Northwestern on the road this Saturday, before Big East play starts.

Honorable mention: USC, Michigan State, North Carolina