After an exciting Week 1, college basketball's preseason poll got a long-awaited refresh on Monday. The top four remained unchanged in the new AP Top 25 but we did get one new entrant as Nebraska climbed into the No. 25 spot after Iowa State fell out following an opening night loss to Memphis.
The inclusion of the Cornhuskers was not something we anticipated in this week's rankings, where we projected the Tigers would claim the final spot in the poll instead. What else did this week's AP voters get wrong after the first round of games?
Week 2 AP Top 25 College Basketball Rankings
1. Florida Gators
2. Duke Blue Devils
3. Illinois Fighting Illini
4. UConn Huskies
5. Michigan State Spartans
6. Virginia Cavaliers
7. Texas Longhorns
8. Houston Cougars
9. UCLA Bruins
10. Louisville Cardinals
11. Tennessee Volunteers
12. Arizona Wildcats
13. St. John's Red Storm
14. Gonzaga Bulldogs
15. Kansas Jayhawks
16. Texas Tech Red Raiders
17. Miami (FL) Hurricanes
18. Alabama Crimson Tide
19. Arkansas Razorbacks
20. Michigan Wolverines
21. USC Trojans
22. Vanderbilt Commodores
23. BYU Cougars
24. Kentucky Wildcats
25. Nebraska Cornhuskers
3 teams ranked too high in the Week 2 AP Top 25 Poll
No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers
Rick Barnes' squad was ranked 8th in the preseason poll and dropped three spots after a 2-0 week where they beat Radford and Wofford at home by a combined 54 points. What the rankings won't mention is that the Volunteers looked quite sloppy in exhibition games against better competition, getting blown out at Duke and losing by 16 at home to a Xavier team picked to finish sixth in the Big East's preseason poll.
While including exhibitions in the poll is tricky business, it can't be ignored that Tennessee was given a Top 10 ranking in the preseason and looked incredibly sloppy in those matchups. Beating two mid-majors at home shouldn't be enough to offset that, which is why the No. 11 spot feels rather generous for the Volunteers.
No. 19 Arkansas Razorbacks
John Calipari called his shot on SEC Media Day when he said he was not smart for scheduling Virginia in the first week of the season. The end result was a beating that saw the Razorbacks drop five spots to No. 19, but the fall should have been steeper considering how thoroughly the Cavaliers outclassed them in Washington.
Blowing out Arkansas-Pine Bluff is nice but getting manhandled against a Top 10-caliber ACC outfit deserves a more stiff penalty than the voters gave Arkansas. While Jordan Smith should still help the Razorbacks make a deep March run, they will need more time to showcase the form of a Top 20-esque team.
No. 25 Nebraska Cornhuskers
Putting the No. 25 team as one that is ranked too high essentially tells you that they shouldn't be in the poll. This isn't a huge slight on Nebraska, which earned a ranking from the voters by scoring a nine-point victory over a solid Providence team at a neutral site in Connecticut, but the ranking feels more reflective of wanting to pay tribute to last year's Sweet 16 run.
There were a few teams who made more compelling cases for a ranking this week than the Cornhuskers, including one we will discuss in a minute in Memphis. Fred Hoiberg's group is a quality team, but a ranking spot for winning on a neutral floor by nine isn't necessarily enough to put them as a Top 25-caliber squad quite yet.
3 teams ranked too low in the Week 2 AP Top 25 Poll
Memphis Tigers
The Tigers were technically No. 26 in the eyes of the voters as they were the first team mentioned in the others category, receiving 97 rankings points. That number should have been far higher as Memphis put together a very strong start to the season, beating a ranked Iowa State team on a neutral floor before scoring a home win over VCU, which was picked at the top of the Atlantic 10's preseason poll.
Those two results should have been enough to earn a ranking for Memphis, making the fact they entered Week 2 without a number in front of their name a true travesty. Two more ranked games await Memphis this week as they travel to No. 22 Vanderbilt before hosting No. 10 Louisville on Sunday, and even a split should be enough to ensure a ranking for the Tigers in Week 3.
No. 20 Michigan Wolverines
Without much data to go on, it's easy to slide a team like Michigan down a few spots after seeing they lost a game while teams around them scored wins. Context matters in this situation, however, and the defending champs were extremely competitive in what was essentially a true road game against No. 4 UConn in a rematch of the national championship.
The Huskies didn't get any real credit for that win, remaining locked at No. 4 as the three teams above them went a perfect 6-0, so seeing the Wolverines pay a four-spot invoice for that defeat doesn't make sense. The fact that Arkansas, which got absolutely waxed by Virginia, is rated higher than Michigan should be fuel for Mike Boynton's squad this week.
No. 14 Gonzaga Bulldogs
A clean 2-0 week for Gonzaga, which beat Purdue at a neutral site and blew out New Mexico State at home, earned a modest one-spot gain for the Bulldogs in the Week 2 poll. It feels like Gonzaga got penalized for the fact Purdue followed up their game with a double-overtime home loss to Valparaiso, which is not the Bulldogs' problem in any circumstance.
Teams that challenge themselves and beat power conference competition got credit in other areas of the poll, such as seeing UCLA surge into the Top 10 after beating Arizona and Virginia's five-spot leap over Arkansas. Seeing Gonzaga stay behind St. John's, which beat up on mid-majors, and Tennessee doesn't make much sense since the win over Purdue (even with the Boilermakers' loss to follow it up) rates as a better result than anything the other two delivered in Week 1.
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