Feast week is upon us, where the first champions of the college basketball season will be crowned. No participation trophies here folks as early season “win or go home” is very much alive. And it certainly wouldn’t be first chapter of inevitable madness if there weren’t movers and shakers early on. For the second week in a row the Cavaliers of Virginia (post an unspeakable tragedy) shoot up in the rankings. Meanwhile 10 of the previous week’s top 25 found the loss column on their records. Let’s see how it plays out in Will’s week 2 rankings.
1) North Carolina (4-0)
Previous: 1
I know, I know. The Heels only beat Gardner Webb by 6 and you leave them number 1? Sure, that’s a slim margin even with Gardner Webb’s junk-time 3 pointers including 1 at the buzzer, but this week saw the Heels play two games that were never in doubt. What won’t be mentioned however is that the second game was against arguably the best mid-major anyone has played all year in James Madison, a 4-0 squad that was averaging a blistering 106 points a game. The Heels lockdown D held them to just 64 points while Armando Bacot (career high 23 rebounds, 19 points) looked like last year’s tournament version of himself, as did the Tar Heels as a whole for 35 minutes of the game. This week also saw the emergence of Pete Nance, the Northwestern transfer pegged to replace Brady Manek, who scored double digits in both games. The Heels travel to the Phil Knight Invitational this week, where the talent pool is infinitely greater than what they’ve seen thus far.
2) Houston (5-0)
Previous: 4
Usually the words “Freshman Of The Year” are reserved for a Duke, Kansas, or UK recruit, but this year Jarace Walker has something to say about that distinction. Through 5 games the rookie has been one of the Cougars’ biggest stars and the nation’s most prolific first year player. Coupled with the productivity of senior Marcus Sasser and junior Tramon Mark, the Cougars pulled away late in their biggest year to date test Sunday night on the road at Oregon. Walker has a Karl Malone-esque game that isn’t frequently seen anymore at any level of basketball, a 6’8 240 bruiser that will be a headache for everyone not wearing Houston red this season.
3) Kansas (4-0)
Previous: 5
With no sign of Bill Self on the sideline the Jayhawks continued to shine on the biggest of stages in Indy against Duke on Tuesday night. A seesaw game saw Duke leading late before Kansas’ depth and experience proved to much for a Duke team that is severely lacking in the “college minutes played” department. But that’s not a knock on Kansas. Duke can outclass pretty much everyone from a talent standpoint which means Kansas had to dig deep late to find a way, and on the shoulders of freshman Gradey Dick (who scored 7 straight in the run that gave the Jayhawks the lead for good) and junior Jalen Wilson’s 25 points they did just that.
4) Texas (3-0)
Previous: 8
The first big mover of week 2 is the Texas Longhorns after a home dismantling of the top 10 Gonzaga Bulldogs. Remember the week 1 commentary on Texas needing to learn how to score the ball if they’re going to remain highly ranked? Yeah, well…they must have heard the call because they hung 93 on one of Vegas’ top 5 bets to cut down the nets. Hunter continued his offensive onslaught of the early season with 26, while the nation’s best defense held the Zags to 74 points. Texas has a light load this week with Northern Arizona and Rio Grande Valley before facing off against Creighton and Illinois in week 4.
5) UVA (4-0)
Previous: 9
There’s no better way to lift the spirits of a collective community than winning, and UVA delivered with wins over two highly ranked opponents in week 2. Following a tragic on campus shooting that took the lives of three football players, Tony Bennett’s club took the college basketball world by storm by defeating top 10 Baylor and top 20 Illinois this week. In continuing the week 1 theme of them showing they can score the basketball, the Hoos managed to score 86 on the defensive stalwart Baylor Bears, on the back of transfer senior Armaan Franklin’s 26 points. Virginia is balanced, well coached, and menacing defensively as per usual. They have a light week ahead, facing only MD Eastern at home.
6) Baylor (4-1)
Previous: 7
Baylor manages to rise in the rankings despite a loss to UVA, because they bounced back in impressive fashion to hand UCLA their second loss of the week. Flagler continued to impress even in the loss against UVA with 20 followed by 22 against UCLA, but Bridges had a rough week netting only 2 points through 2 games. The good news for Baylor this week is depth, as they got 25 bench points against UCLA to secure the win. Baylor is the beneficiary of 4 other top 10 teams losing this week, 2 of whom lost twice.
7) Duke (3-1)
Previous: 6
Duke is big. Duke is strong. Duke is athletic. Duke can score. Duke has swagger. But can Duke close big games? That will remain to be seen. Dariq Whitehead wasn’t exactly the showstopper we expected in his college debut, but whether or not him and Lively will be forces down the road as the season progresses is not in the “unknown” category, it is a given. Coupled with Mark Mitchell, Tyrese Proctor, and Kyle Filipowski, Duke’s freshman certainly check all the boxes. But the key to their success lies on the shoulders of junior Jeremy Roach, who without Whitehead in the lineup scored 16 points in the close loss against Kansas. The question regarding them will remain experience, which is the likely cause of their early season loss to the less talented Jayhawks. Luckily for Duke, they may not play another ranked team until they meet UNC in February.
8) UCLA (3-2)
Previous: 2
It’s a tough week to be a Bruin. The first of 2 top 10 teams who went winless in week 2, Illinois and Baylor both proved to be too much for the Bruins. Neither loss was a blowout which means the good news for UCLA is Tyger Campbell, Jaylen Clark, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. will keep them in games. The question is when freshman Amari Bailey can’t get it going and the bench struggles, what do they look like? Finding themselves in the loss column is what they look like, as Amari Bailey averaged 1 point a game this week and the bench combined for 30 points, 23 of them from David Singleton. A lot of pundits will roll their eyes at such a high ranking for a UCLA team Jump Around was higher on than most to begin with, but on talent and experience alone, plus the quality of the losses, UCLA remains in the top 10.
9) Gonzaga (3-1)
Previous: 10
I’m not gonna lie, it was danger zone for Gonzaga to fall hard, fast, and far if they didn’t bounce back against Kentucky on Sunday night. It’s one thing to lose an early season game if you’re Gonzaga, in fact they do most years. Chet Holmgrem came up on the short end against Paolo Banchero last year, and they still ended up with a 1 seed. But to go to Texas and lose by 19…that’s something different altogether. Whether the Zags were just that abysmal or Texas is just that good remains to be seen, but what we do know is that they turned around and outclassed Kentucky in every facet of the game late Sunday evening. If that type of performance holds Mark Few should coast through conference play again.
10) UK (3-2)
Previous: 3
A viral video took the college basketball twitter-sphere by storm last Summer of John Calipari at a UK event putting Mark Few on the big screen in Rupp Arena and agreeing to a home in home with Gonzaga. I bet John Calipari wishes he could take that Zoom call back. After a deflating 2 OT loss to Michigan State earlier in the week, Gonzaga rolled UK in Spokane in a game that featured two of the front runners for NPOY battling it out. While Oscar Tshiebwe got his, the other 9 Wildcats who logged playing time accounted for just 52 points in the lopsided effort. The game plan for beating UK now looks a little clearer: stop Tshiebwe or stop the rest. The bright side for UK is neither are a particularly easy task, regardless of what UK’s week looked like.
The Rest:
11) Indiana (4-0)
Previous: 11
12) Arizona (3-0)
Previous: 12
13) Arkansas (3-0)
Previous: 13
14) Illinois (3-1)
Previous: 16
15) UConn (5-0)
Previous: 22
16) Tennessee (2-1)
Previous: 14
17) Auburn (4-0)
Previous: 15
18) Alabama (4-0)
Previous: 17
19) Michigan State (3-1)
Previous: Unranked
20) Texas Tech (3-0)
Previous: 18
21) San Diego St. (3-0)
Previous: 23
22) Creighton (4-0)
Previous: 25
23) Purdue (3-0)
Previous: Unranked
24) St. Louis (4-1)
Previous: 21
25) Ohio St. (3-0)
Previous: Unranked
Fell Out:
19 Michigan
20 Villanova
24 Dayton
