1) Houston
In a huge week for multiple top teams, the Houston Cougars were one of the lone top teams to not play in a preseason tournament. With only one game on the schedule, they disposed of the under matched Kent State with ease with continued great defense and even scoring from across the board. They were the beneficiaries of former number one North Carolina losing twice, and have finally settled into the number one spot on the rankings, where they’ve arguably belonged all year.
2) Texas
Much like Houston, Texas had a down week with no tournament in sight, and moves up in the rankings as not only North Carolina but also Kansas having losses in front of them. Their lone win of the week came against UT Rio Grande Valley, which to the surprise of no one was a 40 point route. While Houston seems to have the defensive side of the game on lock, Texas is arguably the best offensive team in the nation.
3) UVA
A trend clearly forming, UVA only had one game this week against low level competition. Arguably the least impressive performance of top 4 teams who didn’t play in a tournament, UVA got passed MD-Eastern only managing to score 72 points. One of their lower point totals of the year it was still good enough to defeat the MD-Eastern Hawks by 27 and continue their unbeaten start.
4) Baylor
The highest ranked team with a loss, Baylor gets a pass from their loss to #3 UVA due to their win over highly ranked UCLA. In sticking with the other teams in the top four they only had one game this week, a blowout against McNeese St. Things get a little busier and challenging this week as they travel to Marquette and host Gonzaga in week 4.
5) Arizona
After a fairly boring and obvious top 4, this is where the top 10 gets interesting this week. One of our huge movers this week, did anyone look more impressive than the Arizona Wildcats? A convincing win over San Diego St. and coming out on top against a more than formidable Creighton team, you can make the case that Arizona had the best week 3 in the nation. The best part? In their three games they had three different leading scorers meaning they have multiple options who can hurt you.
6) UCLA
A slow week for UCLA as well, the Bruins bounce back in a route after losing to two ranked teams just a week ago. Wins over Pepperdine and Bellarmine saw the Bruins return to the win column, and they did so in impressive fashion. What keeps the Bruins continuing to hang around the top is their experience, depth, and talented youth, coupled with the fact that they have no bad losses. This week will be a good measuring stick for if we’re getting our UCLA gamble right, with games @Stanford and at home against a pesky Oregon Duck bunch.
7) Indiana
Through seven games this season, no one on the opposing side of a Hoosier uniform has even sniffed coming within 20 points of them. That being said, no one on the opposing side of a Hoosier uniform is even sniffing a top 100 ranking either. Their best win of the year is against a three loss Xavier team by a mere two points. On the flip side of that, IU has scored over 80 points in each of their six games. They should be the early points favorite against former number one UNC, whom they host in the ACC Big 10 challenge on Wednesday night in their toughest test to date.
8) UConn
The biggest mover of the week, UConn wins the Phil Knight Invitational tournament by disposing of a field that consisted of Alabama, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Iowa State, and did so in impressive fashion. Double digit wins over Iowa State and Alabama, both of whom beat UNC, should raise eyebrows on the national level from all pundits. The scariest part about UConn? They’re average margin of defeat in their eight games thus far is 26 points.
9) Carolina
The college basketball world reacted to Carolina continuing to be ranked number one in what could best be described as fool’s gold, not because of their talent or experience, but because of their on court performance. They had the chance at the PK this week to prove the naysayers wrong and fell short in the second round against Iowa State, a game they were winning by 8 with 3:36 to go, and against in the third place game against Alabama, a game they were winning by 8 with 7:08 to go and again by 6 in the second overtime period. Neither loss is a bad loss however, and the Bama loss is certainly not without referee criticism, but Carolina has got to figure out how to put teams away if they want to remain a top ten team. This is the last time we’re giving them the benefit of the doubt.
10) UK
UK stays where they were last week in spite of a lot of seesawing from other teams surrounding them. After a rough week two they played just one game this last week, a bit of an anomaly from a John Calipari led Wildcat team. Usually you’d see them in a preseason tournament but this year’s feast week featured just one game against Northern Florida, a game that as expected was a 40 point drubbing. Things remain low key for UK who plays lower level/unranked competition until December 17th, when they play UCLA at Madison Square Garden.
11) KU
12) Tennessee
13) Alabama
14) Gonzaga
15) Purdue
16) Creighton
17) Duke
18) Illinois
19) Auburn
20) Arkansas
21) Michigan State
22) Maryland
23) Iowa State
24) Ohio State
25) St. Louis
