Jump Around's Week 3 Rankings and Tidbits

The Heels learned a lot about themselves during Feast
Week, and the outlook is better than even we expected. 

    What a crazy Feast Week it was, for a multitude of reasons. Purdue has solidified themselves as the toast of the town, or the entire country as it were, with their showing at the top 10 heavy Maui Invitational. But even crazier- out of 24 teams in Jump Around's Week 2 top 25 that saw action last week, 12 came home with one loss or more. Three teams are out and three teams are in in this week's ranking shake up, which was the hardest to determine in all of our years analyzing teams nationwide.

    On the homefront, we all know what we saw in the Bahamas. The Heels, who saw 101 fouls called in 80 minutes of action on Thursday and Friday, were the best team in the tournament. If ever there was a game to be solely determined by the officials in 40 years of watching Carolina basketball, it came on Thanksgiving day against Villanova. That being said, the Villanova team the Heels saw is very good and not only did the Heels hold their own but were the better team on the court. They'll walk away with an asterisk loss to show for it but it's one that doesn't hurt them in the rankings, and in fact when hedged against their performance against then #20 Arkansas it advances them a spot in a week that saw so many other top 25 teams lose by double digits. 

    Meanwhile as the team down the road was closing out their Blue Devil Challenge cupcake homestand against probationary period of advancement D2 turned D1 1-5 Southern Indiana, Duke trailed by 4 at half and somehow only won by 18. We're not sure what's happening in Durham, but it's something we'll keep an eye on. 

    A multitude of other ACC teams went down this week as well which leaves the strength of the conference in question. Through three weeks we certainly see Carolina and Miami as the strongest top to bottom teams in the conference, with Duke at third and Clemson and FSU pushing. This week should tell a lot at the ACC/SEC challenge. 

    Week 3 Rankings: 

1. Purdue
2. Arizona
3. UConn
4. Marquette
5. Kansas
6. Carolina
7. Baylor
8. Houston
9. Miami
10. Gonzaga
11. Duke
12. Tennessee
13. Villanova
14. FAU
15. Texas A&M
16. Kentucky
17. Clemson
18. TCU
19. Creighton
20. San Diego State
21. Illinois
22. Texas
23. Colorado State
24. Memphis
25. Alabama

Dropped From Rankings: 

Arkansas, Drake, UVA

Just Out: 

UCLA, Florida State

Keep An Eye On Them

San Diego State, Auburn, Colorado, USC

Games of the Week:

Tuesday: 

#9 Miami @ #16 Kentucky, 7:30 PM, ESPN

#17 Clemson @ #25 Alabama, 9:30 PM, ESPN

Wednesday: 

#12 Tennessee @ #6 North Carolina, 7:15 PM, ESPN

#15 Texas A&M @ UVA, 7:15 PM, ESPN 2

Colorado @ #23 Colorado State, 9 PM, CBSSN

#11 Duke @ Arkansas, 9:15, ESPN

Friday: 

#3 UConn @ #5 Kansas, 9 PM, ESPN 2

Saturday: 

Florida State @ #6 North Carolina, 2 PM, ACCN

USC vs. #10 Gonzaga, 10 PM, ESPN