NCAA Basketball Power Rankings: Purdue, Villanova soaring up the top-25

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 27: Cole Swider #10, Eric Paschall #4, Phil Booth #5, and Collin Gillespie #2 of the Villanova Wildcats watch the game from the bench against the Seton Hall Pirates in the second half at the Wells Fargo Center on January 27, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Villanova defeated Seton Hall 80-52. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

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LOUISVILLE, KY – JANUARY 26: Nwora of the Louisville Cardinals reacts. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

23. Louisville Cardinals

Record: 15-5 (6-1 ACC)

Last Week: Not Ranked

One of the hottest teams in the nation, Louisville enters the rankings once again as winners of five straight games. Of course, their SOS during this slate has not been tremendous (three games outside of the KenPom top-50), but those wins over North Carolina and NC State will definitely mean something in March. To put this season in perspective, head coach Chris Mack is doing a remarkable job in his first season at the helm of the program but the players deserve more of the credit as well.

Most notably, sophomore forward Jordan Nwora has been phenomenal as the leader of the team this season. He is leading the team in both scoring (18.2 points) and rebounding (7.9 boards) while there is plenty of production from his supporting cast as well. As a team, the Cardinals get to the free throw line at an incredible rate and also take advantage of those attempts very well. They rank in the top-25 nationally in both FTAr and FT%. Hard to argue with that.

Moving forward, Louisville will play three of their next four games on the road, with their lone home game coming against North Carolina. This will be a difficult stretch for the Cardinals and we should be able to learn a lot about the team.

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