NCAA Basketball Power Rankings: Butler, Villanova rising for the Big East

Several NCAA basketball teams made moves in this week’s edition of the national power rankings. Butler and Villanova headline as risers from the Big East.

The curse continues! Through the opening month and a half of this NCAA basketball season, the No. 1 team in my rankings (as well as the AP poll) has fallen in seemingly every single week and that curse was once again on display during this past week. Kansas, who was awarded the top spot a week, suffered its second loss of the season in a tough road defeat at the hands of Villanova.

As a result, this week’s edition of the NCAA basketball power rankings features yet another No. 1 team. That team should be fairly obvious given how they have performed over the past few games.

The movement in this week’s rankings, though, is not contained to just the No. 1 spot. Perhaps most notably, it is time to start giving credit to the teams that have vastly overachieved compared to their preseason expectations. Both Butler and San Diego State have been remarkably impressive since the opening tip of the campaign while leaping out to great records against difficult competition. Their level of play should no longer be chalked up to small sample size as they have proven worthy of being ranked in the national top-10.

Their movement also coincides with the falls of Kentucky and Virginia (as well as North Carolina but I already had them unranked last week). Both the Wildcats and Cavaliers have been extremely disappointing so far this season and warranted drops significantly down and/or out of the rankings altogether. With so many preseason favorites struggling out of the gates so far this season, that has opened the door for untraditional teams to join the rankings.

Without any further ado, though, let’s dive right into this week’s edition of my Top 25 national power rankings.