NCAA Basketball: Texas Tech, Virginia rises in latest top- 25 power rankings
We have ourselves another set of NCAA Basketball power rankings. The six contributors are back with a new collective list, which is going to look fairly different after so many ranked teams lost in the past seven days.
Overall, 29 programs received at least one vote in the top-25, showing a near consensus on which teams deserve a number beside them. And what likely will be a preview of the AP poll that comes out on Monday, Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina did not make the cut. Here are the participating writers who did come up with who made this cut, along with a few honorable mentions.
Tristan Freeman – @hoopsnut351
Andrew Tineo – @D_Tineo4
Benjamin Zacher – @beezacher
Karl Heiser – @karlheiser17
Jacob Zinkula – @1Perfectbracket
Joe Casey – @Joe-Casey1
29. UConn Huskies (7-1, 4-1)
The Huskies did struggle with DePaul last Monday without leading scorer James Bouknight but were able to hold on and win. The question will be how they fare against better Big East competition without him for the next couple of weeks as long as he’s out.
28. LSU Tigers (10-2, 5-1)
The Tigers have been feasting on the bottom half of the SEC, beating both South Carolina and Arkansas this past week. They have a chance to get on the national radar this upcoming week, taking on the SEC leader Alabama Crimson Tide, along with the Kentucky Wildcats this weekend.
27. Colorado Buffaloes (11-3, 5-2)
It was a great week for Colorado, beating Utah on the road before taking care of business against Cal and Stanford at home. If they can beat both Washington and Washington State on the road this week, odds are good that they’ll find themselves ranked in the next batch of polls.
26. Clemson Tigers (9-2, 3-2)
Whether it was rust or who knows, Clemson, who came into the game against Virginia having one of the best defenses in NCAA Basketball, gave up 85 points in a 35-point defeat. It was a missed opportunity for the Tigers to cement themselves as a top-tier contender in the conference. Now they’ll have to go on the road and face Georgia Tech and Florida State this week.