NCAA Basketball: Illinois, Ohio State rises in latest top-25 power rankings

19. Drake Bulldogs (18-0, 9-0)

The thought was that we were going to have to wait until the series with Loyola-Chicago before the Bulldogs would get completely tested in Missouri Valley Conference play. Illinois State and proved otherwise, each having a late lead over Drake in the second half. The Bulldogs won those games, along with a more comfortable victory over the Redbirds this week.

They’ll have another road matchup against Valpo to deal with on Sunday, before taking on Northern Iowa on Wednesday. Then, we have the highly anticipated game on Saturday against the Ramblers at home. Could this be the final week that Drake is unbeaten?

*Rankings were before Drake’s loss to Valpo on Sunday

18. Creighton Bluejays (14-5, 10-4)

After handling business on the road in the prior week, the Bluejays tripped up at home against Georgetown. That was a surprising result for sure Creighton made sure it didn’t extend over to the weekend, beating Marquette by a final score of 71-68. Four Bluejays were in double figures, led by 14 points from Christian Bishop on 6/7 shooting from the field.

The Bluejays now get the chance to exact some revenge against the Hoyas on the road this week. But they’ll have to make sure they don’t look ahead to the massive game on Saturday against Villanova, pitting the two best teams in the Big East against one another. If Creighton has any hope of winning the regular-season title, they’ll have to get the win.

17. Florida State Seminoles (10-3, 6-2)

The Seminoles have been on pause this past week, so no games to judge for them. The next game currently on the schedule is Saturday against Wake Forest, which would be a great tuneup game before taking on both Virginia and Virginia Tech in the week after.

16. Missouri Tigers (13-3, 6-3)

If beating rival Illinois in the annual “Braggin Rights” game was the highlight of Missouri’s season, this past week will be a close No. 2. They first took care of the Kentucky Wildcats by five points, before holding off an Alabama comeback to win, 68-65. Dru Smith had 16 points to lead all scorers, while Kobe Brown had 13 and Mark Smith had 12 points and five steals.

The Tigers are now just two games back in the SEC standings and has an outside shot of winning the regular-season title. They’ll have a pair of tough games this week to keep up, taking on Ole Miss on the road and Arkansas at home on Saturday.