NCAA Basketball: Michigan, West Virginia rises in latest top-25 power rankings
3. Baylor Bears (18-1, 10-1)
Covid pauses have affected almost every single team in NCAA Basketball once they get back onto the court. They look sluggish, rusty, and vulnerable to suffering losses they normally wouldn’t take. That was the case of Baylor, who was down as much as 16 points to Iowa State in their first game back. They managed to come back to get the win late, but they couldn’t do the same on the road at Kansas on Saturday, falling 71-58.
The undefeated season for Baylor is done but it’s never a shame to lose at Kansas, who has looked like a Final Four contender in their own right. The Bears will be just fine and is still on track to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They’ll have to get this loss out of their minds, as they go on the road at West Virginia next.
2. Michigan Wolverines (18-1, 13-1)
Outside of Gonzaga losing, this past week went as well for Michigan Basketball as possible. They defeated No. 4 Ohio State in arguably the best game this NCAA Basketball season. Then on Thursday, freshman Hunter Dickinson thoroughly outplayed National Player of the Year favorite Luka Garza in the Wolverines beatdown of the Iowa Hawkeyes. And even a desperate Indiana squad was no match for them on Saturday, with Michigan getting the 73-57 victory.
The Wolverines have all but locked up the Big Ten regular-season title but can make it official with a win over Illinois this week. Then they’ll have a pair of matchups against rival Michigan State, who really could use a split of their own.
1. Gonzaga Bulldogs (24-0, 15-0)
Compared to the previous weeks, Gonzaga had a much tougher time at home against Santa Clara and LMU, two teams with size and rebounding. It was a back-and-forth game with both of them in the first half, before a vintage run by the Bulldogs gave them some breathing room before winning by 14 and 17 points, respectively.
Senior Corey Kispert finished off his career at home with 49 points this past week, including a bunch of made three-pointers. It was also the last set of games for presumptive lottery pick Jalen Suggs, who once again filled up the stat sheets.
Next. Predicting winners of all 31 conference tournaments. dark
The Bulldogs won’t play until next Monday, in the semifinals of the WCC Tournament. It’s been a place Gonzaga has dominated and will once again be a heavy favorite to win. If that happened, they’ll be the first team to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated since the 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats.