NCAA Basketball: Gonzaga, UCLA on top of latest top-25 power rankings
9. Baylor Bears (1-0)
The reigning national champs played just one game so far, an 87-60 win over Incarnate Word. Five players were in double figures, led by Matthew Mayer with 14. High-profile transfer pickup James Akinjo had 10 points and six assists, along with freshman Kendall Brown going for 13 in his NCAA Basketball debut.
Baylor has three games this week, against Nicholls State, Central Arkansas, and Stanford. The matchup with the Cardinal had hopes of being competitive but they recently got blasted by Santa Clara of the WCC. We may have to wait until Villanova in December before we see this team get truly tested.
8. Texas Longhorns (1-1)
After easily handling Houston Baptist to open the season, Texas had one of the most difficult tasks in NCAA Basketball on Saturday… going into the Kennel and beating the No. 1 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs. It was going to be a tough task fully healthy but they were still without forward Dylan Disu, whose size and scoring ability inside would’ve helped offset Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren. Instead, they were torched inside and couldn’t get the stops needed to make it a close game, losing 86-74 on the road.
It was a solid showing for wing Timmy Allen (18 points), while Kentucky transfer Devin Askew had nine points off the bench and proved that he did deserve a spot in the rotation, Expect guards Marcus Carr, Andrew Jones, and Courtney Ramey to all play better from the perimeter and Disu’s arrival will have a big impact in the frontcourt. They’ll take it easy for the rest of the month, playing mostly WAC teams going forward. But it’ll be a good opportunity to sort things out after losing by double-digits.
7. Villanova Wildcats (1-1)
Although UCLA got the better of them in overtime for the 86-77 victory, Villanova was the more impressive team most of the game, particularly in the second half when Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels were shooting lights out. The 5th-year senior duo combined for 38 points and nine made three-pointers, while Justin Moore, who went for a game-high 27 points against Mount St. Mary’s, had 14 in this game.
The Wildcats played essentially six players for this road battle but if they can develop a little more depth, especially down low outside of redshirt freshman Eric Dixon, they’ll be in the top-10 throughout this season. They have another big test awaited them with Tennessee in a neutral site battle.