NCAA Basketball: Alabama, Ohio State rise, Gonzaga, BYU fall in top-25 power rankings
By Joey Loose
Nearly a month into the NCAA Basketball season and we’ve seen fantastic moments and thrills along the way. There have been buzzer-beaters, wild wins, unexpected crashes, and standout performances across these first four weeks of play. We’ve reached December, but we’re still months away from March Madness and we’re still figuring out what some of these things are going to do this season.
Even though only a few weeks of games have been played, there has certainly already been a significant movement among the best teams in the nation, directly correlating to big changes in the top 25 rankings. It’s still too early to celebrate or panic these returns, but there have certainly been changes.
We track those changes and continue our weekly power rankings as a group here on Busting Brackets, with these posted early each Sunday after the previous week of games. Just 27 teams received a vote this week, with Colorado State, San Francisco, and LSU just missing out on the rankings.
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Joey Loose – @jloose128
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25. Michigan State (7-2)
They’ve lost a pair of games to two of the best teams in the nation, but the Spartans look like they could be a contender in the Big Ten once again. For the most part, they’ve taken care of business in their other games, with defense leading the charge, including in a pair of home wins this week. On Wednesday, they beat Louisville 73-64 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Three days later, they scored an easier win against Toledo, knocking off the Rockets by 13 points.
Losses to Baylor and Kansas are understandable; even if both were by double-digits, but the Spartans do have a few solid wins, knocking off Loyola-Chicago and UConn in the Bahamas a few weeks ago. With the way things have started in the Big Ten, they are absolutely in contention behind Purdue in that conference. They’ll get their chance to prove that this coming week, getting their first two conference games; a road test at Minnesota and a home date with Penn State on the weekend.