NCAA Basketball top-25 rankings: Arizona, Ohio State rise, Kentucky, Texas fall
By Joey Loose
22. Wisconsin (8-2)
At times, the Badgers have looked like a fantastic team, and at times it’s been a struggle. Wisconsin showed both sides this past week, coming off that nice win over Marquette last weekend. Still reveling in that Maui Invitational title, the Badgers began Big Ten play with a home win over Indiana, knocking off the Hoosiers by 5 points. Saturday proved much rougher for the Badgers, falling at Ohio State 73-55 in a very rough effort from the offense.
Wisconsin had issues against Providence nearly a month ago and really struggled at Ohio State this weekend. There have been times when the offense looks lost and inconsistent and the Badgers need to improve on that end if they’re going to be a contender in the Big Ten. We can forgive a loss in Columbus (Duke suffered that same fate last week), but the way in which they lost isn’t going to win them points with voters. Next week, there’s just a single game on the schedule, a very winnable home game against Nicholls State on Wednesday, and a chance to get back on track.
21. LSU (9-0)
The Tigers look good to start the season; that’s something that’s easy to say for any team that wins their first eight games. The fact of the matter is that their defense has been phenomenal, even when the offense has had its struggles this year. LSU hasn’t played any Top 25 worthy foes, but they aren’t beating up on just the low majors, having wins over Belmont, Penn State, and Wake Forest already this year. This past week, they got their ninth win in a 69-53 win over Georgia Tech, with 23 of those points coming from Tari Eason.
One initial concern is that LSU hasn’t really been tested, certainly not as much as some of these other contenders in the SEC. Another issue is that the Tigers’ offense has had some considerable struggles this season, with the outside shooting, in particular, being dry in recent weeks.
Still, LSU plays as tough a defense as any team in the nation and gets two more chances to show it off next week, hosting Northwestern State on Tuesday and facing off with Louisiana Tech on the weekend. We don’t know how that LSU offense will hold up in SEC play, but they’re the only SEC team still unblemished a month into the season.