NCAA Basketball Top-25: Arizona, Ohio State rise, Kentucky and Texas fall

NCAA Basketball top-25 rankings: Arizona, Ohio State rise, Kentucky, Texas fall

By Joey Loose | Dec 12, 2021

PISCATAWAY, NJ - DECEMBER 09: Trevion Williams #50 of the Purdue Boilermakers fights for position with Ron Harper Jr. #24 and Dean Reiber #21 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights during the second half of a game at Jersey Mike's Arena on December 9, 2021 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Rutgers defeated Purdue 70-68. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

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NCAA Basketball Seton Hall Pirates guard Jared Rhoden Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports /

12. Seton Hall (8-1)

Seton Hall got everyone’s attention with an upset win at Michigan several weeks ago, but this past week they picked up their second top 10 win of the season. The Pirates hosted Texas on Thursday and got their fifth-straight win, knocking off the Longhorns 64-60. Their defense was dynamic, shutting down the Longhorns’ outside shooting, while Jared Rhoden contributed 18 points, again leading the Pirates to a nice win.

While Villanova gets the praise, as per usual, Seton Hall looks like a real contender in the Big East, and has proven it early this season when given the opportunity. The Pirates play solid defense and do enough on the offensive end to get these wins. They’ll get an intriguing matchup against Rutgers on Sunday, and an even more interesting game against Iona next weekend. Neither of those has quite the pizzazz as beating Texas, but two more wins would go a long way for the Pirates, looking to avoid a slip before Big East play begins.

11. Houston (8-2)

Certainly, the best team in the AAC this season, Houston has looked dynamic and dominant at times this season, but twice now they just haven’t had enough down the stretch and have walked away with a couple of unfortunate defeats. This past week did start out well with a 77-45 win over Alcorn State in dominant fashion, but the defense couldn’t do enough on Saturday, suffering a tough 83-82 loss at Alabama despite a fantastic 25-point game from Marcus Sasser.

Losing one-possession games to Alabama and Wisconsin certainly isn’t the end of the world for the Cougars, who’ve really looked solid, aside from some defensive struggles against those Crimson Tide this past weekend. With Memphis’s recent nosedive, the Cougars look like they’ll be heavy favorites in the AAC again, and they’ve yet to be challenged in their other games since opening night. Next week presents another intriguing opportunity against Oklahoma State on Saturday, with a home date with Louisiana sandwiched beforehand.

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