NCAA Basketball: Kansas State, Providence on the rise on latest top 25 power ranking
By Joey Loose
24. Charleston (16-1)
Ranked by the AP voters for the first time in two decades, it’s fitting with how great the Cougars have played this season. Their only loss came against top-ranked North Carolina near the beginning of the season and they’ve now run off 15 straight wins as quite the bounce back. They knocked off Virginia Tech and won the Charleston Classic and have the nation’s longest winning streak, but how did they fare this week?
The winning streak continued this week starting on Wednesday with a 92-79 road win against new conference mate North Carolina A&T. Leading scorer Dalton Bolon had 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Cougars scored their fifth road win of the season already. Three days later they were back on their home court, knocking off Delaware 75-64 to get to 4-0 in the CAA. 13-point efforts from both Bolon and Ben Burnham led the way while Ante Brzovic put up 11 points and 12 rebounds.
At this point, this certainly looks like the best mid-major team in the country. They didn’t spend the nonconference season beating up on nobodies; nobody will complain about a win over an ACC team like Virginia Tech. The question remains if the Cougars can maintain this momentum and get their win streak up to 30 by the time the postseason comes around. They have a very intriguing test next win on the road at UNC Wilmington, a team that has won 13 straight games themselves.