NCAA Basketball: Arizona, Duke, and San Diego State rises in latest top 25 power rankings

13. Baylor (10-2)

A lot of good has come from Baylor in recent years, including that national title in 2021, though we’re obviously only focused on this current team. Scott Drew has another vibrant crew of players, with new pieces like RayJ Dennis and JaKobe Walter really playing key roles early for the Bears. While Baylor didn’t exactly take care of all of their opportunities, they’ve had an acceptable start to the season.

Still in the midst of a ten-day break, Baylor hasn’t seen the court for over a week, leaving us to look back a few weeks earlier. Tough losses to Michigan State and Duke dulled their hot start to the season and gave us a few question marks on both sides of the ball. The Bears put up elite offensive numbers early in the year, including in wins over Auburn and Florida, but flailed against the Spartans.

Baylor is familiar with these types of games, especially with a rigorous Big 12 schedule on the horizon. Losing those first two efforts doesn’t mean they’ll be toast against the elite foes in their conference, though they’ll obviously be more challenged on a weekly basis than they were during their 9-0 start to the season. They kick off conference play at Oklahoma State on Saturday but are at home against Cornell a few days before that.