The season only continues to get more ridiculous. In total, 10 of last Monday’s Bauertology Top 25 teams lost a game, with every single team ranked Nos. 12-17 falling in that category. College basketball is often unpredictable, a refreshing reprieve from the constant rote monotony that the College Football Playoff churns out every single year. At least one major college sport has an exciting postseason format!
But there’s no point on dwelling on the disappointments of college football. This is a college basketball site! So let’s dive into the Bauertology Top 25 for Week 5.
1. Gonzaga (0)
The cream of the crop stays on top. Through four games, the Bulldogs are 4-0 with wins over Kansas, West Virginia and Iowa: aka three teams that very well could be in the running for top-2 seeding come March. Those three wins have also come by an average of 9.3 points. So the Bulldogs aren’t just beating top-tier competition, they’re thoroughly waxing them. Saturday’s sudden matchup against Virginia could end up being just another brick in Gonzaga’s wall of a résumé.
2. Baylor (0)
It’s seems pretty clear that there’s a considerable gap between the top two teams in the nation and everyone else. According to KenPom and T-Rank, Baylor is favored to win every remaining game, all but three of which are in Big 12 play (This comes off the heels of a 100-69 trouncing of Kansas State). We’ll see if that turns out to be true or not (I have my doubts, the Big 12 is talented and deep), but even a .750 record in conference would probably give Baylor the superior résumé to Gonzaga.
3. Iowa (0)
Iowa learned Saturday that playing Gonzaga is like sticking your arm in a meat grinder: bad things are bound to happen. The Hawkeyes may have lost by 11, but they still put up 88 points against a very good defense (No. 12 according to KenPom), and Luka Garza remained his legendary self with 30 points and 10 rebounds. A loss to Gonzaga is no reason to be alarmed at all, and with a respectable performance in that game, Iowa stays put rankings-wise.
4. Kansas (+3)
The Jayhawks’ dip outside the top 10 was very short-lived. Kansas is back in the top five following a thoroughly impressive win in Lubbock against the stingy Texas Tech defense. Marcus Garrett got back to double-digit scoring, but it’s Ochai Agbaji that has been the Jayhawks’ true star. The junior is averaging 15.3 points per game and shooting .447 from 3-point range (4-7 from deep against Texas Tech). Another top-of-the-line defense is next with West Virginia coming to Lawrence on Tuesday.
5. Houston (0)
COVID knocked out another potentially good game between Houston and Alabama, but at least the Cougars got back on the stat sheet this week with a victory Sunday over Alcorn State. Quentin Grimes put up 27 in the win, adding to his scores of 23 against South Carolina and 25 against Boise State. Marcus Sasser may have been the Cougars’ best player so far, but Grimes isn’t far behind. With only conference games left, it’ll be interesting to see when this team finally loses a game.
6. Texas (0)
Good win for the Longhorns Sunday over Oklahoma State. The result puts them at 7-1 on the season and 1-0 to begin conference play, which resumes in January against Kansas. The most important outcome of the Oklahoma State win is that freshman big man Greg Brown finally broke out, scoring 24 and accumulating 14 boards. If he can have that kind of performance consistently while Courtney Ramey and Matt Coleman run the guard spots, Texas will be difficult for any team to beat.
7. Villanova (+1)
A 2-0 start to Big East play and a 20-point win over Philadelphia rival Saint Joseph’s marks a good previous week-and-a-half for the Wildcats. They seem to be hitting their stride, and unsurprisingly Jeremiah Robinson-Earl has been leading the way (now averaging 16.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game). We’ll see if that stride can hold, as the Wildcats face quite the challenge heading into the new year: three straight road games against Big East competition.
8. Wisconsin (+3)
An 85-48 win over Louisville is surprising to say the least. Pair that with the fact that Wisconsin made 16 of 25 3-point attempts, and I think it’s safe to say what the most impressive performance of the week was. Wisconsin matched Louisville’s point total on 3-pointers alone. And this comes fresh off a 10-18 performance from deep against Loyola Chicago. The numbers won’t be that high all season long, but the college basketball world should be on alert: Wisconsin can shoot the ball.
9. West Virginia (-5)
West Virginia didn’t lose to Iowa State, but it feels like it. The Mountaineers trailed by as much as nine and shot a putrid 3-14 from deep. Ultimately, they did close out the 70-65 victory and avoided a transitive loss to Fort Hays State in the process. But suddenly, WVU no longer appears to be on that top row of CBB’s best teams. Still, some nights, they can absolutely rock it (VCU, Richmond, close loss to Gonzaga). The Mountaineers have Final Four potential, they just need to avoid results like this.
10. Rutgers (+8)
Tell your grandkids about top-10 Rutgers. This Scarlet Knights team is no joke. With Geo Baker back in the lineup, Rutgers took down Maryland on the road by 14 (an already marked improvement from last year’s away struggles), then defeated Ayo Dosunmu and the Fighting Illini back at the RAC. Rutgers is now 6-0 for the first time in ages and ranked third in the Big Ten behind Iowa and Wisconsin. At this point, Rutgers is in serious contention for a top-3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
11. Creighton (-2)
Case in point that this was a strange week for the Top 25. Creighton, now with two losses, typically wouldn’t drop only two spots for losing to an unranked team. But when everyone else around loses too… What choice do you have? Creighton is the best two-loss team in the nation, and that second loss came to a good (albeit, inconsistent) Marquette team. Plus, the Bluejays backed it up with back-to-back Big East wins. I don’t feel terrible for giving them the benefit of the doubt.
12. Missouri (+9)
Unlike a certain college football selection committee, I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong. I ranked Missouri far too low last week. The Tigers’ wins over Oregon and Illinois are two of the best in the early season, and a road win at Wichita State is nothing to sneeze at either. As the No. 3 team in Bart Torvik’s Wins Above Bubble stat, it only feels fair to amend my wrongs from last week with a fairer ranking this week, even if the Tigers haven’t played a game in nine days.
13. Tennessee (+7)
Tennessee is quickly becoming one of the most impressive teams in college hoops. Despite starting their season about two weeks later than everyone else, the Volunteers are 4-0 with quality wins over Cincinnati and Colorado, as well as last week’s absolute stompings of Appalachian State and Tennessee Tech by scores of 79-38 and 103-49, respectively. It’s still early, but in pairing preseason expectations with current performances, Tennessee seems like the clear SEC favorite.
14. Saint Louis (-2)
Don’t let a tough road loss to Minnesota fool you. This Saint Louis team is good. Everyone has a down day, and Sunday was that day for Billikens, did in by a poor 3-point shooting performance (2-15). But we shouldn’t forget that this loss came just a few days after a remarkable double-digit home win over a tournament-level NC State team. All things considered, there’s no reason not to believe that Saint Louis won’t be torching Atlantic 10 opponents when the time comes.
15. Xavier (+7)
Much like Missouri, Xavier has put the college basketball world on alert seemingly out of nowhere. Picked seventh in the Big East preseason rankings, the Musketeers are 8-0 with Sunday’s buzzer-beater victory over Marquette giving them a 1-0 start in conference play. And the other wins haven’t all been against some schmoes, as Xavier defeated both Cincinnati and Oklahoma earlier in the month. Again, it’s still too early to tell for sure, but the Muskeeters look legit.
16. Texas Tech (+3)
Texas Tech presents more evidence that you can lose a game and still move up in the rankings. The Red Raiders are 6-2 following the loss to Kansas, but that’s a difficult loss to shame them for. The Jayhawks are clearly one of the elite teams in college hoops, and Texas Tech took them to the wire. What’s most impressive is that the Red Raiders defense (No. 1 in KenPom) held the usually high-scoring Jayhawks to just 58 points. That D is going to be huge when Big 12 play really opens up.
17. Oregon (NEW)
The rankings are familiar territory for the Ducks, and they get back into mine for the first time since the preseason. That season-opening loss to Missouri isn’t looking so bad now, and the Ducks have rattled off six wins since then, including résumé-boosting ones over Seton Hall and San Francisco (by 13 and 10 points, respectively). Oregon now has the chance to re-establish itself as the uncontested top team in the Pac-12, as the second best team, UCLA, heads to Eugene on Wednesday.
18. Richmond (+6)
A nice recovery week for the Spiders brings them up a few spots, aided by a bunch of teams in front of them losing. Last week saw Richmond’s second road win over an SEC team of the season (misery loves company, Kentucky!) as well as a solid neutral-court win over what should be a tournament-level Loyola Chicago team. Most importantly, Jacob Gilyard had 19 points, his season high, in the Loyola win: perhaps a return-to-form for the Spiders’ standout player.
19. Clemson (-6)
Even our favorite underdogs fall sometimes. Clemson is no longer perfect with the loss to Virginia Tech. In the loss, the defense was still spectacular, allowing 66 points and forcing 17 turnovers. But the offense hit a wall, shooting 36% from two, an obvious season low. The Tigers still have impressive wins over Alabama, Purdue and Maryland to fall back on, so they don’t fall out of the rankings completely, but it is certainly fair to drop them a few spots for losing a game they should have won.
20. Michigan (+5)
Sometimes, I truly have no idea how to build these rankings. Upsets happen, good teams underperform, bad teams turn good in an instant… it all contributes to the zany fun that is college basketball. But it also makes putting out this weekly list an exercise in wild subjectivity, splitting hairs, and often logic-defying decision-making. My point here is that Michigan moves up five spots despite not playing a game last week. So there’s that.
21. Arkansas (+2)
I mentioned it last week: Arkansas is flying under the radar. The Razorbacks are 7-0 with wins of 35, 36 and 80 (yes, 80) points this season. Granted, they’ve all come against scrubs, and Sunday’s win over Oral Roberts shows reason for concern (the Razorbacks were down by 10 at halftime), but with Kentucky underperforming, Auburn in for a down year, and Florida expected to miss Keyontae Johnson for some time, the door is open for Arkansas to join the SEC’s top company.
22. Florida State (-8)
A double-digit home loss to UCF is one of the last things I would have expected from a Leonard Hamilton-coached team. The Seminoles are so good at being consistent and losing only on the road. In fact, Florida State’s last loss in Tallahassee came on Jan. 12, 2019 to Duke, marking staggering home winning streak of 27 games. That’s gone now. Still, Florida State isn’t quite gone from the rankings because of those Indiana and Florida wins.
23. North Carolina (NEW)
I don’t feel great about putting 5-2 North Carolina back in the rankings, especially when one of those wins came by six to NC Central. But a win over Kentucky is a win over Kentucky no matter how you slice it, and an early win over Stanford and a good performance in a two-point loss to Texas are good marks on the résumé. There’s obviously still a lot of questions to be answered (ahem, backcourt), but the Tar Heels seem to be vastly improved from last year’s 14-19 team.
24. Michigan State (-14)
Too steep a drop? I disagree. If anything, I think this ranking might be generous. Michigan Stage has been playing with fire since the Dec. 1 win over Duke, allowing the vastly inferior opponents of Detroit, Western Michigan and Oakland to hang around for far too long. That sleepiness finally burned the Spartans, who lost by 14 to a Northwestern team picked to finish last in the Big Ten. Simply put, the Spartans haven’t been playing like a top-25 team. That’s why I think this ranking is generous.
25. Indiana (NEW)
It took me a while to decide which team I wanted to put at No. 25 in this week’s rankings (mostly because I felt a lot of teams were undeserving). I ultimately opted for the Hoosiers, who have looked good in every game this season except for the loss to Texas. That includes wins over Stanford, Providence and Butler and a thrilling overtime loss to a ranked Florida State. In a week where everything went off the wall, why not finish my rankings with an off-the-wall choice?
Next 5: San Diego State, Ohio State, Purdue, Virginia, Illinois
Also considered: Virginia Tech, Saint Mary’s, Colorado, Minnesota, Western Kentucky, Winthrop, LSU, Louisville