I'd like to start the Week 3 college basketball power rankings with a Shaq-like plea for forgiveness to the Auburn Tigers and Bruce Pearl: I owe you an apology. I was familiar with your game (I have proof!), but wavering in my confidence -- by moving Auburn down to No. 2 last week and giving Gonzaga the shine was ... a mistake.
I recognize the error of my ways. I see now that I was wrong.
As part of my penance and as a peace offering, I've moved Auburn back into its rightful spot at No. 1 in the power rankings. A 7-0 record and a Maui Invitational title with wins over Houston, Iowa State, North Carolina and Memphis over the last few weeks is one incredible resume to carry into December.
No one is crowning any team on Nov. 28, 2024, but one thing is absolutely true one month into the college hoops season: Auburn is the best team in the sport and Johni Broome is the best player. Matt Norlander wrote as much Wednesday from Hawaii, and I wholeheartedly agree with my colleague after he saw them up close and personal all week.
One other small but noteworthy tweak in this week's power rankings you'll notice: The Connecticut Huskies have vanished entirely. And deservedly so. The back-to-back champs fell flat on their face in Lahaina on Wednesday in an 85-67 loss to Dayton, the culmination of an 0-3 week in Maui. They were No. 2 in the AP poll Monday and No. 4 in last week's power rankings, but it shouldn't come as a surprise if they are unranked in the former come Monday after officially dropping in the latter today.
So let's dive in here. The Week 3 Power Rankings -- of which there are 16 teams -- are listed below. As I intend to do each week to make it crystal clear, my own personal operating guidelines for how I rank the teams are also listed below. I promise to abide by these as closely as I can throughout the season.
Power Rankings definition: Ranking teams with an emphasis on recent performance based on their level of competition. These are heavily unscientific in nature and can be distilled down to a "vibes" ranking -- with things like margin of victory, injuries, performance vs. top competition, momentum and other sometimes subjective factors weighing into the equation. The power rankings can be thought of in a weekly setting as a reaction -- or sometimes even an overreaction -- to the small sample of the week that was.
Let's get to it.
| 1 | |
| No team has a better resume and no team has looked more impressive than Auburn. Its week in Maui culminated with a title Wednesday after downing Memphis 90-76 to cap a week in which it beat two top-15 teams in Iowa State and North Carolina. | |
| 2 | |
| Kansas now has wins this season over North Carolina, Michigan State and Duke after downing the Blue Devils on Tuesday 75-72. Strictly from an eye test perspective, KU has not looked like the best team in the sport -- and it is No. 7 at KenPom entering Thanksgiving -- but the preseason No. 1 and current No. 1 team in the AP poll deserves some credit for its 6-0 start. | |
| 3 | |
| Tennessee is demolishing every team -- both good and not-so-good -- in its path this season. A 15-point win over Baylor this week added to its impressive start to the season, and that win over Louisville on Nov. 9 is aging gracefully. | |
| 4 | |
| The schedule for Kentucky has been pretty soft of late save for its game vs. Duke two weeks ago, but the Wildcats have won by 29, 49 and 19 points in their last three games. They're 6-0 on the season. | |
| 5 | |
| Marquette barely sneaking into the top 10 of the AP poll this week was a disgrace. This is a top-five team in the sport right now after cushy wins over Purdue, Georgia and Stonehill in its last three outings. | |
| 6 | |
| Wisconsin has one of the best offenses in college basketball this season, which this week powered it to an 81-75 win over a quality Pitt team that has impressed early. Badgers hit big on transfer John Tonje, and John Blackwell has taken a big leap forward. | |
| 7 | |
| Memphis fired four members of its coaching staff before the season and turned over the roster almost entirely, yet has a 6-1 start and a Maui runner-up finish under its belt with wins over UConn and Michigan State. Tigers are legit -- with Tyrese Hunter and PJ Haggerty looking like a dynamic tandem that could take them far. | |
| 8 | |
| This feels a tad low for an Iowa State team that might be a few points away from being No. 1 in the power rankings. The Cyclones nearly took down Auburn at the Maui Invitational before salvaging the week with wins over Dayton and Colorado. | |
| 9 | |
| Duke is a few miscues away from being 6-0 on the season after fumbling late possessions vs. Kentucky and Kansas. A 1-1 week with a win over Arizona and a loss to Kansas keeps the Blue Devils in the top 10. | |
| 10 | |
| We've yet to see the best of Alabama this season, but its B+ has been good enough to get it to 6-1 on the season after wins this week over Houston and Rutgers. | |
| 11 | |
| I've been -- and will continue to be, apparently -- the high guy on Cincinnati. Its schedule has been so soft that even Charmin is (probably) jealous, but it has the No. 4 scoring margin in the sport with real balance on both sides of the floor. | |
| 12 | |
| We should learn more about Florida in the coming week with games vs. Wake Forest and Virginia on tap. What we've learned so far though suggests the Gators are borderline top-10 quality after a 6-0 start. They dominated Southern Illinois this week at home 93-68. | |
| 13 | |
| Gonzaga played with fire vs. West Virginia in the Bahamas and got burned in OT on Wednesday to fall to 5-1 on the season. The power rankings are heavily influenced by recent results, so that's a major ding for a team that could've -- and should've -- been pushing for the No. 2 spot this week. | |
| 14 | |
| The computers continue to love Houston -- it is No. 3 at KenPom and No. 1 at BartTorvik -- and I continue to give the Cougars some grace in this space because of that. There's no shame in an OT loss to Alabama and a 5-point loss to Auburn on Nov. 9 -- the only blemishes on their resume so far this season. | |
| 15 | |
| It was a big week for Oregon, which kicked off its 3-0 week with a win at Oregon State and finished it with double-digit wins over Texas A&M and San Diego State in Las Vegas. Ducks are 7-0, their best start since 2013-14. | |
| 16 | |
| Underrated result this week: Michigan dominating No. 22 Xavier 78-53 on Wednesday in the Fort Myers Tip-Off. That's a whoa. First-year coach Dusty May might have something cooking in Ann Arbor. | |