The college basketball season is nearing the middle of its second month. At this point in the calendar, the cream usually starts to rise to the top as players and teams begin showing more consistency. But this season, just as soon as we start to gain confidence in a team, it is instantly crushed. In the past week alone, three of the top four teams in the power rankings suffered losses, and AP No. 1 Kansas -- a frequent flyer in the rankings -- took two losses. Alas, yet another shake-up in the rankings is in order.
Tennessee held on to the No. 1 spot it claimed last week from Auburn, but the entire top five is reconfigured to account for major risers and fallers. The list includes Duke, which rose from No. 5 to No. 2 after stacking wins over Louisville and Incarnate Word following a statement win over Auburn. It also includes three teams that rose from unranked to the top five: No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 UConn (welcome back!) and No. 5 Texas A&M.
There's much to unpack here, so let's dive in with the rankings guidelines as we always do and make clear how we operate in this space. 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 |  |
| Tennessee played its closest game of the season Tuesday and still won by double digits in a 75-62 victory over Miami. The Vols held Miami to 39.3% shooting from the field and forced 14 turnovers. | |
| 2 |  |
| This young Duke team showed some resilience this week. The Blue Devils shook off an early deficit at Louisville to win by 11 points inside the KFC Yum! Center. They are No. 1 in adjusted defensive efficiency metrics at KenPom and boast wins over Arizona, Auburn and Louisville in the last month. | |
| 3 |  |
| Don't look now, but Mick Cronin's Bruins are quietly coming on strong with seven-straight wins. That run is highlighted by a 73-71 road win over Oregon on Sunday. Transfers Tyler Bilodeau and Eric Dailey Jr. have been instant impact additions. | |
| 4 |  |
| Rumors of UConn's demise were greatly, greatly exaggerated. UConn has shaken off its Maui funk with three wins the last two weeks -- including back-to-back wins over two teams from the Lone Star State in Baylor and Texas. Alex Karaban returned from injury with 21 points and 11 rebounds in the statement road win over the Longhorns. | |
| 5 |  |
| Offense has been hard to rely on for Texas A&M -- that may be a theme all season -- but its defense has helped the Aggies string together eight wins in their last nine outings. The latest victims were Wake Forest and Texas Tech, which were held to 44 and 67 points, respectively. | |
| 6 |  |
| Riding high off a home win over Kentucky last week, Brad Brownell's Clemson club took down Miami by 10 points on the road Saturday to improve to 9-1 on the year. That ties the program's best start through 10 games of a regular season under Brownell. | |
| 7 |  |
| Kentucky survived a close call from Gonzaga in OT to win 90-89 Saturday, and managed to brush off Colgate at home Wednesday to get to 2-0 on the week. Wildcats are 9-1 with rival Louisville coming to town Saturday. | |
| 8 |  |
| No change in the ranking here for Florida after no action in the last week. Gators still one of just seven unbeaten teams in college hoops. | |
| 9 |  |
| Auburn took out all its frustration after its first loss of the season to Duke with a 98-54 beatdown of Richmond at home Saturday. Bruce Pearl's team has the No. 9 scoring offense in the country at 87.0 points per game. | |
| 10 |  |
| Iowa State remains in the top 10 after beating Jackson State by 42 points. That comes after wins over Marquette, Colorado and Dayton. The Cyclones has their first true road test of the season on deck Thursday night at Iowa. | |
| 11 |  |
| Missouri beat a No. 1 team for the first time in more than two decades this week in defeating No. 1 Kansas in the Border War rivalry. Kansas City native Tamar Bates exploded for 29 points in the win to move the Tigers to 8-1. | |
| 12 |  |
| Kam Jones' 32-point night helped Marquette bounce back into the win column after its first loss of the season earlier in the week to Iowa State on Saturday. Jones is second in the Big East in scoring and assists. | |
| 13 |  |
| Now 2-2 in its last four games, Gonzaga drops out of the top 10 following an OT loss to Kentucky. Its offense remains one of the best in the country, but the defense continues to cause problems. | |
| 14 |  |
| Alabama's high-octane offense tore through North Carolina's Swiss cheese defense this week in a 94-79 road win. | |
| 15 |  |
| Bullying inferior opponents is what Houston does best under Kelvin Sampson and this week was a masterclass in taking care of business. The Cougars won by 28 and 20 points over Butler and Troy, respectively, with LJ Cryer combining for 42 points in the two wins. | |
| 16 |  |
| A soft schedule has gotten OU to 9-0 on the season so we're giving the Sooners some credit. But tougher tests are incoming. Rival Oklahoma State is on tap Saturday in Oklahoma City, and first-year coach Steve Lutz has the Cowboys playing well of late. | |
