Iowa State crashed the top five of the latest College Basketball Power Rankings this week for the first time and Florida moved to its highest ranking (No. 3) of the season after high profile flops from UCLA and Kentucky last week in the CBS Sports Classic.
The Cyclones jumped up to No. 5 and the Gators moved all the way up to No. 3 behind the entrenched big two of Auburn and Tennessee at the top. Iowa State's rise of two spots came as a result of other team's failures but also on the heels of (another) nonconference beatdown, this week beating Morgan State by 27 to polish off its non-league schedule. Florida's rise of two spots comes under similar circumstances, with a 99-45 win this week over North Florida ushering it to a 12-0 record.
Auburn, meanwhile, held steady at No. 1 after just one outing vs. Purdue ended in a cushy 18-point win. Tennessee also held firm at No. 2 despite a scare from Middle Tennessee that also ended in an 18-point win. The latest results give the SEC dominance in the Power Rankings with six of the top 10 and each of the top three hailing from the SEC.
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 |  |
| Johni Broome's shoulder injury didn't keep him out of Saturday's tilt vs. Purdue and Auburn as a result rolled -- as it has done all season -- in an 87-69 victory. It's starting to feel like Auburn is in its own tier at the top of the sport this season. Last week: No. 1 | |
| 2 |  |
| Middle Tennessee gave Tennessee a brief scare in Knoxville this week before the Vols rallied down the stretch to win by a comfortable 18 points. They're 12-0 on the season and rank second in college basketball in scoring margin. Last week: No. 2 | |
| 3 |  |
| Despite a soft nonconference schedule, Florida's emerged looking like the real deal with a 12-0 record -- with a 99-45 win over North Florida just the latest showcase of its bona fides. Gators schedule gets hard quick as the calendar flips to 2025 in a brutally challenging SEC, but the 2024 results are indisputable. Last week: No. 5 | |
| 4 |  |
| Let me let you in on a little secret: Online bullying works. I've ranked Iowa State lower than No. 5 in the Power Rankings most of the season and Cyclones fans have been noisy in letting me know of the great offense it has caused them. So no more. A 99-72 win over Morgan State this week, losses to teams ahead of it (and, truthfully, some old-fashioned online shaming) gets them into the top five with Big 12 play starting this week. Last week: No. 7 | |
| 5 |  |
| UConn remains undefeated in the continental United States, a fact I will continue to bring up so long as it's relevant. The three-game skid in the Maui Invitational in November is increasingly looking aberrational for the surging Huskies who have won six-straight and counting. Last week: No. 3 | |
| 6 |  |
| Duke took it to Georgia Tech last Saturday with Cooper Flagg scoring 13 points on his 18th birthday and freshman teammate Kon Knueppel scoring a game-high 18 in the win. KenPom has the Blue Devils as favorites in each of its remaining games this season. Last week: No. 8 | |
| 7 |  |
| The only outing of the last week for A&M was a glorified exhibition in a 77-45 home win over Houston Christian. Aggies have one more game this weekend in nonconference action before SEC play next Saturday begins. Last week: No. 9 | |
| 8 |  |
| Computer numbers aren't a huge fan of OU -- it ranks No. 41 in the NET, No. 37 at KenPom and No. 49 at BartTorvik -- but the Sooners remain undefeated and have been impressive while doing so. At 12-0 on the season with Prairie View A&M coming to town this weekend, they'll likely be undefeated entering SEC play for the first time with a road trip to Tuscaloosa awaiting them. Last week: No. 10 | |
| 9 |  |
| Mark Sears looking more like Mark Sears the last few weeks has (unsurprisingly) made Alabama more like the Alabama we all expected to see when it opened the season ranked No. 2. To be 10-2 after the Tide's opening few months with wins vs. Illinois, Houston and North Carolina shows their ceiling remains very high. Last week: No. 11 | |
| 10 |  |
| Kevin Willard's Terrapins stole Syracuse's lunch money on live television Saturday in an 87-60 win to remain No. 1 among all college basketball teams in scoring margin. Maryland continues to fly under the radar (for now) as the most formidable Final Four contender in the Big Ten. This team is the real deal. Last week: No. 15 | |
| 11 |  |
| A 4-3 start with losses to Auburn, Alabama in OT and San Diego State in OT is increasingly looking like a more than acceptable couple of stumbles for Houston out of the gate. It has rallied to win four-straight with Big 12 play kicking up this week, where it should be considered the favorite to defend its conference crown. Last week: No.12 | |
| 12 |  |
| Cincy downed Xavier in the Crosstown Shootout then defeated Dayton and Grambling State in a three-day span to improve to 10-1 on the season. I was high on the Bearcats before their (still-puzzling) loss at Villanova earlier this month, and it seems that isolated faceplant was nothing more than that. Last week: NR | |
| 13 |  |
| St. John's finally finished on the right side of a one-possession game this week in a 72-70 road win over Providence. That was the Red Storm's fifth consecutive win, and they remain undefeated in games played in the U.S. Last week: No.16 | |
| 14 |  |
| UCLA coughed up a 16-point second-half lead to North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic, and it was every bit as ugly as it sounds. Bruins hanging on for dear life now in the Power Rankings but they still remain, thanks to a 9-1 record in their last 10 games that includes wins over Oregon and Arizona away from Pauley Pavilion. Last week: No. 4 | |
| 15 |  |
| The first real stinker of Mark Pope's tenure at Kentucky came this week in the CBS Sports Classic in an 85-65 loss to unranked Ohio State, which entered the game having lost three of its previous five. It wasn't UK's day. It happens. Wins the last three weeks over Gonzaga and Louisville keep the 'Cats afloat here. Last week: No. 6 | |
| 16 |  |
| An 11-1 record for Mississippi State doesn't do justice to the types of wins this Bulldogs teams have notched of late. They destroyed Pitt by 33 in early December and surprisingly took it to Memphis on the Tigers' home floor this last week to earn a spot in the top 16 this week. Last week: NR | |
