Week One Power Rankings
We are one week into the College Basketball season, in one week we saw a few great performances, a couple of big upsets, which leads me into the Week One Power Rankings, which should reflect both preseason success with week one game results, here’s how it came out.
1.Duke: The Blue Devils absolutely smashed Kentucky on opening night, leaving no doubt that they deserve to be the number one team. The trio of RJ Barrett, Zion Williamson, and Cam Reddish all look like the top three picks in this years NBA Draft.
2.Kansas: The Jayhawks looked like the preseason number one team in the country, I guess the only thing that is keeping them from that spot is that they didn’t run Michigan State out of the building as Duke did in their game against Kentucky.
3.Virginia: Virginia has won their two games pretty comfortably, which has allowed other players to get minutes in reserve. The Cavaliers don’t really play anyone in non-conference play so they should hold this spot for a while.
4.Nevada: The Wolf Pack struggled to find their groove early on against BYU but when Caleb Martin started hitting shots they got rolling. This team doesn’t play a great non-conference schedule, so don’t be surprised if they make a run at an undefeated regular season.
5.Gonzaga: The Bulldogs small-ball lineup has been fun to watch so far this year and it is also leading to a lot of points, 112 per game to be exact.
6.North Carolina: Give a lot of credit to Roy Williams for playing at Wofford and at Elon to start the season. The team has won both games but can anyone explain to me why Nassir Little isn’t starting?
7.Auburn: The Tigers ran a pretty good Washington team out of the gym on Friday night. This Auburn team looks pretty similar to the one that started 22-3 last season before losing Anfernee McLemore to injury.
8.Florida State: The Seminoles absolutely destroyed Florida on opening night, winning 81-60. This team isn’t full of star players but the sum is greater than each of the parts with this team.
9.Tennessee: Tennessee has not missed a beat yet this season, as they are 2-0. Grant Williams appears to have gotten better as he is 4-6 from three this season, while still averaging 22 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
10.Kansas State: The Wildcats looked horrible on the offensive end but it didn’t matter as they still took care of Kennesaw State.
11.Villanova: The defending champs have taken care of business against Morgan State and Quinnipiac, now comes their National Championship rematch against Michigan in the Pavilion.
12.Syracuse: The Orange have been without Frank Howard but they have not missed a beat. Oshae Brissett appears to have taken a great sophomore jump, while Elijah Hughes is a great third or fourth option.
13.North Carolina State: The Wolfpack are one of the teams I have been blown away with this week. They are scoring the ball at a really high level, while their biggest issue is their frontcourt, which has seemed to been solved as Derek Funderburk looks like a great inside threat.
14.Virginia Tech: The Hokies beat Gardner-Webb by a lot, now they will play in the Charleston Classic, where they will be the tournament classics.
15.Kentucky: Kentucky looks awful thus far, first they go out and get absolutely destroyed against Kentucky in the Champions Classic. Then they are on upset alert all night against Southern Illinois. This team doesn’t really have a go-to scorer right now and they are turning the ball over at a really high rate.
16.Marquette: The Golden Eagles have magically turned from a team that plays no defense, to a team that plays great defense. If that continues this team will be pretty good, the first real test will be on Wednesday when Marquette plays at Indiana.
17.Oregon: The Ducks have thrown out some interesting lineup choices by starting Kenny Wooten, Bol Bol, and Paul White. Thus far it has worked out as the Ducks are 2-0.
18.LSU: The Tigers beat up on Southeast Louisiana, while narrowly escaping against UNC Greensboro. Naz Reid and Tremont Waters both have looked pretty good thus far this season.
19.Michigan State: The Spartans look somewhat overwhelmed against Kansas but they were able to make it a game at the end. Nick Ward looked like a monster against Florida Gulf Coast, while Josh Langford looks like a go-to scorer this year.
20.Buffalo: After shooting terribly in a win against St. Francis (PA), Buffalo went into Morgantown and beat West Virginia. CJ Massinburg went off in that game scoring a game-high 43 points.
21.Texas: The Longhorns didn’t make it look easy against Arkansas but they managed to pull out a win in part due to the late-game heroics by Kerwin Roach. This offense is very stagnant if they can fix that they’ll be a better team.
22.Indiana: The Hoosiers have started 2-0 behind two good games from Romeo Langford, while Justin Smith looks better this year as well. They play Marquette at home on Wednesday and at Arkansas, on Sunday so we’ll know by next week if this team is actually good.
23.Mississippi State: The Bulldogs came into this season with high expectations and thus far they have lived up to the hype, going 2-0. Quinndary Weatherspoon thus far is averaging 21.5 points per game, which is very impressive.
24.Michigan: The Wolverines are 2-0, in those two games they only allowed a combined 81 points, which shows that they are in great shape on the defensive end. Offensively they still could improve.
25.Purdue: Carsen Edwards has everything like my preseason National Player of the year, scoring around him thus far has been there as well. If that continues this Purdue team will be very good.
Just Missed Out: Butler, Clemson, Ohio State, Nebraska