College basketball rankings: Nova, KU, Kentucky fall; welcome to No. 1, Gonzaga
Our Top 25 (and one) gets a major shakeup after a wild night of upsets
By
Gary Parrish
•
1 min read
The schools I had No. 1 (Villanova), No. 2 (Kansas) and No. 3 (Kentucky) in the Top 25 (and one) on Tuesday morning all lost on a wild Tuesday night, and if you listened to Monday's episode of the Eye on College Basketball podcast you know I predicted this might happen. I actually picked Villanova to lose at Marquette and Kansas to lose at West Virginia before adding that Kentucky might similarly find itself in trouble at Tennessee. And, boy, did Kentucky ever find itself in trouble at Tennessee.
The byproduct of the craziness is this: Gonzaga is now No. 1 in the Top 25 (and one).
It's a ranking earned.
The Zags are 20-0 with victories over Arizona, Florida, Saint Mary's, Iowa State and, yes, the Tennessee team that just beat Kentucky. That means Gonzaga is undefeated and in possession of five top-45 KenPom wins, which is more than Kentucky, Arizona, UCLA, Duke and some other big-brand and ranked schools own. So the body of work is worthy of respect. And, if you're into computers, let the record show Gonzaga is also No. 1 at KenPom thanks to a top-10 offense and top-10 defense.
The complete and updated Top 25 (and one) is below.
Biggest Movers
4
West Virginia
8
Notre Dame
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | The Zags' 20-game winning streak is the fourth longest in school history. Nigel Williams-Goss is averaging a team-high 14.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists. | 3 | 9-1 |
| 2 |  | The Bears have won three straight since losing at West Virginia. Their resume now features nine top-55 KenPom victories and just that lone loss to the Mountaineers. | 3 | 7-2 |
| 3 |  | The Wildcats' five-game winning streak was snapped Tuesday at Marquette. Villanova missed 28 of 34 3-point attempts in the loss. | 2 | 7-2 |
| 4 |  | The Jayhawks' 18-game winning streak was snapped Tuesday at West Virginia. Next up is Saturday's showdown with Kentucky at Rupp Arena. | 2 | 7-3 |
| 5 |  | The Seminoles are 7-1 against top-25 RPI teams and 9-1 against the top 50. They're 6-1 in the ACC and tied with North Carolina atop the league standings. | 1 | 5-4 |
| 6 |  | The Wildcats' victory at UCLA on Saturday extended their winning streak to 12 games. Allonzo Trier got 12 points in what was his first game of the season. | 1 | 8-0 |
| 7 |  | Saturday's loss to Arizona dropped the Bruins to 1-2 against ranked opponents. UCLA is 3-2 against top-50 KenPom schools. | 1 | 7-2 |
| 8 |  | The Wildcats took their first SEC loss Tuesday at Tennessee. Kentucky is now 3-3 vs. top-50 KenPom teams. | 5 | 6-4 |
| 9 |  | The Bulldogs needed overtime to win at DePaul on Saturday. Kethan Savage finished with 20 points off of the bench. | -- | 7-2 |
| 10 |  | The Cavaliers own road wins at Louisville, Notre Dame, Clemson and California. They'll take a five-game winning streak into Sunday's game at Villanova. | 2 | 9-1 |
| 11 |  | The Tar Heels have won six straight since losing at Georgia Tech. Justin Jackson is averaging a team-high 18.2 points and 5.0 rebounds in 30.5 minutes per game. | -- | 8-1 |
| 12 |  | The Cardinals beat Pitt by 55 points on Tuesday. They shot 58.2 percent against the Panthers and made 12 3-pointers. | 1 | 8-1 |
| 13 |  | The Mountaineers own victories over Baylor, Kansas and Virginia. Their four losses have come by a total of 11 points. | 4 | 8-3 |
| 14 |  | The Ducks have won 16 straight since losing to Georgetown. They handled Stanford easily Saturday despite Dillon Brooks being sidelined with an injury. | -- | 4-5 |
| 15 |  | The Badgers have won four straight since losing at Purdue. They're 6-1 in the Big Ten and tied atop the league standings with Maryland. | -- | 7-3 |
| 16 |  | The Bearcats have won 10 straight since losing at Butler. They're 7-2 against the top 75 of the RPI with wins over Iowa State and SMU. | -- | 6-3 |
| 17 |  | Caleb Swanigan got 25 points and 17 rebounds in Tuesday's win at Michigan State. It was his 17th double-double of the season. | 1 | 9-1 |
| 18 |  | The Irish lost by 17 points on their home floor to Virginia on Tuesday. They're 1-2 in their past three games heading into Saturday's trip to Georgia Tech. | 8 | 8-3 |
| 19 |  | The Blue Devils' resume features three top-50 KenPom wins and one sub-50 loss. KenPom now projects them to finish 9-9 in the ACC, where they are currently 3-4 after falling to NC State. | -- | 10-0 |
| 20 |  | The Bluejays played without Maurice Watson for the first time and lost Saturday at home to Marquette. Watson is done for the season with a torn ACL. | -- | 5-4 |
| 21 |  | The Gamecocks are 13-1 in games in which Sindarius Thornwell has played. The lone loss is last weekend at Kentucky. | -- | 6-3 |
| 22 |  | Jock Landale finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's win over Pepperdine. The Gaels have won two straight since losing at Gonzaga. | -- | 9-1 |
| 23 |  | The Musketeers snapped their three-game losing streak Sunday with a win over Georgetown. Only one of Xavier's five losses is to an unranked opponent. | -- | 7-3 |
| 24 |  | The Gators' resume features five top-55 KenPom wins and just one loss to an unranked opponent. They're third in the SEC standings behind only Kentucky and South Carolina. | -- | 5-4 |
| 25 |  | The Cyclones have won two straight since losing to Kansas. Five of their six losses are to top-40 KenPom teams. | -- | 9-0 |
| 26 |  | Melo Trimble got 17 points on eight shots in Tuesday's win over Rutgers. The Terps have won five straight since losing to Nebraska. | -- | 6-4 |
