North Carolina’s 74-63 win over Louisville late Wednesday doubled as the Tar Heels’ ninth top-50 RPI victory and provided them with a two-game cushion atop the ACC standings. In other words, Roy Williams is about to win his eighth ACC regular-season title in a 13-year span, which will be six more than Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski will have won in that same time frame.
Impressive stuff.
And let the record show the prediction here has North Carolina ultimately ending up as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, a prediction with which our Jerry Palm agrees. That’s why I now have the Tar Heels ranked fourth in the Top 25 (and one) — because the resume is taking top-seed form. They own six wins over teams also ranked in the Top 25 (and one). They only have two sub-40 losses, both of which came before the calendar turned to 2017.
UNC’s jump to No. 4 in the Top 25 (and one) caused Baylor, Oregon and Arizona to each drop one spot, no fault of their own. And Butler’s jump from 19th to 11th after its 74-66 victory at Villanova caused West Virginia, Kentucky, Purdue, Florida, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Cincinnati and Florida State to each drop one spot, also no fault of their own. Meantime, Oklahoma State and Wichita State are now 25th and 26th. If you’re wondering, Minnesota would be 27th. Richard Pitino’s Gophers have won six straight games and can reasonably be ranked. I hate leaving them out.
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | The Zags own four top-25 RPI wins and seven top-50 RPI wins. They've won 25 of their 28 games by double-digits - including each of the past 20. | -- | 27-8 |
| 2 |  | The Jayhawks have won five straight games since losing to Iowa State. They've already secured a 13th straight Big 12 title. | 1 | 23-11 |
| 3 |  | The Wildcats' still have a resume worthy of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament despite Wednesday's loss to Butler. They own nine top-50 RPI wins and just one sub-15 loss. | 1 | 18-16 |
| 4 |  | The Tar Heels' win over Louisville on Wednesday gave them a two-game lead in the ACC standings. They're on the verge of winning their eighth ACC regular-season title in the past 13 years. | 6 | 29-8 |
| 5 |  | The Bears snapped their two-game losing streak Tuesday via a 60-54 victory over Oklahoma. They're 8-3 vs. top-50 RPI opponents with zero sub-100 losses. | 1 | 24-11 |
| 6 |  | Dillon Brooks' buzzer-beater lifted Oregon to a win at Cal late Wednesday. The Ducks will take a four-game winning streak into Saturday's game at Stanford. | 1 | 24-12 |
| 7 |  | The Wildcats have won 19 of their past 20 games. The lone loss in that stretch is a loss at Oregon. | 1 | 27-9 |
| 8 |  | The Cardinals' resume features six top-50 RPI wins and zero sub-25 losses. They own victories over Duke, Kentucky and Purdue. | 1 | 8-24 |
| 9 |  | The Bruins avenged an earlier loss to USC by beating the Trojans 102-70 late Saturday. They'll take a five-game winning streak into Thursday's game with Arizona State. | -- | 16-17 |
| 10 |  | The Blue Devils' seven-game winning streak was snapped Wednesday at Syracuse. Grayson Allen missed nine of the 11 shots he attempted in the loss. | 2 | 27-9 |
| 11 |  | The Bulldogs completed a regular-season sweep of Villanova on Wednesday. The victory doubled as their eighth top-50 RPI win. | 8 | 18-15 |
| 12 |  | The Mountaineers have won four of their past five games. The lone loss in the stretch is a OT loss at Kansas. | 1 | 9-23 |
| 13 |  | The Wildcats will take a five-game winning streak into Saturday's showdown with Florida. They're tied with the Gators atop the SEC standings. | 1 | 23-10 |
| 14 |  | The Boilermakers won at Penn State on Tuesday despite getting just 10 points and nine rebounds from Caleb Swanigan. They'll have a six-game winning streak heading into Saturday's game with Michigan. | 1 | 34-5 |
| 15 |  | The Gators will take a nine-game winning streak into Saturday's rematch with Kentucky. They have five top-50 RPI wins and zero sub-50 losses. | 1 | 24-12 |
| 16 |  | The Irish will take a four-game winning streak into their rematch with Georgia Tech. They're shooting 81.6 percent from the free throw line, which ranks first nationally. | 1 | 13-20 |
| 17 |  | The Badgers snapped their two-game losing streak Sunday with a win over Maryland. They're tied with Purdue atop the Big Ten standings. | 1 | 22-14 |
| 18 |  | The Bearcats have won 24 straight home games. They've only lost once in the past 10 weeks. | 1 | 22-15 |
| 19 |  | The Seminoles snapped their two-game losing streak Monday with a 104-72 win over Boston College. They're 9-2 vs. top-50 RPI teams. | 1 | 17-16 |
| 20 |  | The Gaels have only lost twice in the past two months. Both of those losses were to top-ranked Gonzaga. | -- | 26-8 |
| 21 |  | The Trojans only have two sub-20 RPI losses on their resume. They own victories over UCLA and SMU. | -- | 15-18 |
| 22 |  | The Mustangs have only lost once since Nov. 30. That lone loss is a 66-64 loss at Cincinnati. | -- | 20-13 |
| 23 |  | The Cyclones won at Texas Tech on Monday to extend their winning streak to four games. They now have eight top-50 KenPom wins and just three sub-50 losses. | 2 | 29-8 |
| 24 |  | The Cavaliers have six top-50 RPI wins and just three sub-40 losses even though they've lost six of their past eight games. They're heading to NC State on a four-game losing streak. | 2 | 23-11 |
| 25 |  | The Cowboys have won nine of their past 10 games heading into Saturday's game with Texas Tech. They haven't lost to a sub-25 RPI team in more than five weeks. | NR | 12-20 |
| 26 |  | The Shockers will take an 11-game winning streak into Saturday's regular-season finale with Missouri State. They've won their past six games by an average of 25.0 points. | NR | 15-19 |
