College basketball rankings, grades: UConn earns 'A+', UCLA gets rare second 'F' in report card

Dayton and UConn stood alone atop our report card this week, while UCLA once again earned an F

Five of the top six teams in college basketball took a loss this week, plus there were a number of other bizarre and unpredictable results elsewhere, likely giving us upheaval in AP poll come Monday. But you don't have to wait another day for the judgment to be passed down -- fortunately for you, I am here to get ahead of things with my weekly report card.

The top of the sport -- aside from UConn, the only top-six team to not take an L on the week -- took hits in our grades this week as you might expect with so many disappointing outcomes. The bottom of the sport, too, was not spared.

There were plenty of other teams that fared much better, though, so per usual, our weekly grades are below. As always, the grades are handed out based on the week that was, running from Monday-Sunday.

College basketball grades: This week's report card

Team		Grade	Analysis
	UConn	A+	With pure carnage for many of the top teams, UConn by virtue of simply going 2-0 comes out as my highest graded team of the week. The reigning champion Huskies won a close one on the road vs. Xavier then punctuated their A+ week with a win over hapless Georgetown.
	Dayton	A+	People are not paying close enough attention or giving enough respect to the Dayton Flyers. Now 13-2, Dayton got past a respectable UMass team then went on the road and won by 10 over Duquesne. Rank the Flyers!
	Auburn	A	Auburn had a Charmin-soft nonconference slate and its early SEC schedule has thus far been much easier than it looked on paper, but Bruce Pearl's Tigers have done enough to warrant a rare "A" here. They have the best record among SEC teams and are tied atop the league's regular-season race.
	Wisconsin	B+	Wisconsin is more and more looking like a real contender in the Big Ten, and this week it won twice -- at Ohio State and at home vs. Northwestern -- to remain unbeaten in conference play. Max Klesmit has been on a tear of late, and this Badgers offense has weapons both inside and out to keep pace in a loaded league.
	North Carolina	B+	A comfy double-digit road win over NC State was the headline development of the week for UNC, but blasting Syracuse at home by 36 comes in a close second. Tar Heels are humming right now behind an All-American caliber campaign in the works from RJ Davis.
	Texas Tech	B	I did not buy in to Texas Tech this season under first-year coach Grant McCasland. That was a mistake. Tech gets a "B" from me, and the "B" is for "Believe." This team looks good enough not just to get to the NCAAs but make a push when it gets there, too.
	Utah State	B	In a strong year for the Mountain West, Utah State continues to look like the class of the conference after running Wyoming out of the building then turning around to outlast a tough UNLV team Saturday on the road. Danny Sprinkle, the long-time Montana State coach who is in his first year with the program, has something special brewing in Logan, Utah.
	Duke	B	It's hard to give Duke credit for trampling over an oft-trampled Pitt team then narrowly avoiding a season sweep from Georgia Tech. Still, the Pitt win was convincing and the GT win was at least an improvement on the last time it faced the Yellow Jackets. This team desperately needs guards to step up, but big man Kyle Filipowski is standing tall and keeping this team afloat as it finds its identity in the backcourt.
	Kentucky	B-	UK went 1-1 on the week but there's no shame in the one loss coming in overtime on the road to a quality Texas A&M team. Wildcats continue to look convincing with stellar guard play from Rob Dillingham and D.J. Wagner coming on of late.
	Pepperdine	C+	A below-.500 team getting a passing grade, you ask? Why, yes! That's because Pepperdine on Saturday snuck past San Diego, snapping in the process the longest road losing streak in the sport at 29 games.
	Purdue	C+	Nebraska downed Purdue inside Pinnacle Bank in a somewhat fluky-good shooting showing from distance on Tuesday, and poor Penn State just so happened to be the object of Purdue's pent-up frustrations from the game. The loss brings the Boilermakers' grade down quite a bit, but the dominant win -- in which Zach Edey had 30 points and 20 boards -- keeps them bordering on "B" status.
	Kansas	C	An ugly week from Kansas was salvaged by a nice home win over Oklahoma over the weekend. It wasn't good enough to erase the stink, though, of its 65-60 road loss to UCF, in which it committed a season-high 18 turnovers and looked lethargic.
	Illinois	C-	The Illini's close-shave win at home over Michigan State is hardly anything to write home about, and their loss Sunday to Maryland in Champaign probably warrants real concern about the mettle of this team moving forward. They're now 3-2 overall without Terrence Shannon Jr. with one win coming against lowly Fairleigh Dickinson and the other being an escape job this week vs. the shorthanded Spartans.
	Houston	D+	Kelvin Sampson's Houston Cougars lost consecutive games this week to Iowa State and TCU, marking the first time in nearly two years it has a losing streak and moving them to below .500 in conference play for the first time since 2014-15 (Sampson's first year, and pre-Big 12 membership). Home games this week vs. Texas Tech and UCF might help get the Cougars back into the win column.
	UCLA	F	I've only handed out two F grades this season on the report card and UCLA has now been on the receiving end of both. It feels a whole lot like this UCLA team has either quit or has no interest in getting off the mat for Mick Cronin, who has not been shy of criticizing his roster and its development. The 46 point road loss to Utah this week feels like a low point.