College basketball rankings: Improved shooting has West Virginia No. 9 in the updated Top 25 And 1
The Mountaineers' offense was clicking in their 87-71 victory vs. then-No. 21 Richmond on Sunday.
By
Gary Parrish
•
1 min read
West Virginia is known for lots of things — among them offensive rebounding, defense, winning. Shooting, unfortunately, is not one of them. But the Mountaineers have been shooting the ball well in practices, according to coach Bob Huggins. And it finally translated to the court Sunday during an 87-71 victory over Richmond.
"They've shot like that in practice pretty much all along," Huggins said. "I don't think it was a matter of them looking like they were hot. They were just normal."
West Virginia took 48 2-pointers against Richmond and made 28 of them. That's 58.3%. West Virginia took 14 3-pointers against Richmond and made eight of them. That's 57.1%. So the Mountaineers were terrific inside of the arc and outside of the arc. As a result, their offensive-efficiency rating now ranks 13th nationally — which, when combined with a top-10 defensive-efficiency ranking, suggests Huggins has a team good enough to challenge Baylor and Kansas at the top of the Big 12 and compete for the 2021 national title.
West Virginia is No. 9 in Monday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. Meantime, I've removed Richmond from the Top 25 And 1 largely because the Spiders weren't competitive at West Virginia, but also because their "great" win at Kentucky no longer looks like a "great" win because, these days, basically everybody that plays Kentucky beats Kentucky.
Clemson took Richmond's spot.
Brad Brownell's Tigers are 5-0 with wins over Purdue, Maryland, Alabama and Mississippi State. So they're 2-0 against the SEC and 2-0 against the Big Ten with four victories over top-85 KenPom teams. That's a nice start to this season.
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Monday's Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
1
Clemson
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Gonzaga's perfect record features wins over Kansas and West Virginia. The Zags have temporarily suspended basketball activities because of COVID-19 issues. | -- | 9-1 |
| 2 |  | Baylor's perfect record is highlighted by double-digit wins over Illinois and Washington. The Bears have temporarily suspended basketball activities because of COVID-19 issues. | -- | 7-2 |
| 3 |  | Luka Garza finished with 23 points and eight rebounds in Sunday's 106-53 victory over Northern Illinois. The Hawkeyes' perfect record also features double-digit wins over North Carolina and Iowa State. | -- | 8-2 |
| 4 |  | Ochai Agbaji finished with 18 points and five rebounds in Friday's 95-50 victory over Omaha. The Jayhawks' lone loss is a neutral-court loss to top-ranked Gonzaga. | -- | 7-3 |
| 5 |  | Gabe Brown made five 3-pointers and finished with 20 points in Sunday's 109-91 victory over Oakland. The Spartans' perfect record also features wins over Duke and Notre Dame. | -- | 8-1 |
| 6 |  | Marcus Zegarowski finished with 22 points, five assists and four steals in Friday's 98-74 victory over Nebraska. The Bluejays' lone loss is a one-point loss at Kansas. | -- | 5-4 |
| 7 |  | John Fulkerson finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 65-56 victory over Cincinnati. The Vols' 2-0 record also features a win over Colorado. | -- | 7-3 |
| 8 |  | Collin Gillespie finished with 18 points and six assists in Friday's 79-63 victory at Georgetown. The Wildcats' 5-1 record includes wins over Texas and Arizona State. | -- | 7-2 |
| 9 | | Miles McBride finished with 20 points and five assists in Sunday's 87-71 victory over Richmond. The Mountaineers' lone loss is a single-digit loss to Gonzaga. | -- | 8-3 |
| 10 |  | Virginia's lone loss is a one-point loss to San Francisco. The Cavaliers have temporarily suspended basketball activities because of COVID-19 issues. | -- | 9-1 |
| 11 |  | Houston's perfect record features a double-digit win over Texas Tech. The Cougars have temporarily suspended basketball activities because of COVID-19 issues. | -- | 9-1 |
| 12 |  | Greg Brown finished with 18 points and three blocks in Wednesday's 74-53 victory over Texas State. The Longhorns' 5-1 record features wins over North Carolina and Indiana. | -- | 7-4 |
| 13 |  | Terrence Shannon finished with 15 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 77-57 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christie. The Red Raiders' lone loss is a neutral-court loss to Houston. | -- | 7-2 |
| 14 |  | Brad Davison finished with 23 points in Wednesday's 73-62 victory over Rhode Island. The Badgers' next scheduled game is against Northern Iowa. | -- | 7-3 |
| 15 |  | Duane Washington Jr. finished with 17 points in Sunday's 67-61 victory over Cleveland State. The Buckeyes' next scheduled game is Wednesday at Purdue. | -- | 7-2 |
| 16 |  | Xavier Pinson finished with 17 points and five assists in Saturday's 81-78 victory over Illinois. Missouri's 5-0 record also includes a win over Oregon. | -- | 9-2 |
| 17 |  | The Illini finished with 13 turnovers and just 10 assists in Saturday's 81-78 loss at Missouri. Illinois' other loss is a neutral-court loss to Baylor. | -- | 8-2 |
| 18 |  | Ron Harper Jr. made five 3-pointers and finished with 26 points in Tuesday's 79-69 victory over Syracuse. The Scarlet Knights' next three scheduled games are against Maryland, Illinois and Ohio State. | -- | 5-5 |
| 19 |  | The Blue Devils missed 17 of the 22 3-pointers they attempted in Tuesday's 83-68 loss to Illinois. Duke has now lost two non-league games at home for the first time in nearly 40 years. | -- | 10-0 |
| 20 |  | Armando Bacot finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's 73-67 victory over North Carolina Central. Both of UNC's losses are to teams ahead of them in the Top 25 And 1. | -- | 8-1 |
| 21 |  | Jordan Schakel finished with 25 points and six rebounds in Thursday's 80-68 victory at Arizona State. The Aztecs' 5-0 record also features a win over UCLA. | 1 | 5-3 |
| 22 |  | Scottie Barnes finished with 17 points and five assists in Saturday's 83-71 victory over Florida. The Seminoles also own a win over Indiana. | 1 | 5-4 |
| 23 |  | Dre Davis finished with 21 points and two assists in Tuesday's 75-54 victory over Western Kentucky. The Cardinals' 4-0 record also features a win over Seton Hall. | 1 | 8-1 |
| 24 |  | Hunter Dickinson finished with 20 points and seven rebounds in Sunday's 62-58 victory over Penn State. The Wolverines' perfect record also features wins over Toledo and UCF. | 1 | 9-0 |
| 25 |  | Gibson Jimerson finished with 21 points in Tuesday's 88-65 victory over Central Arkansas. The Billikens' 4-0 record features a win over LSU. | 1 | 8-1 |
| 26 |  | Al-Amir Dawes finished with 10 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 64-56 victory over Alabama. The Tigers' perfect record also features wins over Purdue, Maryland and Mississippi State. | NR | 7-3 |
