Arizona blasted Wisconsin on Saturday, 98-73. Purdue handled Alabama on Saturday, 92-86. So the much-anticipated showdown between Tommy Lloyd's Wildcats and Matt Painter's Boilermakers is now set.
Arizona vs. Purdue in Indianapolis.
It'll be an afternoon matchup next Saturday inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse between the schools sitting at No. 1 (Arizona) and No. 2 (Purdue) in Sunday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. It'll headline next weekend's schedule that'll also provide us with Kansas-Indiana, Baylor-Michigan State, Houston-Texas A&M, North Carolina-Kentucky, Creighton-Alabama, Clemson-Memphis and Ohio State-UCLA.
Sounds like a blast.
For those curious, KenPom.com is projecting a final score of Purdue 82, Arizona 80. If it goes down that way, the Boilermakers would enter Week 7 of this season with victories over the schools currently ranked No. 1 (Arizona), No. 7 (Marquette), No. 9 (Tennessee), No. 12 (Gonzaga) and No. 26 (Alabama) in the Top 25 And 1. That's why, if Purdue beats Arizona next Saturday, the Boilermakers should return to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll the following Monday based on the idea that A) their lone loss would be an overtime loss on the road to a top-50 KenPom team (Northwestern), and B) nobody would be able to match the quality of their victories.
Anyway …
Anybody who thought Purdue might look past Alabama and all the way ahead to Arizona must've forgotten that Saturday's neutral-court contest with the Crimson Tide was Zach Edey's "Homecoming Game," for lack of a better term. It was played in Toronto, where the reigning CBS Sports National Player of the Year was born and raised. Edey showed out in front of friends and family by taking 20 shots, making 12 of them and finishing with 35 points and seven rebounds. He was 11-of-11 from the free throw line.
"Obviously, Zach Edey is the leading candidate for national player of the year -- [and] you can see why, " said Alabama coach Nate Oats. "He's a tough cover. We didn't do a terrible job on him — and he [still] had 35 points. He makes things difficult."
As Oats noted, Edey is indeed the leading candidate to be the national player of the year, which means he's on track to be the first back-to-back Wooden Award winner since Virginia's Ralph Sampson took the hardware in both 1982 and 1983. Edey is now averaging a career-high 24.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and a career-high 2.6 blocks in 29.1 minutes per game. His shooting percentage of 63.0 is 2.3 percentage points higher than it was last season when he won all POY trophies.
If you're a fan of Kentucky, Miami, Creighton or Duke wondering why your team dropped in Sunday's Top 25 And 1 despite winning or not playing Saturday, it's merely a byproduct of Oklahoma and Clemson jumping from 20th and 24th to 11th and 15th, respectively, after Saturday's wins over Arkansas and TCU. Those developments caused John Calipari's Wildcats, Jim Larranaga's Hurricanes, Greg McDermott's Bluejays and Jon Scheyer's Blue Devils to be pushed down in Sunday's update, no fault of their own.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Caleb Love finished with 20 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 98-73 win over Wisconsin. The Wildcats' next game is Saturday against Purdue. | -- | 27-9 |
| 2 |  | Zach Edey finished with 35 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 92-86 win over Alabama. The Boilermakers' next game is Saturday against Arizona. | -- | 34-5 |
| 3 |  | Hunter Dickinson finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds in Saturday's 73-64 win over Missouri. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday at Indiana. | -- | 23-11 |
| 4 |  | Emanuel Sharp finished with 25 points and three steals in Saturday's 89-55 win over Jackson State. The Cougars' next game is Saturday against Texas A&M. vvv | -- | 32-5 |
| 5 |  | Alex Karaban finished with 26 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 101-63 in over Arkansas Pine Bluff. The Huskies' next game is Friday against Gonzaga. | -- | 37-3 |
| 6 |  | RayJ Dennis finished with 17 points and seven assists in Tuesday's 78-60 win over Seton Hall. The Bears' next game is Dec. 16 against Michigan State. | -- | 24-11 |
| 7 |  | Tyler Kolek finished with 17 points and seven assists in Saturday's 78-59 win over Notre Dame. The Golden Eagles' next game is Thursday against St. Thomas. | -- | 27-10 |
| 8 |  | Armando Bacot was 4 of 12 from the field in Tuesday's 87-76 loss to UConn. The Tar Heels' next game is Dec. 16 against Kentucky. | 3 | 29-8 |
| 9 |  | Dalton Knecht finished with 21 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 86-79 win over Illinois. The Vols' next game is Tuesday against Georgia Southern. | 3 | 27-9 |
| 10 |  | Marcus Domask finished 2-of-11 from the field in Saturday's 86-79 loss at Tennessee. The Illini's next game is Dec. 17 against Colgate. | -- | 29-9 |
| 11 |  | Javian McCollum finished with 20 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 79-70 win over Arkansas. The Sooners' next game is Saturday against Green Bay. | 9 | 20-12 |
| 12 |  | Dusty Stromer finished 0-of-4 from the field in Saturday's 78-73 loss at Washington. The Zags' next game is Monday against Mississippi Valley State. | 4 | 27-8 |
| 13 |  | FAU allowed Illinois to shoot 63.2% from the field in Tuesday's 98-89 loss to the Illini. The Owls' next game is Wednesday against FIU. | -- | 25-9 |
| 14 |  | Wade Taylor IV finished with 13 points and six assists in Wednesday's 89-64 win over DePaul. The Aggies' next game is Sunday against Memphis. | -- | 21-15 |
| 15 |  | PJ Hall finished with 17 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 74-66 win over TCU. The Tigers' next game is Saturday at Memphis. | 9 | 24-12 |
| 16 |  | Aaron Bradshaw finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's 81-66 win over Penn. The Wildcats' next game is Saturday against North Carolina. | 1 | 23-10 |
| 17 |  | Norchad Omier finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds in Wednesday's 97-49 win over Long Island. The Hurricanes' next game is Sunday against Colorado. | 1 | 15-17 |
| 18 |  | Joel Scott finished 0-of-4 from the field in Saturday's 64-61 loss to Saint Mary's. The Rams' next game is Dec. 17 against CSU Pueblo. | 9 | 25-11 |
| 19 |  | Mason Miller finished with 17 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 109-64 win over Central Michigan. The Bluejays' next game is Wednesday against UNLV. | 2 | 25-10 |
| 20 |  | Jared McCain finished with 21 points and three assists in Saturday's 80-56 win over Charlotte. The Blue Devils' next game is Tuesday against Hofstra. | 1 | 27-9 |
| 21 |  | Wisconsin allowed Arizona to shoot 58.3% from the field in Saturday's 98-73 loss to the Wildcats. The Badgers' next game is Thursday against Jacksonville State. | 3 | 22-14 |
| 22 |  | Isaac McKneely finished with 22 points and two rebounds in Tuesday's 77-47 win over North Carolina Central. The Cavaliers' next game is Saturday against Northeastern. | -- | 23-11 |
| 23 |  | Noah Waterman finished 0-of-7 from the field in Saturday's 73-69 loss at Utah. The Cougars' next game is Wednesday against Denver. | 2 | 23-11 |
| 24 |  | T.J. Bickerstaff finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 84-69 win at Old Dominion. The Dukes' next game is Saturday at Hampton. | NR | 32-4 |
| 25 |  | Xaivian Lee finished with 23 points and nine rebounds in Tuesday's 81-70 win over Drexel. The Tigers' next game is Sunday at Saint Joseph's. | NR | 24-5 |
| 26 |  | Aaron Estrada finished 2-of-8 from the field in Saturday's 92-86 loss to Purdue. The Crimson Tide's next game is Saturday at Creighton. | -- | 25-12 |
In: James Madison, Princeton | Out: UCLA, Ohio State
