Men’s College Basketball Power Rankings: Week 13 (2021-22)
With college basketball in full swing, I will be writing a weekly power rankings article to get you up to speed on the risers and fallers of the week, along with any other important storylines to be aware of.
The Big 12/SEC Challenge did not disappoint as we saw some pretty spectacular and surprising outcomes. Alabama continues to be the most confusing team in the nation, and Kentucky is picking up steam at the perfect time. The bubble grows larger by the day, as teams such as Michigan and VCU are making their late-season pushes. As we enter February, the true title contenders are making themselves known. Auburn and Gonzaga lead the pack, as I see them in a tier of their own, followed by…well, everyone else. Teams ranging from Arizona to Texas Tech to UConn are all squads I can very well see catch fire and cut down the nets in early April.
When I write these college basketball rankings, I write them based on how teams are in the moment, rather than based on where I expect them to be come March. I will mention my anticipation of future positive or negative regression, but the rankings themselves simply express teams’ rankings to date. Let’s take a look at rankings.
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Dropped from Rankings: Davidson, Colorado State
Next Up: Alabama, Tennessee, Saint Mary’s, Arkansas
Movers & Shakers
Oh man, what a wacky weekend we had. Alabama took down Baylor in surprising fashion. The speedy Bama backcourt was too much for the Bears as the Crimson Tide continued to beat them to block and capitalize on open shots near the rim. I want to see Alabama be a little bit more consistent though before they earn a spot in the top-25. Kentucky has been on a blue-blood beat-down this season, putting Kansas in their place. David McCormack struggled and was no match for Oscar Tshiebwe and Keion Brooks seriously stepped up. I usually don’t overreact too much to a single game but Kentucky deserves the credit. Not to mention they might be getting a reinforcement called Shaedon Sharpe here soon.
Providence at 18-2 is seriously not getting the love they deserve. If this team had “Kansas†or “Kentucky†on their jerseys, they would probably be in the conversation for the number one team in the nation. While I do expect them to regress a bit here soon, you can’t take away from what they’ve accomplished and an 18-2 record is impressive in any context. LSU continues to fall, losing four out of their last five games, looking mediocre against TCU, allowing 77 points despite repping one of the best defenses in the nation. While UCLA did handle Arizona, I am waiting to see the rematch before passing judgment. The Wildcats offense needs to step up however to what it should be on Thursday.
Next-Up
There really is a hodge-podge of teams in the same tier that could all make a claim for the top-25. BYU was the team I expected to reach the rankings next but then they dropped two games in shocking fashion to Santa Clara and Pacific, ranked 75th and 265th on KenPom respectively. They have two marvelous chances to bounce back this week however against San Francisco and Gonzaga. I decided to rank Murray State because not only are they riding a 10-game win streak but they have been consistent doing it. Their closest win in that streak has come by five points and they just put Morehead State in their place this weekend.
And-One Focus
I figured to give a focus on a team each week outside of the top-25 that still could very well hold an argument to not only be ranked but to be on everyone’s radar come tourney time. This week’s focus: Saint Mary’s.
The Gaels are the little brother of the WCC, flying under the radar as they quietly rack up win after win, ranking 20th in KenPomand 24th in the NET. Their defense allows very few second-chance looks so if a team is off against Saint Mary’s there is little hope for them to make up for their mistakes. The Gaels will control the pace of play and find quality looks near the hoop most possessions. Their offense can falter at times but Randy Bennett’s squad is currently playing their best ball right now, riding a five-game win streak with three easy games upcoming. They face Gonzaga in a couple of weeks which will be an easy measure of how talented this team truly is.
Covid-19 and Injuries
While there is absolutely light at the end of the tunnel with fewer teams needing to go on pause due to covid, it is still imperative to remember the impact the pandemic and injuries had on teams during the season. I am going to include this reminder in each one of my power rankings from here out, as a reminder that some teams' losses in December do not equate to how they will perform in March, for countless reasons.
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Ryan Coleman is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Ryan, check out his archive.