Last week: unranked
14. ARIZONA (23-4). The Pac-12 might not be an elite conference again, but very quietly, it's going to get a respectable number of teams into the tournament. Arizona, Oregon, and UCLA are locks, and they might be joined by Colorado, California, and maybe even Arizona State. A year ago, the thought of six Pac-12 teams getting into the tournament would have been laughable, so ... progress!
Last week: #14
13. SAINT LOUIS (21-5). Looking for a mostly-unknown team from outside a major conference with a decent chance at a deep NCAA Tournament run? Saint Louis can fill that role. The Billikens have climbed up to first place in the Atlantic 10 by beating VCU and winning at Butler in back-to-back games. Brad Stevens even thinks this team can go to the Final Four. And he seems to know about that sort of thing.
Last week: unranked
12. OKLAHOMA STATE (20-6). The Cowboys missed a golden opportunity to take control of the Big 12 by letting Kansas escape, 68-67, after two overtimes. Still, it was obvious that the two teams are on nearly equal footing. Nothing Oklahoma State does is aesthetically pleasing but they usually find ways to win anyway. Freshman Marcus Smart, for instance, is barely shooting 40% from the floor on the season, yet might still be a First-Team All-American.
Last week: #11
11. WISCONSIN (19-8). Three of Wisconsin's four remaining games are against Nebraska, Purdue, and Penn State. The other is at Michigan State; if the Badgers find a way to win that game, they'll probably finish in second place in the Big Ten. Hard to believe that this team wasn't even projected to make the NCAA Tournament a few months ago.
Last week: #13
10. GEORGETOWN (21-4). Victor Oladipo, a favorite for the National Player of the Year Award, is averaging 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. Otto Porter of the Georgetown Hoyas is averaging 16 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.4 assists. Granted, Oladipo is the more efficient player, but he has extremely talented teammates. Porter is basically the only offensive threat on the Georgetown roster and defenses still can't stop him. Case in point: he scored 33 points on 12-of-19 shooting in a win at Syracuse, while the rest of his team combined to make just seven field goals.
Last week: unranked
9. FLORIDA (22-4). In each of the last two years, the Gators cost themselves a Final Four berth by giving up late leads against their Elite Eight opponents, Butler and Louisville. Back in December, they choked away a game they had dominated against Arizona in the final two disastrous minutes. And last week at Missouri, they allowed the Tigers to erase a 13-point deficit in a 63-60 loss. Florida was the better team in all of those games. The common denominator, though, was horrid late-game execution. Kenny Boynton, he of Questionable Shot Selection, usually ends up with the ball in his hands and it rarely ends well. Against Missouri, Boynton got two chances to recapture the lead in the final minute and ended up taking deep three-pointers both times. This is officially becoming worrisome. The majority of the time, the Gators blow out their opponents by 20 points so this problem doesn't rear its ugly head. In close games, though, Florida has become a difficult team to trust.
Last week: #2
8. MICHIGAN (23-4). Time to see what the Wolverines are made of. They fell from the ranks of the Big Ten elite by losing at Indiana and Michigan State this month, but they get home rematches with both teams before the season ends. Nobody else has opportunities like that still on their schedule. There are #1-seeds still up for grabs, guys. Get a move on.
Last week: #6
7. MICHIGAN STATE (22-6). How quickly things can change. A week ago, the Spartans were coming off a blowout win over Michigan and were suddenly in position to win the Big Ten. Since then, they let a potentially-huge win slip away in a home loss to Indiana and then dropped another one at Ohio State on Sunday. Seems like nobody wants to be on top this year.
Last week: #3
6. LOUISVILLE (22-5). One of the many problems with a league as large as the Big East is the unbalanced schedule. It would be great to see a Louisville-Georgetown game late in the season to determine the conference champion, but the two teams only played once this season, a 53-51 Hoyas win a month ago. Now we can only hope for a rematch in the Big East Tournament.
Last week: #5
5. DUKE (24-3). I see you, Rasheed Sulaimon. In two games this week, the emerging freshman scored a total of 44 points on 17-of-26 shooting, including 6-of-9 from three-point range.
Last week: #8
4. MIAMI (22-4). The concerning thing about the loss to Wake Forest wasn't the defeat itself -- elite teams have been suffering bad losses all season, like Florida against Arkansas and Kansas against TCU. No, the troubling part was how the Hurricanes lost. They were outplayed for virtually the entire game before losing by 15 points. This team is still really good, but couple this convincing loss with earlier ones to Florida Gulf Coast and Indiana State, and we can temporarily take the Hurricanes out of consideration for a #1-seed.
Last week:#4
3. KANSAS (23-4). Somehow, the Jayhawks made a grand total of one field goal across two overtimes against Oklahoma State on the road ... and still won. Then they exacted revenge on TCU by outscoring them 38-9 in the first half of their rematch. 38-9. It sure looks like Kansas is back. And Bill Self is so pleased, he's spontaneously breaking into dance routines.
Last week: #9
2. GONZAGA (27-2). No, Gonzaga almost certainly isn't the second-best team in the country. But no one else deserves to be ranked in this slot at the moment, while the Zags just keep on winning. Their two victories this week came by the scores of 85-42 and 81-50. They're not even playing with their food before they eat it. So for now, here's to you, Gonzaga.
Last week: #7
1.INDIANA (24-3). Finding a way to win at Michigan State, which they hadn't done since 1991, was a significant accomplishment for the Hoosiers. Victor Oladipo once again made the winning plays in the final minute: a tip-in that put them up by one, a dunk that put them up three, and the clinching free throws. His play has put his team in prime position to win the Big Ten. So does Indiana have anything left to play for? Absolutely: this year, the NCAA Tournament's Midwest Regional is in Indianapolis. There's the incentive for the Hoosiers to maintain their pole position, because securing that geographic advantage would be a game-changer in a potential Final Four run.
Last week: #1
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