1. FLORIDA (26-2): The Gators have survived some close calls since rising to the #1 ranking -- a fortunate home escape against Auburn followed by a pair of narrow road wins at Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. But the winning streak is up to 20, and barring a catastrophe, Florida can close out a perfect 18-0 SEC season by beating Kentucky at home in their regular season finale next weekend.
2. WICHITA STATE (30-0): The first team in NCAA history to win thirty regular season games without a loss. One more victory on Saturday and Wichita State will clinch the first undefeated season in college basketball since Saint Joseph's did it a decade ago.
3. ARIZONA (26-2): They seem to have emerged from that team-wide offensive slump -- in two games this week, the Wildcats put up 88 and 87 points in blowout wins. And this defense remains the best in the country. After a bumpy couple of weeks, Arizona is Officially Back.
4. KANSAS (22-6): It's hard to have a better week than the Jayhawks just had. They crushed a good, nationally-ranked Texas team by 31 points and then beat Oklahoma to clinch at least a share of the Big 12 regular season title (for the 10th consecutive year). In his decade of coaching at Kansas, Bill Self now has more league championships (ten) than total home losses (nine).
5. LOUISVILLE (24-4): The Cardinals have been dominating weaker opponents for weeks; they just lacked credibility. That changed last weekend, when they got the signature victory they desperately needed by winning at Cincinnati on a Russ Smith buzzer-beater. Louisville is now a top-15 team in the country in both offensive and defensive efficiency -- the only other teams that can make that same claim are Florida and Wichita State.
6. SYRACUSE (26-2): Recapping their last five games: a miracle win over Pittsburgh, a miracle win over N.C. State, a disastrous loss at home to Boston College (which, by the way, lost its very next game to Miami by 27 points), a loss at Duke, and a narrow two-point win at Maryland. That was always going to be a tough five-game stretch, but Syracuse was clearly fortunate to emerge from it with a 3-2 record that they probably didn't deserve.
7. CREIGHTON (23-4): Can Creighton get a number one seed? It's not far-fetched -- the Bluejays have the best offense in the country, the best player in the country, the 8th-best RPI ranking, and a pair of dominating wins over Villanova. If Creighton wins its final three games against quality opponents, and then beats Villanova a third time to win the Big East Tournament, a number one seed should definitely be in play.
8. DUKE (22-6): In two games against Syracuse, Duke attempted a combined total of 57 three-pointers; meanwhile, Syracuse attempted 13. Here's hoping for another re-match between these evenly-matched teams in the ACC Tournament, just so we can see how wide that comical margin can stretch.
9. WISCONSIN (23-5): The Badgers are back! After a miserable January (five losses in six games at one point) Wisconsin is cruising again thanks to impressive back-to-back road wins at Michigan and Iowa. It's time to put Michigan State in a drawer until all their players are healthy at the same time -- which leaves Wisconsin as the best team in the Big Ten.
10. VIRGINIA (23-5): Here's the ACC's version of Louisville. To some extent, Virginia's gaudy 15-1 record in the ACC is a product of fortunate scheduling: the Cavaliers only had to play the four best teams in the conference (Syracuse, Duke, North Carolina, Pittsburgh) once each. But by squashing inferior competition and avoiding bad losses, the Cavaliers put themselves in position to potentially win the ACC title by beating Syracuse on Saturday.
Key Games to Watch This Weekend:
#4 Syracuse at #12 Virginia, 4:00 PM Saturday
Virginia hasn't given up 60 points in a game since February 5th and hasn't given up 70 against any ACC opponent. Considering how Syracuse's offense has struggled recently (looking at you, Trevor Cooney), Virginia should be more than a light favorite in this game.
#9 Creighton at Xavier, 5:00 PM Saturday
With barely more than two weeks left until Selection Sunday, it's about time for borderline tournament teams to pick up noticeable wins that can push them into the field of 68. Xavier -- wildly inconsistent and 19-9 overall -- would almost certainly assure itself of a tournament bid by knocking off a top-ten Creighton team.
#5 Kansas at Oklahoma State, 9:00 PM Saturday
After such a promising start to their season, a cold stretch of basketball and Marcus Smart's suspension have improbably sent Oklahoma State stumbling backward onto the NCAA Tournament bubble. With Smart back in the lineup, an upset of Kansas would finally secure Oklahoma State team the at-large bid that once seemed like a foregone conclusion.
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