College Basketball Power 10: Time To Give Gonzaga Some Love
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A look at the college basketball landscape after another top-ranked team went down.
Last week, college basketball didn’t have a million crazy upsets like the prior week, but it did have another top-ranked team fall. This time, the Villanova Wildcats lost on the road to Butler 66-58 to leave two undefeated teams left in the nation.
The Baylor Bears, who received their first No. 1 ranking by the Associated Press this week, and Gonzaga Bulldogs are the final undefeated teams in college basketball. There are also six one-loss teams in the top 25.
The biggest highlight of the week came from an obscure game in the Mountain West Conference between Nevada and New Mexico. On Sunday, Nevada trailed 90-76 with just more than a minute left.
Nevada went on to make their final six threes to tie the game at 94 before winning 105-104 on a buzzer-beating three-pointer in overtime.
It further shows how crazy of year it has been in college basketball this season. Anything can happen, and any team is beatable.
Here’s a look at this week’s Power 10 after three teams in last week’s top 10 lost.
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10. Creighton (15-1)
Since their tough 10-point loss to Villanova, Creighton has bounced back with double-digit wins on the road over St. John’s and Providence. It resulted in Creighton earning the highest ranking in school history by the Associated Press, eighth in the nation.
The Big East has a lot of good teams this year, but Creighton is in the thick of things, nonetheless. They score the 11th-most points per game in the nation and Marcus Foster looks like a legitimate star for Creighton.
The former Kansas State standout is averaging 18.6 points per game and has scored at least 15 points in all but one game, including 22 points against top-ranked Villanova.
Creighton has lacked a star since Doug McDermott left for the NBA and Foster could be good enough to lead them deep in the NCAA Tournament.
Creighton’s defense, which ranks 184th nationally in points allowed per game, is suspect, but Villanova and Wisconsin, their only ranked opponents this season, only scored 80 and 67 points, respectively.
There’s no doubting Creighton is a threat in the Big East, but their weak schedule makes it hard to rank them higher than 10th and to trust their defense.
Creighton’s schedule gets significantly tougher this week. They host Butler and Truman State before going on the road to Xavier.
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9. Oregon (15-2)
After a rough start to the season, Oregon is getting back to where many expected them to be this season. They’ve won 13 games in a row, handed UCLA and USC their first losses last week, and took down Washington and Washington State by 22 and 19 points, respectively, this past week.
Oregon’s win over Washington State is even more impressive considering Dillon Brooks only played seven minutes.
A week after knocking down the game-winning three to upset UCLA, Brooks was ejected for kicking Josh Hawkinson in the groin.
While it makes Grayson Allen‘s tripping incident look like nothing, it did show how deep and talented Oregon is, winning by 19 despite losing their best player.
The Pac-12 won’t suspend Brooks, either, therefore the Ducks will be full strength as one of the hottest teams in the nation.
Oregon has a bad loss to Georgetown which will hurt them come Selection Sunday, but losing to Baylor has become forgivable, even if it came by 17 points. The Ducks needed to get healthy, and now that they are, they look unstoppable.
Oregon has beaten their past five unranked opponents by double-digits, they rank top 55 in points per game and points allowed per game, and have one of the best starting lineups in the nation. Just as everyone expected, the Ducks are a scary team when healthy.
Oregon will host Oregon State this week.
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8. Florida State (15-1)
Florida State is currently in the midst of six straight games against ranked opponents. Last week, the Seminoles won their second straight game against a ranked opponent, knocking off Virginia Tech 93-78. Florida State is now 3-0 against ranked opponents this season.
The Seminoles have shown in the past two games that they can win with defense or offense. They only scored 60 points in their win over Virginia, however had an offensive explosion of 93 points against Virginia Tech.
The Seminoles score the 14th most points per game in the nation but rank just 108th in points allowed per game.
While they might not have answered all the questions surrounding their defense, proving they can win with defense and offense instills a lot of confidence in a program that hasn’t won since 2012-13.
Besides, Florida State has recorded the 36th and 32nd most steals and blocks, respectively, while holding teams to shoot just 38.9 percent from the field. The real question is how they will fare if teams slow down their fast-paced offense.
If Florida State survives a home game against Duke and away game at North Carolina in the same week, they have a legitimate argument to being a top five team.
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7. Duke (14-2)
Grayson Allen’s suspension only lasted one game, but Duke is now without head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Duke beat Georgia Tech and Boston College each by double-digits to usher in their couple of months without Coach K, but it’s still more change for a team that is still trying to find its identity.
Duke has quickly gone from the heavy national championship favorite to having close to no case for being considered a top five team.
Along with Coach K, Amile Jefferson will also miss Duke’s bout with Florida State with a bone bruise. The senior forward has been stellar for Duke this season, averaging 13.6 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
Harry Giles is starting to play heavy minutes now, but it’s a huge blow to Duke’s depth, nonetheless. Duke will have to rely on Giles and Marques Bolden, who each missed significant time to start the season, to make up for a double-double machine in Jefferson.
Duke is good, but they need to get healthy. It’s been their mantra all year and will continue to be. Although, it might never happen.
Their freshmen have huge tests on the road against Florida State and Louisville this week.
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6. Kentucky (13-2)
Kentucky landed another five-star recruit last week in Hamidou Diallo. He will be attending Kentucky next semester, but is unlikely to play with them this season. In fact, Diallo could leave for the NBA after this year without ever putting on a Kentucky jersey.
Kentucky won’t need him to run the table in the SEC, though. The SEC is never a great basketball conference, but outside of Kentucky and 23rd-ranked Florida, it’s a complete mess this year.
The Wildcats showed how much better they are by opening conference play with 23, 42 and 26 point wins.
Only time will tell if a weak schedule will help or hurt Kentucky come conference play. It could be hard for a young team to step up against elite competition in the NCAA Tournament after months of playing in blowouts.
That said, De’Aaron Fox is starting to step up as Kentucky’s leader. Against Arkansas last week, and Jaylen Barford stepped on Isaiah Briscoe and Fox did not take it kindly. He got into his face and had to be held back.
Having young players stick up for each other, especially in conference play, is huge to see.
De'Aaron Fox doesn't appreciate Isaiah Briscoe getting stepped on intentionally. #BBN pic.twitter.com/NxM5UpIVHD
— Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) January 8, 2017
Kentucky travels to Vanderbilt and hosts Auburn this week.
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5. UCLA (16-1)
Conference play has started and UCLA is playing in closer and lower-scoring games. UCLA bounced back from their only loss of the season to beat Oregon State, California and Stanford each by double-digits.
Although, their offense has still be shaky in that span. They might have shaken off the cobwebs against Stanford last week when they shot 50 percent from the field and made 11-of-20 threes in their 89-75 win, but that’s the closest UCLA has looked to UCLA in a while.
They shot below 45 percent from the field and 40 percent from three against both Oregon State and California. Plus, Oregon State held them in the 70s for just the second time this season.
They still won easily, although UCLA is not a good enough defensive team to struggled offensively against great teams.
UCLA has a ton of talent and can score 100 points on any given night. They’re easily the most talented offensive team in the nation this season, but they’re not the same team when their outside shot isn’t falling.
It might just be a rough patch in a still very good season for UCLA, but it’s almost time to wonder if they’ll return to when they scored 97 points against Kentucky and 102 points against Michigan and UC Santa Barbara in back-to-back games.
UCLA travels to Colorado and Utah this week.
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4. Villanova (15-1)
Last week, Villanova lost its first game since March 12. Butler took down Villanova, 66-58. The Wildcats did respond with a 12-point win over Marquette and Butler isn’t a bad team, but Villanova looked unbeatable through their first 14 games.
Butler made Josh Hart uncomfortable and it affected Villanova down the stretch. The Player of the Year favorite was held to 13 points on 3-of-11 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 shooting from three.
He also recorded eight rebounds and three assists but didn’t act as Villanova’s superhero late in the game.
Villanova actually led 50-49 with 4:35 left before imploding. The Wildcats ended the game shooting 2-of-7 from the field with a pair of turnovers.
It wasn’t all on Hart, as Villanova missed a lot of open shots, however Hart has been the player to create offense for himself and others in close games this season.
Villanova might still be the best team in the nation, although, they will only go as far as Josh Hart takes them. That said, the Wildcats are on the verge of getting Phil Booth back from injury. He was an integral part to their bench last year but has only played in three games this season.
Villanova hosts Xavier and Seton Hall, while traveling to St. John’s in between.
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3. Kansas (14-1)
Kansas has now won 14 games in a row and looks poised to win another Big 12 championship. They did almost suffer their second loss of the season against Kansas State, though.
Svi Mykhailiuk drove the length of the floor for the game as time expired but he took four steps before shooting it. The refs didn’t see it and it led to Svi Mykhailiuk making the last second layup. Kansas ended up winning 90-88 instead of going to overtime.
It still counts as a win, though, and Kansas followed it up with a huge 85-68 win at home against Texas Tech later in the week.
Tech entered the game fresh off a win over top 10 West Virginia but Kansas tore them apart on both ends of the floor to show why they’re on of the favorites in the Big 12 this year.
The biggest improvement for Kansas over the last two games is the play of star freshman Josh Jackson. After scoring just four points against TCU, he averaged 19.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, two blocks and 1.5 steals per game last week.
The Jayhawks have upperclassmen leading their team, but they’ll become near unstoppable if Jackson is an efficient scorer.
Kansas travels to Oklahoma and Iowa State with Oklahoma State coming to Lawerence, Kansas, in between.
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2. Gonzaga (15-0)
Gonzaga is one of two undefeated teams left in the nation, but they’re still being overlooked. They’re 2-0 against ranked teams and are one of the most efficient teams on both ends of the court, however, playing in the West Coast Conference doesn’t scream national champion.
In years past Gonzaga has always disappointed in the NCAA Tournament, but this year they’re as well-rounded as any team and have an emerging star in Nigel Williams-Goss.
Last week in Gonzaga’s 95-80 win over San Francisco, Goss recorded 36 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, while shooting 12-of-15 from the field, 3-of-4 from three and 9-of-9 from the line.
The nation needs to start paying attention to him because he’s a legitimate Wooden Award contender.
As a team, Gonzaga is blowing out teams in their conference and unranked teams in general. The Bulldogs have won by double-digits in seven straight games and their only single-digit win against an unranked team was a 77-72 win over now ranked Florida.
Gonzaga will start their week hosting Loyola Marymount. Then, to end their week on January 14, the nation will be watching to see if Gonzaga is for real when they host St. Mary’s.
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1. Baylor (15-0)
Baylor deserves to be No. 1. After starting the season unranked, Baylor has gone 15-0, beaten four ranked teams, and started conference play 3-0. It’s a feel good story for a program who has never been on the top of the college basketball world.
That said, it almost didn’t happen. Baylor barely escaped with a two-point win over Iowa State and a four-point win over Oklahoma State last week.
Iowa State sped up the game, but a double-double by Johnathan Motley and game-winning shot by Manu Lecomte gave Baylor the 65-63 win. Teams will try to speed up Baylor, therefore they’ll need to be able to score consistently, even if they have one of the best defenses in the nation.
Against Oklahoma State, the Bears had another signature second half comeback. Baylor outscored Oklahoma State 36-27 in the second half after trailing by five at halftime. Again, Motley had a double-double and Lecomte chipped in 17 points.
Johnathan Motley is playing like a star for Baylor. The Bears have a well-rounded and deep team, but they needed a star like Motley to emerge as their go-to player on offense and energy guy.
Motley has responded with four straight double-doubles and looks like a Big 12 Player of the Year contender.
This is the first time Baylor has been the top team in the nation. It will be interesting to see how they respond to the pressure and every team giving them their best shot to try to knock them off.
Baylor travels to West Virginia and Kansas State this week. They have a chance to show that they’re the clear-cut top team in the nation at this point of the season.
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