Another week, another new #1.
Michigan’s reign atop the world was short-lived, as #3 Duke was on their schedule and usurped the throne with a 68-63 win in Washington, D.C. The Blue Devils are 25-2 now with wins over Michigan, Kansas, Arkansas, Florida, and Michigan State, and losses to only Texas Tech and North Carolina. As March nears, they are only four more ACC wins from a league regular season title, but will have to best the second-place team in the league next Saturday first: the #11 Virginia
Cavaliers.
Behind them, Arizona, Michigan, Iowa State, and Houston round out the top five. Arizona scored an extremely impressive road victory at Houston on Saturday, handing the Cougars a home loss and knocking them down in the Big 12 standings. Iowa State also triumphed over the Cougars, winning 70-67 on Monday. It’s a testament to how dominant Houston’s been this season that they lost twice and still stayed in the top five.
Let’s take a look at the complete AP poll of Week 17:
Notes:
- Miami-OH, since debuting in the poll in Week 12, has risen exactly one spot every week except Week 15. No matter how much everyone wants to bash them for no Quad 1’s or not scheduling in the nonconference, that undefeated record cannot be ignored.
- Florida is back in the top ten after another 2-0 week. The Gators are starting to look like their preseason #3 form again.
- Alabama has also surged in the rankings, winning six in a row including a double-overtime 117-115 win over Arkansas last Wednesday. They’ll play another streaky team, Tennessee, this weekend: the Vols have won 9 of their past 11, with the only two losses both being to Kentucky.
- Saint Louis took their second loss of the season at Rhode Island last Tuesday, but bounced back with a double-digit victory over A-10 bubble team VCU.
- Big games this week: #15 St. John’s at #6 UConn, #3 Michigan at #10 Illinois, and #11 Virginia at #1 Duke. The Johnnies are one of only three teams that have beaten UConn this season, Illinois is trying to recover from an upset loss at UCLA, and Virginia can potentially steal the ACC title from Duke with a win at Cameron.
