Men’s college basketball was filled with action this past week. Auburn vs. Alabama was a huge game in the SEC standings. Duke got back into the win column. Kansas dropped two games, including one that marked the Jayhawks’ third largest loss in program history. A few other ranked teams lost a game this week, so let’s go ahead and see the biggest risers and fallers from the past week.
Wisconsin (Previously No. 18, Now No. 11)
The Badgers have been absolutely dominating teams. They are on a five-game winning streak and they just beat the No. 7-ranked team in the AP Poll in Purdue. In the past five games, senior guard John Tonje has been Wisconsin’s leading scorer. Tonje is a really good shooter; his 3-point percentage sits at 41.1% for the season on 30.6 minutes per game. I am not surprised at all by this number, as Tonje is a top-notch spot-up shooter. Whenever Tonje has his feet set and he catches the ball with fluidity, the likelihood his shot will fall skyrockets.
In his recent performance against Purdue, it was so clear that the Boilermakers had a game plan dedicated to trying to stop Tonje, but what they didn’t know was that Tonje already had a game plan himself. The boilermakers tried to run Tonje off the 3-point line, and they succeeded for the most part. But Tonje absolutely destroyed them inside the paint. Tonje can really attack the basket and he tends to reject ball screens, meaning most of the time that he’s either going to attack the paint or he is going to hit the defender with a stepback jumper. This team is on an upward trend and I am excited to see Tonje perform in March.
Here are the highlights of his game against Purdue.
Missouri (Previously No. 20, Now No. 16)
Missouri suffered two unfortunate losses before upsetting one of the best teams of the season so far The two losses came from Tennessee and Texas A&M, both teams that are ranked in the AP Poll and ranked pretty high on my list as well. But the real stunner was the Tigers’ last game: They went against Alabama and absolutely destroyed them. Missouri put on a scoring clinic. Both teams put the ball in the basket at a high clip, but Missouri managed to outpace a high-caliber Alabama offense. Missouri’s 12-0 run to start the game forced Alabama to take an early timeout and put the Tide in catch-up mode from tipoff. After that, Missouri just needed to control the tempo of the game and not let its foot off the gas pedal. The Tigers only have five more games, and just one of them is against a ranked opponent. So, expect the Tigers to climb up in not only my rankings but the AP rankings as well.
Saint Mary’s College (Previously No. 25, Now No. 21)
The Gaels have gone under the radar throughout the whole season. It has been a quiet, yet successful season for them. All of their losses have been by single-digits, which means that teams have had to earn their wins against the Gaels. I have loved watching their offense and how much it is able to produce against teams in the WCC.
Saint Mary’s is led by senior Lithuanian native Augustus Marciulionis, who averages 34.4 minutes per game. There is only 40 minutes of playing time in a college game, meaning Marciulionis only gets about five and a half minutes of rest any given night, showing his impressive stamina. Marciulionis has had great offensive stretches throughout the season and he seems to be in the midst of another right now. Plus, his offensive brilliance couldn’t come at a better time, as the Gaels head to Spokane to go against conference rivals Gonzaga. The Gaels are currently two games ahead of Gonzaga in the WCC and three games ahead of San Francisco. If the Gaels can pull out a victory in Spokane, they will officially be the winners of the WCC, notching back-to-back berths on top of the WCC.
Alabama (Previously No. 1, Now No. 4)
Alabama has really disappointed me this past week. There was so much to praise for this team, but if it can’t be translated onto the basketball court, who cares? The Crimson Tide dropped two games, one of which was against Auburn, which we all know is destined to be the No. 1 team in the nation as the end of the season approaches. But the more destructive loss was against Missouri. It seemed throughout the game that every time Alabama was making a run to get back into the game, the Tigers had an answer. I expect the Crimson Tide to get back into the win column soon, but it will be hard to climb back up to the No. 1 spot on my rankings.
Kansas (Previously No. 15, Now No. 24)
Kansas has been another team where I just can’t decide whether or not it will be good for the rest of the season. They had an impressive win against highly ranked Iowa State, but then proceeded to drop two games against unranked teams. One of those teams was Utah. The Utes are 14-11 on the season—a middling record, to be completely honest. Losses like the one against Utah are going to happen every once in a while, but the Jayhawks just haven’t looked like a good team this past week. I expect them to win their next two games, but after that they close out their season against some really tough competition, so we will see how it turns out for the Jayhawks.
Memphis (Previously No. 17, Now No. 23)
The only reason why I have dropped the Tigers this low is because they lost a game that they shouldn’t have. Memphis had gone into its game against Wichita State on an eight-game winning streak, looking like the team would continue to climb up in the rankings, but then the Shockers pulled off a shock. PJ Haggerty didn’t have a great game; he was completely shut out offensively in the first half, only scoring two points. I have no doubt in my mind that the Tigers will make their way back into the top 20 in my rankings, but this was just a tough game to watch.
Here is the full list of the updated rankings:
- Auburn (+1)
- Florida (+1)
- Duke (+1)
- Alabama (-3)
- Houston (-)
- Tennessee(-)
- Texas Tech (+3)
- Iowa State (+3)
- Texas A&M (-1)
- St.Johns (-1)
- Wisconsin (+7)
- Michigan State (-)
- Michigan (-)
- Purdue (-6)
- Arizona (-2)
- Missouri (+4)
- Marquette (-1)
- Kentucky (-4)
- Clemson (+2)
- Mississippi State (+2)
- Saint Mary’s College of California (+4)
- New Mexico University (+2)
- Memphis (-6)
- Kansas (-9)
- Louisville (-)