CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish updated his College Basketball Top 25 and 1 Rankings following some fascinating results from Friday night’s games.
The biggest losers in the latest update are Michigan and Marquette. The Wolverines were defeated at home by Michigan State, who continues their climb up the rankings, while the Golden Eagles fell to the Villanova Wildcats by 15. It was a tough loss, as Eric Dixon dropped 23 on Shaka Smart’s team.
As it stands, there’s less than three weeks remaining in the regular season, and there’s no time to waste, especially for teams at the tail-end of the field. Let’s dive into Parrish’s latest College Basketball Top 25 and 1 Rankings, courtesy of CBS Sports.
Auburn only continues to cement its claim as the best team in the country. The Tigers are 24-2 and 12-1 in conference play, boasting sole possession of first place in the SEC standings.
On Wednesday, Auburn showed off its resilience in a nail-biting 67-60 win over Arkansas. It was far from the Tigers’ best performance. In the win, Auburn shot 4-24 (16.7%) from beyond the arc but escaped with the victory nonetheless.
Florida is only picking up steam as the postseason comes closer. The Gators are on a five-game win streak, winning the games by an average margin of 15.2 points per contest. That’s no easy feat in any league, much less the SEC.
Florida picked up its latest win on Tuesday when it handily defeated Oklahoma 85-63. Five different Gators scored double figures in the win but nobody outplayed Walter Clayton Jr., who tallied 18 points while shooting an efficient 4-7 from downtown.
Duke is tearing through ACC competition like it’s wet paper. The Blue Devils are 15-1 in conference play, most recently downing Virginia 80-62. Duke’s freshman trio of Cooper Flagg, Kon Kneuppel and Isaiah Evans each scored 17 points in the win.
As usual, Flagg’s scoring wasn’t his only contribution. The ACC Player of the Year frontrunner also hauled in 14 rebounds while recording two blocks and two steals.
Parrish still has faith in the Crimson Tide despite their loss to Missouri earlier this week. Alas, Alabama needs to bounce back quickly. The team has now lost two games in a row, also falling to Auburn this past weekend, and will face off against No. 17 Kentucky this Saturday.
With a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament on the line, Alabama has no room for mistakes. In fairness, the Crimson Tide looked excellent the last time they played Kentucky, exploding for 102 points in a win over the Wildcats.
It was another successful midweek matchup for the Cougars, who ran away with an 80-65 triumph over Arizona State on Tuesday. In the win, Houston was red-hot from deep, connecting on 11-23 (47.8%) of its attempts from 3-point range.
LJ Cryer and Emmanuel Sharp combined for 35 points in the win. Cryer also added four rebounds and six assists to the Cougars’ winning effort. Houston still has the No. 1 defense in the country this season, only allowing 57.6 points per game.
Tennessee has struggled to find consistency this season, seemingly suffering a loss every time it begins to look like one of the best teams in the country. Nevertheless, the Volunteers never fail to recover from their setbacks.
They did just that this past Saturday in their 81-76 win over Vanderbilt. It was sweet revenge for the Volunteers, who fell to the Commodores earlier in this season. Zakai Zeigler exploded for 22 points and eight assists in the highly-anticipated rematch.
Wisconsin is turning heads on the national scene with impressive win after impressive win. Most recently, the Badgers handed out a 95-74 shellacking to Illinois on Tuesday.
In the win, John Tonje tallied 31 points while shooting 9-13 from the field to lead the Badgers to victory. Tonje has been the key to Wisconsin’s surge of success. He’s averaged 25.4 points per game over Wisconsin’s last five outings.
Since suffering three straight losses from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3, the Cyclones have worked diligently to re-establish their reputation as one of the best teams in the country. Evidently, Parrish is sold.
Iowa State is on a four-game win streak and put on a show in its 79-65 victory over Colorado on Tuesday. It was a balanced offensive effort by the Cyclones, who had five players score double figures and shot 10-21 from beyond the arc.
Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans waltzed into the Crisler Center and defeated the Michigan Wolverines by 13 on Friday evening. Another rivalry win as they continue to climb up Parrish’s rankings, moving two spots.
It was a huge moment for Michigan State, as Izzo’s team is back on a roll after notching their third consecutive victory. The Spartans’ record stands at 22-5 at the moment, with only four games remaining in their regular season campaign.
Despite suffering a 70-54 loss to Mississippi State on Tuesday, Texas A&M is still one of Parrish’s top-10 teams in the country. It was an unusually sloppy showing for the Aggies.
In the loss, they committed 19 turnovers. For reference, they’re only averaging 12.3 turnovers per game this season. Zhuric Phelps particularly struggled, recording seven turnovers compared to just one assist.
CBS Sports Top 25 and 1 — Nos. 11-26:
11. St. John’s (-1)
12. Missouri (+2)
13. Michigan
14. Purdue (+1)
15. Mississippi State (+1)
16. Texas Tech (+1)
17. Kentucky (+1)
18. Ole Miss (+1)
19. Arizona (+1)
20. Marquette (-8)
21. Creighton
22. Louisville
23. Maryland
24. Memphis
25. Clemson
26. Saint Mary’s
— On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this article.
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