First, No. 1 Auburn went down with its 14-game winning streak. Next, No. 2 Duke, with its 16-gamer. Meanwhile, Indiana lost a coach, the defending national champions had another stumble, ESPN returned an announcer — anyone who couldn’t get an awesome-baby feeling out of seeing Dick Vitale back at courtside wasn’t really trying — and the Kings of Overtime went extra minutes yet again.
When the weekend was digested by the polls Monday, the SEC was 1-2-3-5 in the Associated Press, 1-2-3-4 with the coaches. It all begged the question… what’s next?
For Auburn and Alabama…
It’s a divided world. The Tigers and Tide are 1-2 in this week’s AP poll. And reverse that in the coaches’ rankings. The good news is that they meet Saturday in Tuscaloosa to sort it out, the first AP 1-vs.-2 matchup in SEC history. But hold the hype just now. They both must go on the road Tuesday, Auburn to Vanderbilt and Alabama to Texas. Look ahead, and they’re toast.
For Akron…
With the demise of Auburn and Duke, the Zips’ 11-game winning streak is now the longest in the land. They haven’t lost since Princeton beat them 76-75 on a 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left and that was on the next-to-last day of 2024. If Akron finally does lose in 2025, odds are it won’t be on its own court. Coach John Groce is 102-16 at home.
The Zips are 10-0 in the MAC, with only three of the wins by single digits. The only other teams still unbeaten in league play are Southern in the SWAC and Yale in the Ivy.
For Florida…
Should Alabama and Auburn falter in the slightest, the No. 3 Gators might be ready for the penthouse. This is already their highest ranking in 11 years. There is something almost mystical about Florida and its 20-3 record. The Gators had never beaten a No. 1 team at home in their history until Jan. 7, when they walloped top-ranked Tennessee 73-43. They had never beaten a No. 1 team on the road, until last Saturday, when they knocked off Auburn 90-81. The AP poll has been around for more than seven decades, and Florida is only the fifth team to upset two different No. 1 opponents in the same season.
Consider the Gators’ February so far. They lost at Tennessee 64-44, their lowest scoring output in 35 years. Three days later they beat Vanderbilt 86-75, even with leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr. out with a bad ankle. Saturday, they found out 30 minutes before the tip that veteran guard and second leading scorer Alijah Martin would not play because of a hip pointer. But Clayton was back and went all 40 minutes, scoring 19 points as Florida led by as many as 21 against an Auburn team that had been 25-1 at home the past two years. “They came in here like they had to win it,” Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said of the Gators.
For Clemson…
It wasn’t just that the Tigers floored Duke with a 7-0 knockout punch in the last 38 seconds, or the fact they hadn’t beaten a top-2 opponent in 24 years, or how they’re now 19-5, with three of the defeats in overtime. But there’s this: Clemson has won five games in a row against AP top-5 opponents and won all five as an unranked team. Nobody else anywhere can say they’ve done that since the poll was expanded to 25 teams in 1989.
Now the Tigers are back in the top-25 and a win Monday night against North Carolina would give them the Tobacco Road slam: victories over all four ACC schools from that state in the same season. Wake Forest first, followed by North Carolina State, followed by Duke and lastly the Tar Heels.
For Kansas State…
On Jan. 22, the Wildcats were 7-11, having lost nine of 10 games. They’ve won five in a row since, including over three ranked opponents, Kansas the latest 81-73. The Jayhawks shot 50 percent Saturday and still couldn’t beat them. “It’s not really a lot of coaching right now,” coach Jerome Tang said. “It’s just letting them play and they want to win.” Tang is 3-0 at home against Kansas in his first three tries. The last Kansas State coach who managed that was Jack Gardner in 1947-49.
The Wildcats are still only 12-11 but there’s still time for some noise on the bubble. Home games with Arizona and Iowa State could pad the resume.
🌊 TIME FOR THE TIDE: Bama is the new No. 1 in latest Power 37 rankings
For Tom Izzo…
Michigan State’s mad dash from 14 points down at halftime against Oregon to an 86-74 victory gave Izzo his 353rd Big Ten win. That ties Indiana’s Bob Knight for the most ever. Amazing. More amazing is the team the Spartans happen to be playing on Tuesday with a chance for their coach to get the record. Indiana. Nice work, gods of hoops scheduling.
“He did many things that I haven’t done,” Izzo said of Knight, who died in 2023. “So if he wants to trade the record, I’ll give him a buzz tonight up there (in heaven). If he wants to trade the record for the four other national championships (Knight won five, Izzo one so far), I’m all in. Because it’s about winning championships, not records.”
For Creighton…
St. John’s revival in the Big East has become a national story — the Red Storm hit the AP top-10 Monday for the first time in a quarter-century — but has anyone noticed the Bluejays pushing hard from behind? They defeated Marquette 77-67 for their ninth win in a row and are now 11-2 in the Big East, one game back of St. John’s. And to think, Creighton started its Big East schedule by losing 81-57 to Georgetown. One other unusual Bluejays’ feat: They’re the first program in 15 years to beat the defending national champion (Connecticut), NIT champion (Seton Hall) and No. 1 team (Kansas) in three different games in the same season.
It’s a big week for Creighton. The Bluejays host Connecticut Tuesday, having earlier snapped the Huskies’ 28-game homecourt winning streak. And next Sunday is a crucial passage in the Big East race. Creighton vs. St. John’s in Madison Square Garden.
For Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Connecticut…
There are assorted reasons for unease among the bluebloods.
Kansas was 7-0 and ranked No. 1 before Dec. 1 but is 9-7 since then and a .500 team away from Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas State has grown so accustomed to beating the Jayhawks in Manhattan, the students don’t even rush the court anymore after it happens. The schedule gives Kansas an opportunity for a fast finish and the NET ranking is still high because of the schedule, but a remarkable streak might be in jeopardy with more mishaps. The Jayhawks have been a top-4 seed in 23 consecutive NCAA tournaments.
Kentucky’s win over South Carolina was mandatory after losing four of five but the pre-season poll that had the Wildcats eighth in the SEC might have been right all along. At the moment, Kentucky is tied for eighth. The Wildcats need to take down a biggie — Tennessee and Auburn are headed to Rupp Arena — to calm the masses.
The UConn surge has still not happened yet. The Huskies are formidable but they’re also 4-4 in their past eight games and let a chance to beat St. John’s get away at home with 22 turnovers. A near-unanimous pick to win the Big East in the preseason, they’re now in fourth place, 3.5 games back of St. John’s. And Monday they vanished from the AP top-25 for the first time since November 2022. There’s still a month to hone the threepeat chances but it’s not easy. Ask the Kansas City Chiefs.
As for North Carolina, another day, another fight to the finish for the Tar Heels. They edged Pittsburgh 67-66 — their 10th one-possession game, which is the most for them since the dawn of the 3-point era in 1986. They’re 6-4 in those 10 games. They have now played four ACC contests that were decided by one point (going 2-2) and that hasn’t happened for any conference team in its first dozen league games since Georgia Tech 41 years ago. They lost back-to-back one-point games to Stanford and Wake Forest and the last time North Carolina did that was 1968.
Put that all together and you get a 14-10 record. The Tar Heels have played five teams ranked in this week’s AP top-10 so there is some give in the record. But they still need a strong February to guarantee not missing a second NCAA tournament in three years.
For Indiana…
As if the free-falling Hoosiers don’t have enough on their plate, trying to pull out of a five-game losing streak nosedive, they’ll have to try to ignore all the coaching conjecture noise the rest of the way with Mike Woodson stepping down at the end of the season. And the next three opponents are Michigan State, UCLA and Purdue. It’s now or never for Indiana’s tournament chances. Woodson has had a trying time at his alma mater and it’d be nice if he had a feel-good moment or two before departing. Feb. 23 comes to mind. Purdue is fighting for the top of the Big Ten, and the Boilermakers will be in Bloomington, and a loss might really hurt their cause and… well, you can figure out the rest.
Bucknell…
When can we expect the next overtime for the 40-minutes-are-never-enough Bison? The 116-110 double OT loss Saturday to Army West Point was not only the highest-scoring conference game in the history of the Patriot League but the eighth Bucknell game this season to go to OT, the Bison losing five of them. Only three teams have gone to OT seven times in a season before, most recently Valparaiso 32 years ago. One more overtime and the 11-14 Bison ascend to the top of the record book, and the best chance might be this coming Saturday at Lafayette. Those two teams have gone overtime six of their past eight meetings.
The big names all have their issues. But in a season where the margins have been so slim for even the powers at the top, Bucknell might be the poster team for the vagarity of college basketball
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