While the talk of the season has been Kentucky’s domination, it’s been Mike Krzyzewski who has been the dominant coach over the past few decades, with it finally culminating into the first to 1,000 wins. While Duke’s win over St. John’s did little to their conference title hopes, it at least keeps them in the top ten of this week’s power rankings.
10. Kansas (16–3): The Jayhawks are coming off one of their better performances of the season—a 75–62 win at Texas in a game where they were down five with 14 minutes left. Kansas scored 36 points the rest of the way to pull out the win. Freshman forward Cliff Alexander has averaged 14 points and 11 rebounds the past two games after being benched for much of the second half in the loss to Iowa State.
This week: at TCU (Wednesday), versus Kansas State (Saturday). Previous: 10
9. Villanova (17–2*): The Wildcats were going strong until Georgetown blew them out 78–58 just last week. Their only loss had been a overtime setback at Seton Hall, while 14 of their 17 wins were by double-digits.
This week: at Depaul (Saturday). Previous: 4
8. Louisville (16–3): The Cardinals rebounded from their loss to Duke with a win at Pittsburgh Sunday to stay within 2.5 games of ACC leader Virginia. Louisville leading-scorer Terry Rozier had 26 points in the win—the fifth 20-plus point game for the sophomore guard.
This week: at Boston College (Wednesday), versus North Carolina (Saturday). Previous: NR
7. Duke (17–2): Coach K’s 1,000th win was anything but a certainty as the Blue Devils trailed by 10 with 8:36 remaining. An 18–2 run over the next 5-6 minutes put them in the driver’s seat for the win. Freshman center Jahlil Okafor came up big (again) with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
This week: at Notre Dame (Wednesday), at Virginia (Saturday). Previous: 7
6. Notre Dame (18–2*): The Fighting Irish feature a balanced, yet high-scoring offense that features four players who average better than 13 points a game. Leading scorer Jerian Grant (16.4) also paces the team in assists at 6.4 per contest.
This week: versus Duke (Wednesday), at Pittsburgh (Saturday). Previous: 6
5. Wisconsin (18–2): Seven-foot senior forward Frank Kaminsky continues his progression for the Badgers this season, averaging 19 points and 8.3 rebounds in the three games—all wins—since his return from a concussion.
This week: at Iowa (Saturday). Previous: 8
4. Arizona (18–2): Freshman forward Stanley Johnson continues to shine for Arizona. The 6-foot-7, 245-pounder is averaging 19.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game over the last four contests—all wins and the Wildcats are sitting atop the Pac-12 with a 6–1 record.
This week: versus Oregon (Wednesday), versus Oregon State (Friday). Previous: 5
3. Gonzaga (20–1): This is usually the time of the year where where the Bulldogs reel off a bunch of wins while in conference play—and true to form, Gonzaga is at it again. Gonzaga, which has won at least a share of the West Coast Conference championship 13 times in Mark Few’s 15 seasons, is back at it again with a 9–0 record in league play.
This week: versus Portland (Thursday), versus Memphis (Saturday). Previous: 3
2. Virginia (19–0): The Cavaliers, who allow the fewest points per game at 49.2, escaped Sunday with a 50–47 win over Virginia Tech Sunday, despite trailing by 10 midway through the second half. Virginia allowed just four points over the final 10:41 though to seal the win.
This week: versus Duke (Saturday). Previous: 2
1. Kentucky (19–0): The Wildcats are everybody’s No. 1 and will probably be perched atop the rankings for a long time to come—provided they don’t succumb to the pressure. Kentucky leads the nation in blocks per game at 8.2 and it would probably be significantly higher if they actually had to go hard the whole 40 minutes, instead of coasting to numerous blowout victories.
This week: at Missouri (Thursday), versus Alabama (Saturday). Previous: 1
*–denotes record through Saturday.
