But the Wolverines lost twice last week, first getting blown out at home by an Ayo Dosunmu-less Illinois team and then losing the season finale to a desperate Michigan State team in East Lansing. No. 4 in Strength of Record, and are in the top six of most relevant metrics. Kansas, West Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech can all make a case to be ranked somewhere from Nos. He's the Hawkeyes' second-most consistent scorer and had 12 points in those opening 12 minutes Sunday. Three ACC regular-season titles in the past four seasons for Tony Bennett -- and the one year during that stretch when the Cavaliers didn't finish in first, they won 11 of their final 12 games and ended up just one game back of Florida State in the final standings. The Spartans responded with a Joshua Langford 3-pointer to provide some breathing room and ultimately seal the victory. College Basketball Power Rankings: Unbeaten Michigan continues moving up, Pac-12 gets ... the league has two players ranked in the top 10 of ESPN's 2021 NBA draft rankings … Offensively, they're heavily reliant on their ability to score inside the arc. Dropped out: Florida State (No. So Baylor is back in its usual No. During the Jayhawks' recent stretch of seven wins in eight games, they've shot above 33.3% from 3 just once. 2. College Basketball Power Rankings: Florida State, Alabama on the rise. Gonzaga Bulldogs. In ESPN’s college football power rankings this week, Texas climbed three spots to No. 15 last week. Win of the Week: Michigan State Spartans 70, Michigan Wolverines 64. The ESPN Power Rankings are updated weekly. 14. 17. But Broome had the best game of his young college career on Saturday night against 1-seed Belmont, finishing with 27 points, 12 rebounds -- including seven on the offensive end -- two assists and two blocks. When Juwan Howard's group needed a bucket to slow down Illinois' runs, they couldn't find one. Where are they this week, and why? 2 position behind top-ranked Gonzaga. Previous ranking: Unranked Seeing how Wright tweaks his offense in the Big East tournament will be worth watching. They've beaten one NCAA tournament team: Colorado, back on Jan. 2. ESPN released its latest national college basketball power rankings … Ohio State basketball continues to climb in ESPN's college basketball power rankings, but how far? numberFire uses the powers of quantitative analysis to deliver the best projections and rankings for daily fantasy sports, including NFL, MLB, NBA and more! Numbers update daily. 8. Ohio State is not entering the postseason in a good place. I have Villanova and Virginia toward the tail end of the rankings this week, with Florida State just outside. 2 seed UC Irvine (17-8, 14-4). Heading into its opener against Duke, Notre Dame was fifth in ESPN’s Power Rankings. Ginebra's #NSD: An oral history of … Their defense hasn't been as imposing this season as in the past, and Sunday's effort won't make Beard happy. All four losses were by five points or fewer, but they're just 14-9 overall and 9-8 entering the Big 12 tournament. Broome will give Preston Spradlin and Morehead State a unique X-factor in their upset bid next week. It still doesn't feel like Virginia is clicking on all cylinders despite winning two in a row to end the regular season, but the defense looked a bit better this past week as opposed to how it looked during the three-game losing streak. He opened with 14 points and 11 rebounds against Southeast Missouri State, then followed it up with 17 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks in a semifinal win over Eastern Kentucky. Texas Longhorns (17-7) I don't know if Sunday's game between Michigan State and Michigan was a must-win for the Spartans' at-large hopes, but Tom Izzo's team left things very late this season and didn't have much time to improve the résumé. The USC Trojans did make the top 25… but barely. The league's head coaches might be a step ahead on this one. Houston's Tramon Mark nails the off-balanced, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lift the Cougars over the Tigers. They've lost five of their past seven games to finish below .500 in the Big East. ESPN, based on the votes of 40 reporters, insiders and editors, has compiled Power Rankings looking ahead to the 2020-21 NBA campaign The … Michigan State still doesn't have great metrics, but the Spartans have wins over Michigan, Illinois and Ohio State -- a group of elite wins unparalleled among bubble teams. This week: ACC tournament. They have the most Quadrant 1 wins of anyone in college basketball, rank No. View on espn.com. USC Trojans: The Trojans bounced back with two straight wins this past week, including arguably their best performance of the conference season against Stanford and then a buzzer-beating win to complete the sweep of crosstown rival UCLA. 24 in ESPN’s rankings, well behind schools such as Coastal Carolina, Liberty, and Louisiana-Lafayette, three … They're dancing. Matt Painter did one of the more underrated coaching jobs this season, as his team pushed itself into top-four consideration by winning its last five games and 11 of its last 14. They're 12th in the Big Ten in 3-point percentage and 11th in percentage of points from 3-pointers. Against Illinois, they just laid a complete egg. Coach of the Week: Pat Kelsey, Winthrop Eagles. Not only is it up in both the Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll and AP Polls, but OSU has risen in the latest ESPN Power Rankings. The College Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward. What's remarkable is that Alabama still got to only 1.04 points per possession and 48.5% shooting for the game. But Purdue overcomes that with dominant interior play led by Trevion Williams, one of the most efficient offensive players in the country, and 7-foot-4 freshman center Zach Edey, who has scored in double-figures in five of past seven games and totaled 41 points in wins over Wisconsin and Indiana this past week. College Basketball Power Rankings: Resetting the top 16 ahead of Champ Week. This week: Big Ten tournament. It was only a few days ago when Michigan looked like the biggest threat to Gonzaga for a national championship. Purdue Boilermakers (18-8) So the Wildcats had the opportunity to jump Butler and move up to No. I think he can make a really strong case for SEC Player of the Year given his recent performances (although LSU's Cameron Thomas, another freshman, has an argument too). Oklahoma Sooners: The Sooners have lost four in a row to end the season, and their solid spot along the 2-line in projected brackets feels like it happened a long time ago. The Zags remaining No. It's going to be hard to run the Wildcats' preferred offense without guards who can create shots for themselves and others. Against Iowa State last week, they combined for 29 points and 12 rebounds, and Texas rolled over the Cyclones. Gonzaga Bulldogs (24-0) Oumar Ballo on the freshman team. Ohio State Buckeyes (18-8) 2 in NET, one spot ahead of Baylor. 4 in the NET and No. But there's no guarantee any of the three will be in the top 16 next week. Masked up, Dosunmu scored 19 points, with the best closer in college basketball scoring six of those 19 in the final 2:13. But Michigan State answered any remaining questions about its at-large candidacy on Sunday, leading the entire second half en route to a win over Michigan. The ESPN end-of-season college football power rankings are out. This week: WCC tournament. ESPN's NBA Basketball Power Index (BPI) is a measure of team strength developed by the ESPN Analytics team. Strength of Record (SOR) is a measure of team accomplishment based on how difficult a team's W-L record is to achieve. To get a further idea of the sport's best teams, ESPN's Basketball Power Index provides a closer look. The Wildcats still beat Creighton by 12 on Wednesday, and then lost by two at Providence, which wouldn't have been hard to imagine even with a healthy Gillespie in the fold. Beating Michigan -- on the road, by 23, without its best player -- might have been enough for Illinois to win Team of the Week on its own. Sophomore guard Avery Anderson III seems ready to emerge after scoring 31 points against the Mountaineers. 16. Broome notched three double-doubles in three OVC tourney games. Previous ranking: 3 Of their eight losses, seven were decided by five points or fewer. On the plus side, Sam Hauser continues to play well and Trey Murphy III averaged 14.5 points this past week after totaling just 19 points in the three losses. West Virginia Mountaineers (18-8) So what's going on? Don't miss these 2020-2021 NBA Hollinger Projections on your favorite pro basketball players. That's not going to cut it in the NCAA tournament, regardless of how improved the Mountaineers are offensively. Even that might not get them to the top line, though. Team of the Week: Illinois Fighting Illini. This week: Big Ten tournament. Get the latest NBA basketball news, scores, stats, standings, fantasy games, and more from ESPN. Against West Virginia, Jared Butler went for 25 points and six assists, while Davion Mitchell had 20 points and five dimes. Michigan Wolverines (19-3) 12. We've shown love to a number of mid-major coaches in this category over the course of the season, but Kelsey hasn't made an appearance yet -- and he has done one of the best jobs in the country. Leon Edwards' long wait is about to end, Rory McIlroy knows he has good golf in him, he just can't find it right now, Who's in, who's out for NBA players at the Tokyo Olympics, How local teams can end Albirex's dominance in Singapore, Ringside Seat: Why you will enjoy the Juan Francisco Estrada-Roman Gonzalez rematch, The varying states of NCAA tournament Bracketology. 1. Big 12 pecking order: Baylor is the best team in the league, Oklahoma is likely seventh, but the rest is up for grabs. He's providing Kelvin Sampson with a consistent complementary option to Quentin Grimes, with Marcus Sasser cooling off after a huge middle third of the season. Senior writer Chris Lowe has Florida ranked No. Gonzaga was off this past week, but the Bulldogs return to action on Monday in the WCC semifinals. Kelsey has now won four regular-season championships in the past six seasons and three conference tournament titles in the past five seasons. Here are the primary things that need figuring out over the next few days: Big Ten pecking order: Wisconsin has faded, leaving five teams in the mix for a top-16 spot. In the two losses this past week, Michigan shot a combined 9-for-29 from behind the arc. They're baaack. The week started with a trip to Ann Arbor to face a Michigan team that had vaulted to No. But it did, so they are. Both players have shown flashes of their ability this season -- but the future first-rounders have rarely done it during the same game. Two weeks later, and Illinois looks like a legitimate national title contender. For what it is worth, the Gators are the highest-ranked four-loss team in the standings. 9. Keep an eye on them in your bracket. Alabama Crimson Tide (21-6) 28d Jeff Borzello. 3 on his future quarterback power rankings – just behind Oklahoma and returning starter Spencer Rattler and Clemson, who is expected to start D.J. Use ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI) rankings tool to get daily team projections, game forecasts, and to predict who will win the NCAA championship. Trent Frazier stepped up offensively, Andre Curbelo was terrific as the team's primary playmaker, and Kofi Cockburn held his own down low against Hunter Dickinson. This week: AAC tournament. Johni Broome is going to be a name to watch over the next couple of weeks -- and the next couple of years. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl took on more of a playmaking role in the second half against Creighton, but then you're taking him away from where he's at his best -- around the basket.