With just two more weeks remaining in the regular season, many of the nation's best are still jostling for postseason seeding. What's changed in the top 25 after a less tumultuous week in the college basketball world?
Knock, knock, Hoos there?
No. 14 Virginia entered the week with the best defense in the country, but faced a gauntlet down the stretch after suffering a road defeat last weekend at Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers failed to respond, dropping a pair of primetime matchups—first at home to No. 12 Duke and then in Chapel Hill against No. 10 North Carolina. Tony Bennett's team sputtered to a 48.0 point per game average in the two contests, falling four spots to No. 18.
The Blue Devils jumped back into the top 10 at No. 10 and the Tar Heels also shifted up to No. 8, and the two Tobacco Road rivals will face off for the second time March 4 in Chapel Hill to close out the regular season.
The rest of the ACC did not see many upsets other than No. 17 Florida State's 80-66 loss at the hands of Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon. The Seminoles slid to No. 19 in this week's poll and are now 1-5 in their last six matchups away from Tallahassee, Fla. And with a pair of narrow wins, Louisville moved up one spot to No. 7 in advance of a critical road game at North Carolina Wednesday night.
Making sense of the Midwest
For the 13th consecutive season, No. 3 Kansas appears poised to capture the Big 12 regular-season crown. The Jayhawks made a last-gasp surge from down 64-50 Monday night at home against No. 9 West Virginia, outscoring the Mountaineers 21-7 in the last three minutes to send the game to overtime and ultimately pulling out an 84-80 win.
Kansas followed the late shocker with a crucial 67-65 victory at No. 4 Baylor Saturday, moving to 12-2 in league play—three games ahead of West Virginia and the Bears with just four games to play. Despite the wins, the Jayhawks remained at No. 3 this week. Baylor fell five spots to No. 9 and the Mountaineers dropped to No. 12.
In the Big Ten, No. 11 Wisconsin found itself trailing early once again, but the Badgers found a way Sunday afternoon at home against No. 23 Maryland, erasing a six-point halftime deficit to win 71-60 to bounce back from a loss at Michigan Thursday. The Badgers slid to No. 16 in this week's rankings and are tied atop the Big Ten standings with now-No. 14 Purdue at 11-3, but both teams will play their next two games on the road with the Terrapins—who dropped out of the rankings—just behind them.
This and that
Outside of a few intriguing midweek matchups, the past week did not shake up the poll all that much. No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 2 Villanova remain at the top after both cruised to a pair of double-digit victories. The Bulldogs need just two more wins to finish the regular season undefeated, and with a win Wednesday night against No. 22 Butler, the Wildcats can clinch the top seed in the Big East tournament.
All three Pac-12 teams in the top 10—then-No. 5 Arizona, then-No. 6 UCLA and then-No. 7 Oregon—shifted up a spot to make up half of the top six, setting the stage for a clash between the Wildcats and Bruins next weekend when ESPN's "College Gameday" travels to Tuscon, Ariz. Saturday's slate will also feature another top-15 matchup when now-No. 13 Florida visits No. 11 Kentucky, but the Gators will be playing without center John Egbunu, who was lost for season due to a torn left ACL this week.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."