Tag: College basketball power rankings

Duke basketball opens the 2024-25 season third in the College Sports Wire power rankings

College Sports Wire released its 2024-25 men’s basketball power rankings on Monday, and the Blue Devils open the year as a top-three team.

College Sports Wire’s Andy Patton released his 2024-25 preseason men’s basketball power rankings ahead of Monday’s opening schedule, and he listed the Duke Blue Devils as the third-best team in the country.

“Jon Scheyer has an absolutely electric freshman class in Durham, headlined of course by top prospect [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag],” Patton wrote. “This team is deep, incredibly talented, and looks like a unit that has played together for a long time already. That’s a dangerous combination.”

Duke certainly looked the part of a national championship contender with its two exhibition performances, beating Lincoln 107-56 before taking down the Arizona State Sun Devils 103-47. Flagg scored 22 points in the first game, and fellow freshman [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] averaged 18.0 points while shooting better than 50% from 3-point range.

The Alabama Crimson Tide and Houston Cougars were the only two teams above the Blue Devils in Patton’s rankings with the Gonzaga Bulldogs and Kansas Jayhawks rounding out the top five. The North Carolina Tar Heels, last year’s ACC regular-season champions, start the year in ninth.

Duke gets its season underway against Maine in a Monday night game on ACC Network.

College basketball analyst Andy Katz power ranks Texas, Sweet 16 teams

Texas checks in toward the top of the Andy Katz Sweet 16 power rankings.

The Texas Longhorns remain one of the best teams left in the NCAA Tournament. College basketball analyst Andy Katz ranked the Longhorns No. 3 out of the remaining 16 teams.

Texas head coach Rodney Terry and company survived the dangerous Penn State shooting attack winning 71-66. They did so without much help from the three-point line. The Longhorns shot a putrid 1-for-13 from long range adding to the degree of difficulty to pull off a win. Perhaps they earned style points by winning with far below average three point shooting.

Two No. 1 and 2 seeds have been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. No. 1 seed Purdue became just the second No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64-plus teams. No. 2 seed Arizona fell prey to Princeton, who advances to the Sweet 16. Kansas and Marquette fell out of contention in second round losses to Arkansas and Michigan State.

Here’s a look at how Andy Katz views the remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament.

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Texas ranks No. 4 in analyst Jeff Goodman’s hoops rankings

One college basketball analyst is taking note of Texas’ upward trajectory.

The Texas Longhorns are catching the attention of the college basketball world. A recent power ranking highlights Texas as one of the best teams in the country.

College basketball writer Jeff Goodman ranked the ‘Horns No. 4 in his latest poll.

The least surprising ranking puts the Purdue Boilermakers as the top team. Despite Saturday’s upset loss to Indiana, the team has stood head and shoulders above the rest of college basketball.

One of the more noteworthy rankings sees the Tennessee Volunteers fall to No. 12 in the rankings. Since thoroughly defeating Texas, the Vols have lost to Florida and narrowly defeated the struggling Auburn Tigers.

Texas leads all big 12 teams on the list. Four other teams make it into the Top 11 with Kansas (5), Iowa State (7), Kansas State (10) and Baylor (11) viewed in high regard.

The Longhorns will look to continue their upward trajectory on Monday as they battle Kansas at 8 pm CT on ESPN.

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CBS analyst ranks Texas basketball No. 1 in consecutive weeks

Texas ranks No. 1 in another individual college basketball poll.

Texas basketball is once again lonely at the top of another ranking. CBS writer Gary Parrish has Texas ranked as the No. 1 team in the country.

Another budding rival entered the Top 10. Purdue moved up to No. 7 is Parrish’s ranking following impressive 18-point win over No. 6 Gonzaga. Sunday’s win over No. 8 Duke was not factored into his rankings and could vault the Boilermakers higher.

As many recall, Purdue’s size advantage was too much for the Longhorns in the NCAA Tournament. Matt Painter’s team eliminated Texas in the Round of 32 last year. In some ways, it was a revenge game for the Boilermakers who lost to Texas in 2018 and 2019.

The Creighton Bluejays improved to No. 5 in the ranking. Baylor and Kansas were not included in the Top 10. Here’s a look at the top of Parrish’s rankings.