By Matt Castillo
The AP has their rankings for the best college basketball teams in the country. Their top-ten teams are Gonzaga at one, Baylor at two, Villanova at three, Texas at four, Iowa at five, Kansas at six, Michigan at seven, Creighton at eight, Wisconsin at nine, and Tennessee at ten. I slightly disagree with their rankings so started with 10 and making my way down to 1 I share my college basketball power rankings
#10 Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a top-ten team in my opinion and the AP polls would agree with that putting them as the ninth best team in the country, but I pushed them back one spot at number 10. The Badgers are 10-2 on the season, there last loss was on December 28th to Maryland who is near the bottom of the Big ten. Wisconsin is a strong team with a lot of depth, but that loss pushes them back in my rankings. However, I believe this team can be near the top five in the upcoming weeks.
#9 Creighton
If Villanova wasn’t in the Big East than Creighton would be the best team in the conference. Creighton has five guys that score in double figures and are capable of having huge offensive nights. They will not be an easy out came tournament time.
#8 Tennessee
As usual Rick Barnes has himself another solid basketball team. The volunteers are coming off a conference win over Texas A&M 68-54. They do have a conference loss to Alabama, who is an unranked team that probably should be ranked in the top 25 especially since they have gotten off to a great start in their conference at 4-0. So, with that loss I can give the Volunteers a pass and luckily for them other teams in the top 10 also loss recently, which helps them in my rankings.
#7 Kansas
Kansas is coming off a loss to the Texas longhorns where they were outplayed and dominated on their own home floor losing by 25 points. This was the worst home loss that they Jayhawks have suffered in the Bill Self era. And this past weekend they survived a scare against Oklahoma, so they aren’t playing their best basketball right now but through the course of the season teams will go through up and downs they will be fine.
#6 Michigan
I tell you something that is fun and exciting in Michigan and it’s not Jim Harbaugh and the football program that’s for sure! But it’s their basketball team under Juwan Howard who has done a great job since being hired as the team’s head coach. Michigan has been one of the hottest team in the country and they crushed both Northwestern and Minnesota recently, both these teams are ranked in the top 25. They have a tough set of games coming up as they are facing Wisconsin on Tuesday night and Minnesota again on Saturday. If they win both these games, they will be moving down the power rankings for sure.
#5 Texas
Shaka Smart has finally produced a successful team at Texas and the Associative Press has them fourth in the country and rightfully so. They beat the Kansas Jayhawks on their home floor by 25 points and they had a big come from behind win at West Virginia this weekend. They deserve to be ranked fourth in the country; however, I still think teams that are behind them in the rankings are better and that is why I have them at five.
#4 Villanova
Jay Wright has a built a program that is in the national championship discussion year in and year out and once again they are in that discussion. They did have to cancel their next three games due to covid and that might cause them to drop in the rankings but not in my power rankings.
# 3 Iowa
This Iowa team is fun to watch with the inside out game they can play on offense. Garza will eat teams alive down low and then their shooters can light you up from behind the arc. This is a scary team, especially when they are draining threes. All you got to do is ask North Carolina how scary they are when they are connecting from behind the arc. If these team avoids a bad shooting game, they can beat anybody in the country.
#2 Baylor
This Baylor team is a loaded with so much depth and talent it might be their best team they have ever had, and they have had some good teams recently. This is a team that will go far in the tournament and will have a chance to win the national championship
#1 Gonzaga
A no brainer here as Gonzaga has shown every time, they step on the floor they are the best team in the country. They are so well balanced with plenty of offense and they are capable of locking down on the defensive end. No question they are the favorite to win it all this year.
