AP top 25 men’s basketball review

Evansville gets big upset; Duke new No. 1, Florida out of rankings

JACK LEWIS-CLARKE | DAILY EVERGREEN FILE

Then-freshman forward CJ Elleby looks to make a play against Oregon’s then-freshman forward Louis King on March 6 at Beasley Coliseum.

KURIA POUNDS, Evergreen reporter

The Associated Press released its Top 25 poll after a crazy week of college basketball. The number one seed overall, Kentucky, lost at home to Evansville. Florida got upset by the University of Connecticut, and Washington lost, yay. The rankings have definitely shifted a ton because of the wins and losses in the top 25, so now, let’s see what is right and what is wrong with the AP Top 25 poll.

What is right with the poll:

Duke and Louisville are the top two teams in the country. The ACC is the dominant conference this year. Duke beat two schools that did not improve their March Madness resume by any standards, but the fact that they are still undefeated and beat a good Kansas team in their first game makes them the top team in the country. Louisville faced the same fate as Duke this past week, in terms of their opponents, but they looked dominant this whole week, making them a top team as well.

Ohio State is in the top 10, and I like it. The Buckeyes beat down Villanova at home this past Wednesday and looked complete on offense and defense. Although they did play a close game against Cincinnati in the opener, Ohio State is improving, and teams should definitely watch out for this team in the Big 10.

Virginia Commonwealth University and Tennessee are in the top 25. Both teams should have been in at the beginning of the season, but now they are getting the recognition they deserve after beating good opponents last week. Tennessee beat Washington at their neutral-site game by 13 points. VCU beat LSU by two in a very back-and-forth game. These teams are good, watch out for them in March as well.

Also, Florida is out of the top 25. Good. They are overhyped. That’s all I have to say.

What is wrong with the poll:

Kentucky deserves to fall just a little more. The Wildcats were a 20-point favorite and had a 96 percent chance of beating Evansville at home this past week, and they looked absolutely horrible on offense. They could not shoot anywhere from the field and this could be just a fluke game, but still, they got exposed on offense by a team they were supposed to beat by 20. Kentucky should fall out of the top 10, and a team that is actually good, but underrated, should leap over them.

Xavier University should not be going up three spots after their shaky week. The Musketeers beat a bad Missouri team in overtime and scratched by Missouri State as well, why are they going up. If they are playing like this now against teams that they should beat by 15 or more, who knows what will happen against good teams that are not only ranked but are March Madness teams.

Auburn should suffer the same fate as Xavier and fall three spots. They scratched a one-point victory against South Alabama last week and picked up a quality win against California State University-Northridge, but the one-point margin against South Alabama should be taken into consideration. The Tigers should drop a spot because even though they won, it was two points away from being considered as an upset.

Notable matchups for this week (11/18-11/24):

No. 1 Duke faces California at 6 p.m. Thursday on ESPN3

No. 22 Texas faces Georgetown at 4 p.m. Thursday on ESPN2

No. 15 Utah State plays LSU at 4 p.m. Friday on CBSSN

Ole Miss travels to Memphis to play No. 16 Memphis at 10 a.m. on Saturday on ESPN3