CBS Sports updates Top 25 and 1 after pivotal upsets on Tuesday night
After one final regular season Tuesday of college hoops, Gary Parish updated his College Basketball Top 25 And 1 for CBS Sports, featuring few changes at the top.
As has been the case for much of the year, the top four or five teams stayed clean and so did most of the top-10 on Tuesday evening. But don’t fret, because impactful results were aplenty. Florida roasted Alabama in The Swamp, North Carolina broke a curse and Purdue made their case once again as the top team in the nation.
Take a look at the latest on the top teams in the country along with Parish’s full Top 25 And 1 following Tuesday’s action:
1. Purdue
Purdue, UConn and Houston have shuffled around as the AP’s No. 1 team and the triumvirate have separated themselves as the clear top tier of the sport. However, among them, Purdue might have the best resume when it comes to selecting a No. 1 overall seed.
The Boilermakers just picked up a strong win at Illinois, which counts as their 11th Quad 1 victory of the season as of this writing. Purdue is 11-3 in Q1 with zero losses outside of it, are undefeated at home and have wins against the following teams: Tennessee, Illinois, Arizona, Alabama and Marquette.
2. UConn
Connecticut is the reigning national champion, has one loss in the last two and a half months on the road against another top-10 team, are already Big East champions, and have a 26-3 record and are locked in for a one-seed. Life is pretty good in Storrs.
Now, going forward, UConn can either put a cherry on top of a strong resume for the No. 1 overall seed, but road games at Marquette and Providence are no easy tasks. Specifically, the Golden Eagles are playing some of the best ball of any team in the country… outside of an ugly loss at UConn earlier in the season.
3. Houston
The unlucky Cougars are getting burned by injuries yet again. After health issues pillaged Houston’s roster two seasons ago, KelVin Sampson is being handicapped in a major way by several hits to his depth. Athletic wind/forward Terrence Arceneaux went out months ago, but in the last week, UH lost freshman Joseph Tugler and junior Ramon Walker for the year.
On the year, Arceneaux, Tugler and Walker and respectively 6th, 8th and 10th on the team in minutes per game, but with just 10 players in the rotation, their losses have really cut out the fat for Houston. There’s still plenty on the perimeter with Emanuel Sharp, LJ Cryer and Jamal Shead, with Mylik Wilson and Damian Dunn off the bench. But down low, rarely-used Cedric Lath is going to have to step in and step up for a Cougar front-court that has no depth beyond him and starters J’Wan Roberts and Ja’Vier Francis.
4. Tennessee
Tennessee’s last couple of teams in 2022 and 2023 were very balanced, with no player averaging more than 13 points per game but also a slew averaging more than five. This season, that’s not the case, and there’s much more of a pecking order to the Volunteer stat sheet.
Dalton Knecht leads the way, averaging over 24 points per game in SEC as the key to a different Tennessee team than years past. Their identity isn’t merely defensive. Rick Barnes has an offensive superstar and a future first round NBA Draft pick doing his thing behind a cast of grizzled veterans of the UT program.
5. Iowa State
TJ Otzelberger has the Cyclones on a trajectory towards the moon through nearly three seasons in Ames. In year one under his guide, 2022, Iowa state went from dead last in the Big 12 to the NCAA Tournament, earning an 11-seed and winning a couple of games before bowing out in the Sweet 16. in year two, they were a No. 6 seed but lost in round one.
Now, in 2023-24, Otzelberger’s group is 23-6 as we come down the stretch and with a 12-4 mark in the strongest conference in America. Iowa State is universally viewed as a 2-3 seed and should do no worse than a No. 4 if they lose out. The Cyclones have a good one on their hands.
6. North Carolina
UNC got the monkey off its back and finally scored a win on a Tuesday. Prior to Tuesday’s triumph over Notre Dame, the Tar Heels were just 1-4 on that day of the week with all three of their ACC losses coming on the second day of the work week. With the Fighting Irish defeated the other night, that curse is lifted.
It also marked five wins in a row for Carolina, who swept the Virginia teams and then hammered Miami, NC State and ND all at home before gearing up for the quick trip to Cameron Indoor this weekend. With Duke and UNC floating in similar territory for NCAA Tournament seeding, a sweep of the Blue Devils could be the ultimate persuasion for the selection committee.
7. Arizona
Unlike their football counterparts, the Pac-12 is not going out with a bang on the basketball court. Arizona is obviously an excellent team, and Washington State has been a tremendous surprise, but for the most part, the league was very underwhelming in 2023-24. For the Wildcats, that means few quality opportunities to boost their resume.
Getting swept by Washington State and dropping games vs. Oregon State and Stanford may ultimately tank Arizona’s odds at a one-seed vs. contenders with stronger schedules. However, one, two or three seed come tournament time, this Wildcat club has played good ball with just one loss since the start of February.
8. Baylor
Baylor’s 2024 group has certainly been hard on the heart’s of Scott Drew and older Bears fans everywhere. They’ve got eight losses, but eight Quad 1 wins as well, and a largest margin of defeat of seven points across their six Big 12 losses. Three of those came in overtime, two others came by one possession.
For all those ups and downs, though, Baylor is experiencing a peak at the moment, having just beat Texas in the midweek for their third straight victory on the heels of wins at home vs. Kansas and at TCU. Aside from Houston, perhaps the most dangerous team in the Big 12 come NCAA Tournament time.
9. Creighton
Like last season, the Blue Jays hit some bumps in the road back in December and January but are absolutely hitting their stride as March rolls around. Creighton is fifth in the country in Bart Torvik’s metrics since their Feb. 7 loss to Providence with a 6-1 record since then.
When Greg McDermott lost two starters off last year’s team, the departures seemed huge and also confusing given how strong the Blue Jays closed the year. But with three stars returning, Tre Alexander and Baylor Scheierman can handle the ball with freedom while Ryan Kalkbrenner continues to do his thing down low. The result: three players combining to average north of 50 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists per game.
10. Marquette
One more Big East team to round out the top-10 as Marquette is like Creighton in many ways, improving as the season continues and also featuring an elite trio of stars. Tyler Kolek and Kam Jones represent one of the country’s best backcourts, certainly on the offensive end, while Oso Ighodoro is a machine in the middle.
In many ways, the roster makeup was very similar a year ago, and a majority of the names are the exact same. Except this group is older, with a slew of sophomores rather than freshmen, plus a couple of senior leaders compared to the same guys who were juniors last season. Perhaps that experience and continuity will give the Golden Eagles an edge in the big dance this time around.
CBS Sports 11-26 Rankings
11. Duke
12. Kansas
13. Auburn
14. Utah State
15. BYU
16. Illinois
17. Kentucky
18. Dayton
19. Washington State
20. Nevada
21. South Carolina
22. Alabama
23. San Diego State
24. Gonzaga
25. Florida
26. Texas Tech
The big news in the bottom half was Florida’s win to move up from the very back one spot to 25th, then, there was San Diego State who slipped a bit after losing against UNLV in the ever-unpredictable Mountain West. Illinois also fell last night, but a defeat at the hands of Purdue won’t hurt their cause too much.