Coaches Poll updated after final week of the college basketball regular season

With the regular season all wrapped up, USA Today has released one last Coaches Poll before major conference tournaments begin and we get a bracket by next Sunday.

Of course, as has been the case throughout conference play this season, a whirlwind of change occurred in college hoops over the last seven days. Now, the top three teams kept clean slates, but behind them, it was chaos. Tennessee lost at home to Kentucky, Duke lost at home to North Carolina, Texas Tech upset Baylor and even Marquette fell against UConn.

So, with all the dust settled and Champ Week dead ahead of us, let’s look at the full USA Today Coaches Poll.

1. Houston

Houston just keeps losing players but keeps winning games. The Cougars are now down to seven players in their primary rotation after losing Ramon Walker and Joseph Tugler for the rest of the season in recent weeks, plus Terrence Arceneaux’s season-ender from December — which has forced rarely-deployed big man Cedric Lath to step up and provide spot minutes off the bench in the front-court.

It may be a lot of 40-minute nights for those starters from here on out — especially for forwards J’Wan Roberts and Ja’Vier Francis. But they seemed fine with the new rotation this weekend, when Houston welcomed Kansas only to beat their heads in by 30 points.

2. UConn

Since the turn of the calendar, Connecticut has been absolutely dominant in every facet of the game of basketball. They’re 18-1 in the Big East since dropping their very first game of league play and only lost once more… on the road against a top-10 Creighton team.

The Huskies have possessed a blistering offense all year long but the defense is catching up, too. Since Jan. 17, UConn is No. 2 in offense per Bart Torvik’s numbers, and that’s where they’ve been all year. But on defense, they’re fourth in the nation over that span after posting numbers outside the top-25 for the rest of the year. Another scary group coming out of Storrs this March.

3. Purdue

It’s the month worth all the marbles for Purdue, and the only negative thing you can say about the Boilermakers is that they simply haven’t gotten the job done sufficiently in the postseason. Otherwise, Matt Painter has this steam engine rolling towards a second straight No. 1 seed.

As it currently sits, Purdue is winners of five straight and 14 of 15. What’s to knock? Well, the fact that they only won their last four games by single digits? Maybe the Boilermakers are dancing with another defeat before the NCAA Tournament, but all that matters to this fanbase is they don’t pick up one in the big dance until at least April.

4. North Carolina

2024 UNC is everything folks hoped 2023 UNC could be. Veteran, elite defensively, and stocked with shooters and one down-low presence in Armando Bacot. As they and Duke stormed through the ACC regular season, it was ultimately the Tar Heels who laughed first and last in the rivalry this year, completing the series sweep.

For North Carolina, that win was huge for many reasons, but most of all because they now have a path straight to a 1-seed with Tennessee and Arizona both losing this weekend. They’ll need the Vols to lose early in the SEC tourney this week, but if that happens, Carolina can nab a one with a decent run in D.C.

5. Tennessee

The loss to Kentucky stung for several reasons and NCAA Tournament seeding is one of them. Tennessee had a chance to grab a stranglehold on the final 1-seed with the resume they’ve put together plus Arizona’s loss, but the Vols just couldn’t keep a lid on Reed Sheppard.

Regardless, they’ll have a chance to regain some ground with likely Quad 1 games at Nashville’s SEC Tournament this weekend. Win the whole thing, and it’s hard to imagine UNC or Arizona are able to match the depth of quality wins that Tennessee has when it comes to that last 1-seed.

6. Creighton

The Blue Jays won’t blow you away with any metrics, records or recent success, but they sure are lurking in the shadows with major sleeper potential as a Final Four team. Creighton finished in the Elite Eight last season, got their three star players back, and are 23-8 with a beatdown of UConn under their belts.

Maybe the depth isn’t great, or maybe Creighton’s isn’t incredibly consistent game-to-game. But you will not find a better leading trio than Ryan Kalkbrenner, Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander. Those three can take this group anywhere.

7. Arizona

The Wildcats really just blew their chance at a No. 1 seed in all likelihood. Arizona was penciled in as Joe Lunardi’s final 1-seed entering Saturday’s action but ultimately picked up a stinger of a loss at USC, who finished the regular season just 14-17.

With that setback, Arizona is now firmly in 2-seed territory heading into the Pac-12 Tournament. Meanwhile, North Carolina and Tennessee didn’t suffer quite the embarrassment that the ‘Cats did, so they remain ahead in the race for the final 1-seed.

8. Iowa State

The Cyclones are quite an outlier among the very top teams this season. You look at this top-10, and largely, it’s teams you would have expected to be the contenders who are the contenders, except ISU. Maybe Iowa State doesn’t have a great shot at an actual title, but they’ve certainly compiled a resume worthy of a top-10 ranking.

Eight of the top-10 teams inn this week’s coaches poll began the season in the top 11 of it, and nine of them made the top-16. Credit the coaches, because they were pretty on-the-money, except on the Cyclones, who are the only top-10 team who was unranked to start the season. That’s after a year in 2023 where no one expected a No. 6 seed, which came on the heels of a 2022 season where an NCAA Tournament appearance felt like a minor miracle coming off a 2-22 year in 2021. TJ Otzelberger, you are the man!

9. Kentucky

After a long stay outside in the cold bitter world of the 11-25 rankings, Kentucky has leapt back in following a five-game winning streak including victories over Alabama and at Mississippi State and Tennessee to fling these Wildcats into discussion for a 3-seed. That would have seemed far-fetched a month ago.

But Kentucky is playing marginally better defense while, frankly, shooting the absolute snot out of the basketball. They’re No. 1 in the country in 3-point shooting and literally have one of, if not the best, shooting trios in the history of the sport in Reed Sheppard, Antonio Reeves and Rob Dillingham combining to shoot 46.8% on 438 3-point attempts this season.

Coaches Poll 10-25

10. Marquette
11. Duke
12. Auburn
13. Baylor
14. Illinois
15. Gonzaga
16. South Carolina
17. Kansas
18. Utah State
19. Alabama
20. Saint Mary’s
21. BYU
22. Nevada
23. Texas Tech
24. Dayton
25. Washington State

Other receiving votes: Boise State 30; San Diego State 19; James Madison 19; Florida 17; Drake 15; South Florida 11; Nebraska 7; Oklahoma 6; Florida Atlantic 6; Colorado 3; Princeton 1; Northwestern 1; Indiana State 1