Teams Ranked Higher, Lower or Just Right in the AP Top 25

The AP Top 25 has been a staple since the beginning of time in College Sports, as every Monday fans hope their team can find a spot in the rankings. As much as these rankings matter to fans however, in the big picture they don’t mean a ton considering they have zero effect on NCAA Tournament seeding and there are many teams not ranked properly based on what they’ve accomplished so far. Here are the teams that stand out in the latest edition of the rankings.

UConn

Dan Hurley’s Huskies have been one of the biggest stories in College Basketball so far this season, considering they started the season unranked and now have a legitimate case as the best team in College Basketball. The Huskies are currently ranked #2 in the AP Top 25 behind Purdue, and the only explanation for it was Purdue has been ranked ahead of UConn since November 28th and they haven’t done anything to fall below them. The reason why this logic is flawed is the fact that since that point UConn has won enough games over other quality opponents to put them over Purdue, but aren’t ranked ahead of them just because the Boilermakers didn’t screw up themselves.

Despite the fact that neither team has lost yet, UConn has quality wins over Alabama, Oregon, Florida, Iowa State, Butler and more, while none of their games have been remotely competitive. Purdue does have a pair of very impressive victories over Duke and Gonzaga, while also having to fight until the very end of Overtime, to beat Nebraska on the road. While UConn has the better resume, they are at least somewhat comparable if you want to give the edge there. However, it is unlikely that someone will watch both UConn and Purdue play and come away thinking that right now Purdue is the better team.

Zach Edey has a legitimate argument as the best player in College Basketball to kick off the season, however UConn’s Adama Sanogo isn’t that far behind as the clear cut frontrunner for Big East Player of the Year. In addition, the Huskies have Freshman Donavan Clingan coming off the bench as one of the best 6th men in the sport with a loaded backcourt headlined by a future pro in Jordan Hawkins. Purdue is a team that relies much more on Matt Painter’s system, and to his credit he has brought the perfect players in from that outside that make it work. While Foster Loyer and Braden Smith are two great players especially considering they’re both three star Freshman, UConn has the better dudes and the better team. It is clear anytime the Huskies are on the floor.

Verdict: Ranked Too Low

Memphis

Penny Hardaway took a little bit of a different approach while building his roster this season, with it being the first time in his coaching tenure, Penny didn’t add a marquee Freshman over the offseason. Instead, he added arguably the best transfer on the market in Kendric Davis from SMU, and went all in with an older team. With guys like DeAndre Williams, Alex Lomax and Jayden Hardaway. In addition, Penny also added older players from the Transfer Portal that weren’t former top notch recruits that Memphis has gone after in the past, like Elijah McCadden, Keyontae Kennedy and Damaria Franklin.

This philosophy of building around older players has worked for Memphis, considering they’ve started the season with a 9-3 record including wins over Auburn, Texas A&M, Stanford and more. These were the exact type of games that Memphis was losing early last season with one of the more talented rosters in the country that was also inexperienced. The only losses for Memphis have come at Alabama, at Saint Louis and vs Seton Hall on a neutral floor. In those games, Memphis was very competitive against one of the best teams in the country in Alabama, competed against a very talented Saint Louis team on the road, and lost to Seton Hall on a crazy buzzer beater.

Considering Memphis is winning the games they’re supposed to without any doubt and have lost three games in one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the country, they should be rewarded for that. Memphis is currently unranked and received the 8th most votes of the teams outside the Top 25. What this basically means is that the AP Poll thinks Mmephis is the 31st best team in College Basketball, which is just not the case.  

Verdict: Ranked Too Low

Auburn

The Tigers are fresh off one of the best seasons in program history, where they finished 28-6 overall and climbed to the #1 overall spot in the AP Top 25. Things haven’t been going that smoothly so far this season, however Auburn is Still ranked at #23 following their loss on Sunday at USC. Auburn returned their entire backcourt from last season, which actually was their primary issue at times. In 2022, the Tigers had the best frontcourt in College Basketball headlined by two future NBA  first round picks in Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler. Bruce Pearl did as good of a job as anyone can reasonably expect trying to replace them, by adding highly coveted Morehead State Transfer Johni Broome and Top 40 Freshman Yohan Traore.

While these replacements were as good as anyone can ask for, the circumstances of replacing Smith and Kessler aren’t ideal especially when Auburn is bringing back the same exact backcourt that struggled at times last season. Auburn’s leading scorer Wendell Green has struggled with his shooting efficiency and shot selection throughout his career, which has continued into this season. The Eastern Kentucky transfer now in his second year with Auburn, is shooting 28% from three and has shot 33% from the field or lower in four of Auburn’s last six matchups. The Tigers are going to need someone else to step up and be more efficient.

Auburn doesn’t look particularly good on the floor right now, and their resume doesn’t back up the fact they are still ranked either. Currently, the Tigers best win is over Saint Louis who is ranked #65 in KenPom and have disappointed relative to expectations after being labeled the preseason Atlantic 10 favorite. Auburn has really struggled in the two other marquee games they’ve played against Memphis and on Sunday at USC. Auburn was able to get into the win column on Wednesday night winning on the road at Washington, but will need to add way more to their resume in order to back up their current ranking.

Verdict: Ranked Too High

Mississippi State

 Of the six first year Head Coaches in the SEC, there isn’t one that fits his new job better than Chris Jans at Mississippi State. Jans spent the last five seasons as the Head Coach of New Mexico State, which included four conference titles and three trips to the NCAA Tournament. The reason why the fit in Starkville was so natural is the fact that Jans built his rosters at New Mexico State on the fly, with a ton of transfers and new players each year. As a former JUCO Coach himself, Jans is used to having a handful of new players on his team each and every year. At a job like Mississippi State, it is likely you’re going to have to bring in some transfers from other schools where it didn’t necessarily work out originally and sell them on your vision.

In addition to transfer adds like Dashawn Davis from Oregon State and Eric Red Jr. from Southeast Missouri State, Jans also did a really good job in getting some of the players from the Ben Howland era to return to school. Four of the Bulldogs top five scorers including Tolu Smith, DJ Jeffries, Shakeel Moore and Cam Matthews came to Starkville to play under Ben Howland but have thrived this season under Jans. Mississippi State started their season off with a 11-0 start including quality wins against Marquette and Utah and climbed all the way to the #15 ranked team in the country.

            Unfortunately for the Bulldogs things might be starting to come back down to earth, as they lost their first game of the season on Tuesday Night to Drake. While Drake is a very good team that has become a staple at the top of the Valley, Mississippi State’s performance so far hasn’t warranted a Top-15 team either. The Bulldogs rank just 100th in offensive efficiency, per KenPom, and are outside the top 300 in 3-point shooting and have won games primarily based on Tolu Smith going to work down low against inferior opponents. Jans deserves a ton of credit for the Bulldogs great start, but #15 is jumping the gun just a tad.

Verdict: Ranked Too High

TCU

After entering the season with a ton of hype that was quickly lost following a disappointing effort against Northwestern State on November 14th. This wasn’t shortly after the Horned Frogs struggled to get by Arkansas Pine-Bluff on Opening Night and there a ton of people asking if TCU’s run to the Round of 32 last season was really worth the amount of praise they were getting in the preseason. Since that game, the Horned Frogs are 8-0 with wins over Iowa, Providence, Utah and more with six of them coming by double digits or more.

Jaime Dixon has really built this team into a similar version of his teams at Pittsburgh back in the day. A squad that is tremendously tough, with a ton of depth, that can beat anyone at any time. The Horned Frogs have ten different players who are averaging double digit minutes per game and five different players averaging over 9.5 points per game. Mike Miles Jr. is among the best players in College Basketball that will have a likely future in the NBA. In addition, Emmanuel Miller looks similar to the player he was at Texas A&M in 2021 and Damien Baugh has been very impressive since returning from suspension.

Utah is a very solid basketball team, that kept their game with TCU on Wednesday night very competitive but TCU never wavered. The Horned Frogs ended up taking this game 75-71, behind 21 points from Miller and 18 from Miles. With these two players’ ability to score the basketball along with really good defense, TCU is capable of a deep tournament run and finishing at the top of the Big 12. Currently, ranked #20, TCU returned just about every significant contributor from last year’s team that went toe to toe with #1 seeded Arizona in the Round of 32 and really should have beaten the Wildcats. The same Wildcats team with three future NBA players in Ben Mathurin, Dalen Terry and Christian Koloko. With a really good coach in Dixon and an experienced squad that’s motivated, this TCU team is ranked too low and can be a sleeper National Title Contender.

Verdict: Ranked Too Low