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NCAA Men’s Basketball Power Rankings
By Matt Quinn
Another exciting weekend is in the books and we had some entertaining games to take in. The list has only one new team to it compared to the previous list last week. Only one team on the list lost this weekend and that was Alabama in the Iron Bowl rivalry against Auburn. Florida and Duke continued to roll over the weekend, further making their case for one of the top seeds in the tournament next month. So let’s get into it now starting with our newest member of the Power Rankings list.
The Cougars have snuck into the top five thanks to some consistent play. After a gritty win against 13th ranked Arizona this past Saturday, it was a toss up to put them or Tennessee in at this spot, as Tennessee plays in a tougher conference and has the same amount of wins as Houston. The SEC has been getting all the love this year, and rightfully so, but Houston has done enough to earn this spot in the rankings.
The Crimson Tide had a true test this weekend against the SEC favorite Auburn. They unfortunately did not pass that test as they were taken down 94-85 in a game that was close at times, but Alabama never held a lead throughout the entire game. It started after the Tigers jumped out of the gates on an 11-2 run and they would not relinquish that lead throughout. Johni Broome had a solid outing, finishing with 19 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists. He was solid all night and helped hold in a high-flying Alabama team that came into the game ranked first in the nation in points per game. This was a big win for Auburn to help get the taste of that loss to Florida out of their mouths.
Duke continues to have a strong season, making their presence felt after a thorough beating of unranked Stanford on Saturday by a score of 106-70. Cooper Flagg was solid as usual but it was Tyrese Proctor that led the team in scoring. He had 23 points and was routinely too much to handle for Stanford. Big Center Khaman Maluach dropped in 17 points and 6 rebounds as the Blue Devils rolled from start to finish.
The Tigers, as previously mentioned, got a big time win over then #2 Alabama and successfully got over the big loss to Florida a couple weeks back. Johni Broome led all scorers with 19 points and added 14 rebounds while Auburn got contributions from everywhere. They managed 41 points from their bench players to go along with three other starters that were in double figures. It was a complete team performance as they also racked up 38 rebounds as a team and add 6 blocks also. More performances like this are what we are accustomed to with this Auburn team and should help them heading into March Madness.
The Gators have been tremendous this year and are well-deserving of this ranking. A few months ago they beat the previously unbeaten and number one ranked Volunteers and have now taken down their second first place team this season, going into Auburn and dominating the way they did. This past weekend, the Gators took on the Gamecocks of South Carolina and showed why those two teams are not on the same level. The final score was 88-67 in favor of the Gators as they went 60% from the field, including a 50% rate from three. They had 17 more assists, more blocks, more rebounds, and more steals than South Carolina. It was just an all around good performance. Getting Tommy Haugh back was big as he dropped 20 points and six rebounds and was one of 5 Gators in double figures. This team is going to be very difficult to beat if they can keep up this momentum. The thing about March though, is there’s a certain madness to it that even the most well-prepared and most talented teams have fallen victim to. If they can avoid any pitfalls and keep playing as a team, they could be the ones lifting the National Title when it’s all said and done.
