College basketball rankings: Tennessee is No. 1, Michigan State cracks Top 25

Buckle up for chaos. It’s going to be fun!

As the College Football Playoff committee’s decisions came on Sunday and created no shortage of drama, in college basketball we’re already seeing fireworks only five weeks into the season.

We’ve already seen the role of the No. 1 ranked team in the country change three times, and it won’t stop there. Parity is rich in this sport — a great ingredient for its health — as five of the top 8 in the AP Top 25 (Kansas, Auburn, Kentucky, Marquette and Purdue) all lost this past week. We’re going to see ranking shakeups happen all season long.

On the court, the return of freshman star power headlined by Cooper Flagg, combined with returnees like Auburn’s Johni Broome and Marquette’s Kam Jones, at the top of the national player of the year race are making for some refreshing emerging faces nationally that aren’t from the same old blue bloods.

That said, the powerhouse programs like Duke and Kentucky are deep in the title conversation, while Kansas made headlines this week by taking two straight losses to a pair of unranked teams, Creighton and Missouri. The common theme among the five top teams that lost: all of those defeats came in true road games. Coming off multi-team events and a lot of early-season buy games, those road openers for programs across the country can cause an eye-opening game that you hope will make you better in the long run. 

Let’s get to our five takeaways from the week!

Mark Pope matches Kentucky history, as the Wildcats showed they belong at the big boy table with a massive comeback win over Gonzaga. 

Kentucky basketball has been around for 121 years. In the history of the program, the Wildcats have never come back from more than 16 down at halftime to win a game. Trailing Gonzaga 50-34 on Saturday night in Seattle without Lamont Butler, it felt like if UK even put up a fight and kept it close, that would be an accomplishment.

Not in the Mark Pope Era. Think again!

The first-year Kentucky head coach made significant defensive adjustments and his team responded by outscoring the Zags 45-29 in the final 20 minutes of regulation to force overtime. A Jaxson Robinson jumper with 14 seconds left gave the Cats enough cushion to secure the 90-89 victory over Gonzaga, matching the largest halftime come-from-behind win in school history. What’s more, it ended a streak of 175 games that Gonzaga had won in which it led by at least 10 points at any point in the contest.

Pope and his program have shown in five weeks that this is a new Kentucky — one that’s not just about recruiting buzz, NBA upside and John Calipari, but one that turns talk into results. This team owns wins over Duke and a Gonzaga team that returned 81% of its scoring. Andrew Carr was massive with 19 points and seven rebounds, Robinson (18 points, five assists) shoved some earlier struggles under the bright lights behind him and displayed why Pope was so bullish on his former BYU star who followed him to Lexington. Otega Oweh delivered 13 points and strong defense to secure one of the most impressive wins of the season to date.

For Kentucky to come off a loss at Clemson against a good Tigers team — one that’s ranked in our top 20 — fly out to Seattle and beat Gonzaga while being shorthanded with multiple injuries? That’s the type of win that both carries mileage on Selection Sunday with the committee and announces to the world that this is a new era.

Duke showed that it possesses arguably the most upside in the country with its 84-78 win over Auburn. 

Even though the Auburn Tigers are not my No. 1 team in the country, I think you could still make a case for them to be there even after their first loss of the season came to Duke on Wednesday night. The Hall of Famer Charles Barkley may have described his Tigers the best: 

That said, Auburn played well at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the six-point loss, which is why it’s that much more impressive that Jon Scheyer and his young Duke team took the leap it needed to in the victory. Flagg continued what has been a stellar start to his lone season in college, delivering 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks. According to Greg Harvey, nobody in men’s or women’s basketball has had such a stat line in the past 25 seasons. But Flagg is the given. He’s going to make a strong impact for Duke every time out this season on his way to being the likely No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft next June.

When this Blue Devils team gets guard play from Tyrese Proctor & Co. coupled with made 3s, its good enough to win it all. Yes, I said it. When Auburn was within two of Duke at 70-68 inside five minutes to play with the shot clock winding down, Proctor buried a tough 3 to give the Blue Devils the cushion they needed. In total, Duke hit nine 3-pointers, with freshman Isaiah Evans seemingly coming out of nowhere and nailing six trifectas. For Evans to go from not playing against Kansas, Arizona or Kentucky to this performance was pretty remarkable, but it also showed how much is still untapped within this team.

Michigan and Michigan State posted a 2-0 opening week in Big Ten play.

Let’s begin with the Spartans, who enter my poll for the first time this season after an 89-52 thrashing of Nebraska on Saturday. Tom Izzo’s team has won six of seven, but it’s more than just the wins that have led Michigan State to our rankings. It’s showing progress on the offensive end, with senior Jaden Akins scoring at least 12 points in three of his past four games (18 in Saturday’s win). Freshman Jase Richardson, the son of former Spartan and 14-year NBA player Jason Richardson, looks the part of a perimeter X-factor for this team. He delivered 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor in the win over the Huskers. I won’t overreact quite yet, but it’s also good to see sophomore Xavier Booker scoring in double-figures in each of his past three games, while Jaxon Kohler continues to charge the Spartans on the glass. Izzo’s 30th season now carries some potential with the Spartans’ recent play.

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As for the Wolverines, first-year head coach Dusty May is off to a heck of a start in Ann Arbor at 8-1. It’s never easy to go into Madison and beat Wisconsin, and that was the hand of cards dealt for Michigan in its Big Ten opener. But coming off a statement-making 25-point win over a solid Xavier team to win the Fort Myers Tip-Off, the Wolverines kept it rolling with a 67-64 victory over Greg Gard’s Badgers.

What has May found that’s led to success? One of the best frontcourt duos in the country is Yale transfer Danny Wolf and Florida Atlantic transfer Vlad Goldin, who followed May from FAU and was a part of the Owls’ legendary 2023 Final Four run. In the win at Wisconsin, the pair combined for 44 points and 12 rebounds, with Goldin scoring the game’s final six points. May drew skepticism in the preseason when he said the two big men could play together and flourish. 

He was right. In Saturday’s 85-83 win over Iowa for the Wolverines to improve to 2-0 in conference play, Goldin stayed hot with 20 more points to go with 11 rebounds, while Wolf had 13 and 14. With Auburn transfer Tre Donaldson and Ohio State transfer Roddy Gayle both averaging double-figures and Gayle combining for 10 assists in his past two games, this team has a solid core to be in the mix in the Big Ten title picture.

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The Big East packaged together some quality results to get back on track.

With its collective back against the wall, the league posted some critical results in the Big 12/Big East Battle to help its status when it comes to avoiding the disaster of last year’s three bids in the NCAA Tournament.

While concern surrounds Creighton with second-leading scorer Pop Isaacs done for the year with a hip injury, the Bluejays earned a season-changing victory that will be huge if they happen to be on the bubble by beating previously unbeaten and AP No. 1 ranked Kansas 76-63 on Wednesday night. Isaacs was outstanding with 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the floor, which is obviously an unfortunate footnote because the selection committee will end up evaluating Creighton without Isaacs at the end of the day. But if anybody can tinker after an injury, 14th-year head coach Greg McDermott shouldn’t be counted out in that regard. He has point guard Steven Ashworth healthy enough and one of the best defenders in America with Ryan Kalkbrenner and Arizona State transfer Jamiya Neal, who had 19 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in Saturday’s 83-65 win over UNLV.

Elsewhere, Villanova earned a top-15 upset over Cincinnati and appears to have a pulse at 6-4 and hovering around the top-40 of the KenPom and Torvik ranking systems. St. John’s drilled Kansas State on Saturday, 88-71, behind 28 and 13 from Zuby Ejiofor on a day that was heavy with emotion in memory of Lou Carnesecca. One take on the Red Storm: this team should make the program’s first NCAA Tournament in five years, and they’ve got the talent to be in the Big East title picture.

But the best player in this league resides on the best team currently: Kam Jones at Marquette. He delivered 32 points, six assists and not a single turnover in Saturday’s 88-74 win over a top-15 Wisconsin team. The Golden Eagles are 9-1 with their lone loss coming at Iowa State. To think they lost Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro and are this good at the moment should put Shaka Smart into the mix for national coach of the year. 

I think this will end up being a five-bid conference, but Xavier could really use Saturday’s game at arch rival Cincinnati. The Musketeers have won five straight in the series. 

Penn State made a statement with a dominant win over Purdue.

Watch out for second-year head coach Mike Rhoades and the Nittany Lions, who earned their first win over an AP Top 10 team since 2019 with an 81-70 win over Purdue. It was as impressive of a performance that I’ve seen against Matt Painter’s Boilermakers in a Big Ten game in quite some time, with Penn State leading by … 27 at one point!

The Nittany Lions are 8-1 on the season, possess one of the best point guards in the country in Ace Baldwin and have a really nice roster blend of returning players and impact transfers. Tennessee transfer Freddie Dilione was major in the win over Purdue with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor. Could PSU go dancing this season? It has done its job to get on the bracketology radar to this point and for a team picked second-to-last in the Big Ten, that’s saying a lot.

One additional point: What’s wrong with Kansas?

The Jayhawks followed up a really slow start in a loss at Creighton by giving up 30 points in the first 13 minutes at Missouri on Sunday, trailing 39-25 at the half and falling 76-67 to the Tigers in what is yet another excellent result for the Southeastern Conference. But Kansas looks far from the No. 1 team in the country. In fact, it’s not a top 10 team in my book right now.

“I don’t think we had them ready to play,” said Bill Self after the loss. “You know, their pressure and their length, obviously, was the key element of the game in the first 25 minutes. We didn’t do a good job of understanding that or playing to that. We had one good possession in the first half, and it happened in the first 10 seconds of the game.”

What’s going wrong right now? Teams are daring Dajuan Harris to shoot. He has shot 11-for-35 in his last two games. Combine that with Wisconsin transfer AJ Storr at 5-for-20 this past week and Zeke Mayo really being a nonfactor on Sunday, and the combo of Harris with a transfer class that hasn’t lived up to expectations thus far is problematic for Self. Can this team figure it out? Of course, but Self said they don’t have an identity entering mid-December. The Jayhawks host NC State on Saturday.

Here’s my updated Top 25. 

1. Tennessee Volunteers (8-0)

The Vols haven’t necessarily played a significantly challenging schedule, but Rick Barnes’ team is undefeated and has outscored its opponents by 27 points per game. Chaz Lanier has been one of the best transfer portal gets, coming from North Florida and averaging 19 points per game for Tennessee, which plays Miami (Fla.) in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday night. 

2. Auburn Tigers (8-1)

I am not overly faulting the Tigers for blinking once. Just because they lost a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium does not change my mind about the national championship squad they can be if their backcourt stays consistent. 

3. Iowa State Cyclones (6-1)

The Cyclones were in my top 3 last week and remained there after another statement win over Marquette, 81-70. Keshon Gilbert is the player to watch for this team. He has scored at least 23 points in three of his past four games. 

4. Marquette Golden Eagles (9-1)

I loved the way the Golden Eagles responded from their road loss to Iowa State with a bounce-back performance in the victory over Wisconsin. Junior Chase Ross being healthy after a scare in Ames is so key for Smart’s team. He delivered 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists with consistently strong defense in the victory. 

5. Kentucky Wildcats (8-1)

Many of us were wondering who would be the alpha for this Wildcats team entering year one of the Pope Era. It’s pretty apparent that they can play through a variety of sources, with Carr, Robinson and Oweh all showing against Gonzaga that they are worthy of the moment. And we didn’t even mention Butler, who hit the game-winning shot in the national semifinal for San Diego State in 2023, because he missed Saturday’s game with an ankle injury.

6. Duke Blue Devils (7-2)

The Blue Devils keep on rising and made a statement with a home win over Auburn, following that up with a victory over Louisville on the road. 

7. Florida Gators (9-0)

Walter Clayton is one of the best guards in college basketball. He went off for 27 points while the Gators buried 10 3-pointers in an 87-69 blowout of Virginia this past week. Florida meets an Arizona State team that’s in our rankings in a fascinating matchup next Saturday in Atlanta.

8. Alabama Crimson Tide (7-2)

The Crimson Tide cruised past North Carolina in Chapel Hill with an impressive road performance, 94-79. Mark Sears was one of six in double-figures with 20 points and seven assists. 

9. Houston Cougars (5-3)

I don’t think I’ve ever had a 5-3 team in my top 10 at this stage, but that’s how highly I still think of Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars. They’ve lost three games to Auburn, Alabama and San Diego State by a combined 13 points. They blew out Butler on Saturday, 79-51, with LJ Cryer scoring 18 of his 20 in the second half.

10. Purdue Boilermakers (8-2)

11. Gonzaga Bulldogs (7-2)

12. Ole Miss Rebels (8-1)

13. Clemson Tigers (9-1)

14. Oregon Ducks (9-1)

15. Kansas Jayhawks (7-2)

16. Michigan Wolverines (8-1)

17. Michigan State Spartans (8-2)

18. San Diego State Aztecs (6-2)

19. Texas A&M Aggies (8-2)

20. Oklahoma Sooners (9-0)

21. UConn Huskies (6-3)

22. UCLA Bruins (8-1)

23. Arizona State Sun Devils (8-1)

24. Dayton Flyers (8-2)

25. Drake Bulldogs (8-0)

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta.

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