College Basketball Power Rankings – February 7

The college basketball season is one week into February, and the battle for high seeds and at-large bids in the 2022 NCAA Tournament is beginning to intensify. Let’s see how the top 10 teams in America stack up at this point, with UCLA leaving the top 10 entirely after losing to both Arizona and Arizona State this past week.

1 – Auburn Tigers

The Tigers are still No. 1, though they almost lost to Georgia as a 17.5-point favorite. Auburn can get disinterested and a little bored at times. Auburn almost lost on the road to Missouri, and when the Tigers aren’t playing at home, they can be a little frail, which is cause for some concern. Yet, they still did win their two games this past week. They have still lost just one game all season, whereas Gonzaga has lost twice. Auburn still deserves to be No. 1, though the margin has clearly shrunk compared to one week ago.

2 – Gonzaga Bulldogs

The Gonzaga offense remains on fire, and freshman Chet Holmgren continues to stuff the box score with complete performances. Holmgren is thriving as a scorer, rebounder, passer, and defender. He is the hottest player in the country right now and making a steep climb up the NBA draft board, assuming that this will be his only season as a collegiate basketball player. The Zags hammered BYU on the road Saturday night, something which shows how much better they are than the rest of the WCC. If Gonzaga loses one game before the NCAA Tournament, it will be a surprise. This team is almost certain to be the No. 1 seed in the West Region, holding off the Arizona Wildcats for that distinction.

3 – Kentucky Wildcats

The Kentucky Wildcats look like a Final Four team right now. One week after beating Kansas convincingly on the road, the Cats went on the road again and handled Alabama without too much of a problem, winning by 11. The defense and rebounding of big man Oscar Tshiebwe are impossible to ignore for Kentucky, which has the low-post muscle and toughness of an elite team. The guards are really good, too. Alabama shot just 3 of 30 on 3-pointers against Kentucky, a sign of how well UK’s personnel can defend the perimeter. John Calipari’s team has the defense and the halfcourt offense to win slow, grinding, ugly games in March. In a close game with four minutes left, Kentucky is going to get the defensive stops it needs to prevail even if its own shots aren’t falling. That’s very important.

4 – Arizona Wildcats

The Wildcats of Arizona are joining the Wildcats of Kentucky in the top four after sweeping UCLA and USC, two of the better teams in the Pac-12. Arizona’s big men, Azuolas Tubelis and Christian Koloko, are so tough for opposing teams to handle. Tubelis is a thicker, beefier big man, while Koloko is rangy and long, but both men are hard to deal with in the paint at both ends of the floor. Rebounding and shot-blocking, not just scoring, make Arizona’s bigs such a problem for opponents. In the two wins over UCLA and USC, guard Kerr Kriisa hit big shots. When he is on and at the top of his game, Arizona becomes extremely hard to beat. The big concern is that in the NCAA Tournament, Kriisa won’t shoot well, but if he plays reasonably well, Arizona is as good as any team in the United States.

5 – Kansas Jayhawks

The Jayhawks obliterated Baylor, a great response to losing to Kentucky one week earlier. It’s true that Baylor was shorthanded due to injuries, but Kansas still did exactly what it needed to do. Kansas isn’t a favorite for a No. 1 seed, but it is certainly in the hunt right now.

6 – Baylor Bears

The big loss to Kansas makes it hard to put Baylor ahead of KU, but the Bears are dealing with multiple injuries to Adam Flagler and L.J. Cryer. Once they get everyone back and healthy at the same time, the Bears are going to be difficult to beat. They’re still a top-six team, part of the top tier of title contenders.

7 – Purdue Boilermakers

The Boilermakers handled Iowa and Michigan, and they now prepare for a huge week with Illinois coming to West Lafayette. If Purdue wins that game, it will have the inside track to the Big Ten championship. If Purdue loses, the Boilermakers might leave the top 10 altogether. It’s a very big game.

8 – Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Red Raiders beat Texas and West Virginia with great defense. Coach Mark Adams is getting the most out of his team, precisely because its defense is overcoming its sluggish and inconsistent offense. Texas Tech still has an outside chance of winning the Big 12, though it will be hard to overtake Kansas down the stretch. TTU does not play Kansas again this season.

9 – Duke Blue Devils

The Blue Devils beat Notre Dame and North Carolina to stay on track. The Blue Devils aren’t ranked higher because the ACC just isn’t very good or deep this season. That puts a limitation on the value of each Duke victory in the conference. Duke did beat Gonzaga, but that was in late November, and the Blue Devils have not played at a similarly high level since then. They could still get a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, however, which gives them a realistic path to the Final Four.

10 – Providence Friars

The Friars enter this list for the first time all season. They have a 20-2 record. They regularly win close games with free throw shooting and defense. Ed Cooley is a national coach of the year candidate. The Friars are pursuing a rare Big East regular season championship, which would elevate their standing in the national college basketball world. It will be fascinating to see how high a seed this team will get in the NCAA Tournament if it manages to keep winning at this pace.