Kansas receives an ‘A+’ on their weekly report card, while Kentucky and Michigan receive an ‘F’. College basketball rankings and grades
A ridiculously full schedule of college basketball games over the weekend produced some incredible plays throughout the nation and shed more light on conference standings as March draws near.
With a convincing victory over Wisconsin on the road, Purdue established a commanding lead in the Big Ten, while UConn achieved the same in the Big East by defeating St. John’s.
In a West Coast Conference that has seen the Zags dominate for years, Saint Mary’s defeated Gonzaga late on Saturday night at The Kennel for the first time since 2018. This victory kept Saint Mary’s unblemished.
There were many excellent team performances that deserve more recognition, as well as some that weren’t as good and needed more examination. These grades are from our weekly report card, where I gave the deserving teams fair play and treated the few teams that performed poorly.
The grades are distributed, as usual, according to the week that ended on Sunday. Now let’s get started.
This week’s report card for college basketball grades is:
TEAM | GRADE | ANALYSIS | |
---|---|---|---|
Kansas | A+ | It would be difficult to find a more comprehensive performance from any team this season than Kansas’ on Saturday. The Jayhawks took the lead in the Big 12 rankings with a 78-65 victory over Houston that showed no signs of giving up. | |
Saint Mary’s | A | After defeating Gonzaga in Spokane on Saturday night and Santa Clara on Wednesday, Saint Mary’s has won nine straight games in the WCC. The team has won fifteen of the previous sixteen games. In the past month, the Gaels have performed akin to a top-10 squad, despite their difficult 8โ6 start to the season. | |
UConn | A | UConn turned Madison Square Garden into Storrs South on Saturday, defeating Big East rival St. John’s 77-64 to keep its ranking as the fifth-best team in college basketball in terms of overall scoring margin this year. It remains to be seen if UConn repeats as champions this year, but for now, there is no team that is better or more complete than the Huskies. | |
South Carolina | A | This season, South Carolina has established itself as a legitimate SEC contender. This week, it strengthened its case with two decisive road victories against Georgia and Tennessee. The Gamecocks, who were predicted to finish last in the SEC preseason, actually have a chance to win the league; therefore, Lamont Paris should be given serious consideration for Coach of the Year. Whoa. | |
Dayton | A | Dayton rebounded with two decisive home victories against George Washington and St. Bonaventure this week to level the score in the A-10 battle with Richmond, one week after losing a close one on the road. In the victory over the Bonnies, DaRon Holmes, who is performing like an All-American, tied a career-high with 34 points. | |
Indiana State | A | With a vital victory over Drake on Saturday, coach Josh Schertz’s Sycamores maintained their top spot in the Missouri Valley Conference, improving to 11-1 overall. In addition to being an entertaining mid-major team to watch, Indiana State is developing into a potentially dangerous squad that might make a significant impact in March. | |
Purdue | B+ | Though it wasn’t nice, Purdue advanced in the Big Ten title race with a 2-0 week that included an overtime win against Northwestern at home and a thrilling comeback triumph against Wisconsin on the road on Sunday. The Boilermakers will probably be favored in seven of their last eight regular-season games, and three of those games will be played at home. | |
North Carolina | B- | UNC received a B-minus here after defeating rival Duke in Chapel Hill on Saturday, although it was caught looking ahead earlier this week when Georgia Tech defeated the Tar Heels 74-73 in Atlanta. In addition to Harrison Ingram producing like an All-ACC player and RJ Davis on the verge of becoming an All-American, Armando Bacot is returning to his former, dominant self. | |
Duke | C- | In their road matchup with UNC, Duke kept things tight, but it never seemed like the Blue Devils had the strength to pull off a victory in Chapel Hill. Their backcourt still lacks the spark and playmaking necessary to be taken seriously as a serious contender, and their defense crumbled and was exposed. It’s been a sobering week for the Blue Devils, as it’s obvious that UNC is a level above them at the moment. | |
Kentucky | F | This Kentucky team may be deserving of some leeway because they haven’t played a game at full strength yet this season. I just can’t seem to get it. Granted that D.J. Wagner is out and Justin Edwards is injured, it still doesn’t make sense to lose at home twice in one week, even if they are against strong teams from Tennessee and Florida, respectively. Particularly upsetting was the Florida defeat, where the UK lost in overtime after failing to foul up three late. | |
Michigan | F | As it keeps building leads against league opponents and then blowing them, Michigan is currently the laughingstock of college basketball. Its most recent collapse occurred on Saturday against Rutgers, where it trailed 69-59 after leading by as many as 15 points in the second half. |