Top Teams Continue to Lose in College Basketball
Posted in Basketball (NBA & College) last updated on January 18, 2024For the first time this season the defending champions, UConn Huskies, hold the number 1 spot in the AP Rankings. To start the season, Kansas held the honor before Arizona took over who was then dethroned by Purdue. However, the rankings have been shaken up due to many losses from top teams in recent weeks.
January 6, 2024
This day started the domino effect of top teams losing as nine teams in the AP Top 25 went down.
8 North Carolina beats 16 Clemson
Seton Hall beats 7 Marquette
Creighton beats 23 Providence
Southern Miss beats 19 James Madison
Charlotte beats 17 Florida Atlantic
5 Tennessee beats 22 Ole Miss
Texas Tech beats 20 Texas
Utah State beats 23 Colorado State
Cincinnati beats 12 BYU
Only 1 team in the top 10 lost, but we are just getting started.
January 9, 2024
Iowa State beats 2 Houston
Boise State beats 17 Colorado State
14 Baylor beats 18 BYU
Nebraska beats 1 Purdue
Number 1 and number 2 both fall on the road. BYU and Colorado State drop two straight after a good start to the season.
January 10, 2024
Mississippi State beats 5 Tennessee
UCF beats 3 Kansas
Virginia Tech beats 21 Clemson
TCU beats 9 Oklahoma
Butler beats 11 Marquette
Marquette joins BYU and Colorado State in losing two straight.
January 11, 2024
Santa Clara beats 23 Gonzaga
Not many other games on this day, but we were still able to get an upset.
January 13, 2024
New Mexico beats San Diego State
3 Kansas beats 9 Oklahoma
Texas A&M beats 6 Kentucky
Washington beats 8 Arizona
West Virginia beats 25 Texas
TCU beats 2 Houston
TCU does it again. In their last three games, they lost by 2 to number 2 Kansas, beat the number 9 ranked team, and then beat the new number 2 ranked team (Houston). Kansas gets what probably felt like a must-have game to get back on track.
January 14, 2024
Happy Birthday Mom
Maryland beats 10 Illinois
January 16, 2024
Cincinnati beats 19 TCU
Kansas State beats 9 Baylor
BYU beats 24 Iowa State
Penn State beats 11 Wisconsin
New Mexico beats 16 Utah State
TCU’s run ends with an OT loss.
Recap
31 top-ranked teams lost in 11 days. Only two teams who were in the top 10 during this span did not lose- North Carolina and UConn. Some major changes include North Carolina moving up to the 4 spot, Duke moving to the 7 spot, Marquette dropping 10 spots, and Oklahoma dropping 6 spots.
New Rankings
| Team | Current Rankings (Week 11) | Week 10 Rankings | Week 9 Rankings |
| UConn | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Purdue | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Kansas | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| North Carolina | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| Houston | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| Tennessee | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Duke | 7 | 12 | 14 |
| Kentucky | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| Baylor | 9 | 14 | 18 |
| Memphis | 10 | 13 | 15 |
| Wisconsin | 11 | 15 | 21 |
| Arizona | 12 | 8 | 10 |
| Auburn | 13 | 16 | 25 |
| Illinois | 14 | 10 | 9 |
| Oklahoma | 15 | 9 | 11 |
| Utah State | 16 | 20 | Unranked |
| Marquette | 17 | 11 | 7 |
| Creighton | 18 | 22 | Unranked |
| TCU | 19 | Unranked | Unranked |
| BYU | 20 | 18 | 12 |
| Dayton | 21 | Unranked | Unranked |
| Ole Miss | 22 | Unranked | 22 |
| Florida Atlantic | 23 | 24 | 17 |
| Iowa State | 24 | Unranked | Unranked |
| Texas Tech | 25 | Unranked | Unranked |
My Takeaways
No team is safe this year. Obviously, it is March Madness and we always see top teams lose and Cinderella runs, but usually, you see a decent amount of consistency during the regular season, but not this year. TCU, Cincinnati, and New Mexico look like potential sleeper teams that can make a splash in the tournament. And my last thought, the Blue Bloods are back.
January 17, 2024
You didn’t think the upsets would stop right? Tonight we have a lot of good games and we will see at least two top 25 teams go down.
Louisville @ 4 North Carolina
Mississippi State @ 8 Kentucky
18 Creighton @ 1 UConn
22 Ole Miss @ LSU
West Virginia @ 15 Oklahoma
25 Texas Tech @ 5 Houston
13 Auburn @ Vanderbilt
USC @ 12 Arizona