The March Madness Power 37
- Tennessee (Prev. 3, 8-0): The Vols take a turn at No. 1. Chaz Lanier has been dominant of late. He’s led Tennessee in scoring in the last four games with 26, 25, 18 and 26.
- Auburn (Prev. 1, 8-1): The Tigers shouldn’t drop more than a spot after losing at Duke.
- Iowa State (Prev. 6, 7-1): The Cyclones beat Marquette at home by 11 — one of the best wins of the season, thus far.
- Marquette (Prev. 4, 9-1): The Golden Eagles followed up the loss at Iowa State by pulling away from Wisconsin behind 32 from Kam Jones.
- Kentucky (Prev. 5, 8-1): The Wildcats split the week by following up the loss at Clemson with a thrilling OT win over Gonzaga in Seattle.
- Duke (Prev. 8, 7-2): The Blue Devils had quite a week with a win over Auburn and then a comeback win at Louisville to open the ACC.
- Alabama (Prev. 11, 7-2): The Tide went to North Carolina and blitzed the Tar Heels.
- Clemson (Prev. 37, 9-1): The Tigers had a season-changing week by knocking off Kentucky and opening the ACC with a road win at Miami.
- Florida (Prev. 9, 9-0): The Gators will get tested mightily against ASU and North Carolina in the next week.
- Michigan (Prev. 16, 8-1): Love this Wolverines team. They are the surprise of the Big Ten and won at Wisconsin and outlasted Iowa.
- Purdue (Prev. 10, 8-2): The Boilermakers split their Big Ten games, losing at Penn State and knocking off Maryland.
- Kansas (Prev. 2, 7-2): I’m not ready to completely drop Kansas. They had two very difficult road games at Creighton and rival Missouri. Let’s wait another week on the Jayhawks.
- UConn (Prev. NR, 7-3): The Huskies are back. We had to wait and see after the 0-3 in Maui. UConn beat Baylor and then won at Texas.
- UCLA (Prev. NR, 8-1): Welcome back to the Bruins, who shocked Oregon in Eugene Sunday on a Dylan Andrews buzzer-beater after beating Washington at home to open the Big Ten 2-0.
- Michigan State (Prev. 26, 8-2): The Spartans have finally found their groove, starting the Big Ten 2-0 with wins at Minnesota and over Nebraska.
- Gonzaga (Prev. 13, 7-2): The Bulldogs lost a heartbreaker to Kentucky in OT in Seattle. They have a few more tests with UConn at MSG and UCLA in LA in the next few weeks.
- Oregon (Prev. 7, 9-1): The Ducks lost their first game of the season to UCLA after winning at USC.
- Oklahoma (Prev. 19, 9-0): Porter Moser has his best team in Norman. Huge tests coming up against Oklahoma State and Michigan.
- Ole Miss (Prev. 20, 8-1): The Rebels knocked off Louisville on the road and are quietly cruising in the non-conference.
- Illinois (Prev. 15, 6-2): The Illini shouldn’t get punished too much for an overtime loss at rival Northwestern.
- Penn State (Prev. NR, 8-1): Mike Rhoades may have one of the sleepers in the country after the Nittany Lions knocked off Purdue and look like an upper-division Big Ten team.
- Texas A&M (Prev. 24, 8-2): The Aggies have won four in a row with all of them coming against power schools, including former rival Texas Tech.
- Maryland (Prev. 28, 8-2): The Terps nearly got Purdue Sunday in West Lafayette after blitzing Ohio State.
- Missouri (Prev. NR, 8-1): Say hello to the Tigers, who were 0-18 in the SEC last season. Missouri beat rival Kansas Sunday to send a strong message to the rest of the SEC that they have returned from the abyss.
- Arizona State (Prev. 21, 8-1): The Sun Devils beat Saint Mary’s and have just one blemish — at Gonzaga.
- San Diego State (Prev. 22, 6-2): The Aztecs appear to be one of the two teams to beat again in the Mountain West.
- Baylor (Prev. 18, 5-3): The Bears were injured at UConn but could have maybe pulled off the win if healthy. They’ve had a brutal slate with Tennessee and UConn in two of their last three games.
- Wisconsin (Prev. 12, 8-2): The Badgers lost a tough home game to Michigan and then had to go to Marquette. Rough week after an 8-0 start.
- Creighton (Prev. NR, 7-3): The Bluejays are back after winning three in a row, including Kansas.
- Dayton (Prev. 30, 8-2): Love this Flyers crew. Massive test for them coming up when they host Marquette.
- Mississippi State (Prev. NR, 8-1): I shouldn’t have dropped the Bulldogs last week. And the convincing win over Pitt was a strong indicator of why that was a mistake.
- Drake (Prev. 23, 8-0): The Bulldogs haven’t lost. Yes, I dropped them based more on competition, but they don’t appear to be going anywhere.
- West Virginia (Prev. 32, 6-2): The Mountaineers got a good draw in the Big 12-Big East Challenge with Georgetown. They won’t get tested again until playing at Kansas on New Year’s.
- Saint Mary’s (Prev. 33, 9-1): The Gaels won at Utah for a quality true road win.
- Utah State (Prev. 29, 9-0): The Aggies have the win over Iowa in KC but the tests will come soon enough against Saint Mary’s and San Diego State on the road.
- Georgia (Prev. 36, 8-1): The Bulldogs have one blemish and it's against one of the best teams in the country in Marquette.
- Rhode Island (Prev. NR, 9-0): Archie Miller told me in the preseason that he thought this would be his best and most competitive team. He was right. The Rams beat rival Providence and will be in the A-10 title chase.
Under consideration: Houston, UC Irvine, Texas Tech, St. John’s, Washington State, Loyola-Chicago.
