Top 25 Winners and Losers: Memphis and FAU Rise as Rivarly Brews
Winners:
The FAU Owls played Arizona on a neutral court in Las Vegas on Saturday, in which FAU secured a big win in double overtime to beat then #4 Arizona. Following the big win, the Owls moved from previously ranked No. 14 to No. 7. Johnell Davis scored 35 points in the win and proved that this FAU team could make a run in March with the same core from last year.
Memphis just finished their toughest stretch of the season, playing three ranked opponents in their last 5 games and winning all 5. In those games, they beat Texas A&M and Clemson in close contests and, most notably, beat Virginia by a dominating 23 points. In the past three weeks, Memphis has continued to rise amongst the rankings, going from unranked to No. 23 and now No. 19. David Jones is leading Memphis’s hot streak, averaging nearly 21.5 PPG in what I would call a breakout senior season. Look out for Memphis and David Jones to stay hot with upcoming conference games.
MSM Photo/David Mashinsky
With the Houston Cougars leaving the American Athletic Conference, Memphis and FAU are competing over who will be the new dominant program in the division. These teams play each other twice at the end of the year, which will be an exciting start to a newly formed rivalry after FAU beat Memphis 69-68 in the first round of March Madness last year.
Losers:
After being given the highest preseason ranking in program history (No. 8), Creighton has dropped to No. 22. After losing to Villanova, that is their second loss to unranked opponents, with the other being to UNLV. This team has a competitive conference schedule ahead of them and needs to figure out how to play better on the road, which may not be solvable, considering they also struggled in away games last year.
Virginia has now been blown out by Wisconsin and Memphis, which are the best teams they’ve played. On another note, those are only two losses. While Virginia has an experienced team that's capable of winning, they need to figure out how to rebound effectively if they are to win games with their small-ball lineup. After the 23-point loss to Memphis, Virginia dropped from No. 22 to out of the top 25 all the way to No. 30. It’s definitely too early to say; however, I could see this Virginia team being shockingly disappointing come the tournament like other times in recent program history.
Ranking (AP)
Purdue
Kansas
Houston
Arizona
UConn
Tennessee
Florida Atlantic
Kentucky
North Carolina
Marquette
Illinois
Oklahoma
Gonzaga
BYU
Colorado State
Duke
Baylor
Clemson
Memphis
James Madison
Texas
Creighton
Wisconsin
Ole Miss
Providence