Top 25 after Week 1's action
Not a single team in my preseason top 25 suffered a setback in the first week of the college basketball season, but that doesn't mean I've stood pat and haven't made significant changes.
The one that will surely draw criticism is the fall of North Carolina. I now admit that I ranked the defending national champs far too high prior to the start of the season, but after seeing them in person once and twice more on TV, Roy Williams' team is not a top five or even a top 10 team at this point.
| Top 25 after Week 1 | |
| Team (record) | Previous ranking |
| 1. Kansas (1-0) | 1 |
| 2. Kentucky (1-0) | 2 |
| 3. Texas (1-0) | 3 |
| 4. Michigan State (1-0) | 4 |
| 5. Purdue (1-0) | 10 |
| 6. West Virginia (1-0) | 6 |
| 7. Villanova (1-0) | 7 |
| 8. Washington (3-0) | 9 |
| 9. Tennessee (1-0) | 11 |
| 10. Ohio State (2-0) | 15 |
| 11. North Carolina (3-0) | 5 |
| 12. Connecticut (1-0) | 12 |
| 13. Butler (1-0) | 14 |
| 14. Duke (1-0) | 13 |
| 15. California (2-0) | 8 |
| 16. Michigan (1-0) | 16 |
| 17. Georgia Tech (1-0) | 17 |
| 18. Illinois (1-0) | 18 |
| 19. Georgetown (1-0) | 19 |
| 20. Oklahoma (1-0) | 21 |
| 21. Siena (1-0) | 22 |
| 22. Vanderbilt (0-0) | 23 |
| 23. Mississippi (1-0) | 25 |
| 24. Minnesota (1-0) | 20 |
| 25. Xavier (1-0) | 24 |
| T25. UCLA (0-0) | 25 |
Can they become one later in the year as the freshmen develop? Sure.
But not at this point.
However, the Tar Heels have three issues that I'm not sure can be solved even in time:
1. Point guard play
2. Perimeter shooting
3. No go-to guy who can create his own shot
The top four teams in my poll remain the same — Kansas, Kentucky, Texas and Michigan State — while a veteran Purdue group, one that now features a healthy Robbie Hummel, moves into the No. 5 slot previously occupied by UNC.
The Tar Heels fell six spots, but the team that slipped the furthest was Cal — a team that has three veteran guards and not much else.
The Bears barely held on against Murray State, but it was watching how little Mike Montgomery has to complement his perimeter trio of Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson that made me re-evaluate Cal's standing among the nation's elite.
Purdue wasn't the only team to jump five spots. Ohio State quickly made a believer out of me and made its way into the top 10 with two outstanding performances from newly turned point guard Evan Turner, including a triple-double in the season opener.
I can't wait to see Thursday's matchup of North Carolina vs. Ohio State in the semifinals of the Coaches vs. Cancer in New York City.
Luckily, I'm not one of those who fell into the trap of ranking Missisippi State prior to the season, so I don't have to drop Rick Stansbury's club after its somewhat embarrassing home loss to Rider.
The one team I wanted to get into the top 25 but didn't find a place is Dayton, who held off a dangerous Creighton club in one of the more evenly matched contests of the first week.
They should probably be in there somewhere, but I wasn't going to penalize a team such as Vanderbilt or UCLA, who have both yet to play.