College Basketball Power 10: Malik Monk Went Off; Kentucky Still Not Top 5
Malik Monk had what could be the best game of the college basketball season, but it wasn’t enough to propel the Kentucky Wildcats into the College Basketball Power 10 top five.
Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
A lot of schools had finals, so college basketball had a little lull until Saturday, which made up for a lack of great games during the week.
Three games involving matchups of ranked teams took place and all three were decided by single-digits. Plus, the potential game of the year between Kentucky and North Carolina had everyone watching, as Kentucky took down the Tar Heels 103-100.
Through multiple top-ranked teams in the nation losing and upsets that continue to shake the Associated Press Poll, the one thing that has become clear is that there is no clear-cut top team or even top five teams.
The depth of talented players and teams is deeper than in recent years. There are 15 teams that have a legitimate case for being considered top-10 teams at this point of the season, while the Wooden Award race is wide open.
The good news is that the long-time powerhouses like Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky, just to name a few, are all relevant this season and should be considered Final Four contenders. It’s one of the most open seasons we’ve seen in recent memory.
Here are the top 10 teams in college basketball.
Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
10. West Virginia (9-1)
Bob Huggins became just the 10th coach to win 800 games when West Virginia defeated UMKC by 45 points on Saturday. It gave West Virginia its ninth win of the season and fifth in a row since losing to Temple 81-77 in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament.
Losing to a Temple team that is currently 8-4 with a loss to New Hampshire is a clear blemish on West Virginia’s resume, but so far it’s the only one. Plus, the Mountaineers followed the loss with a 47-point win over Manhattan and a dominating 66-57 win over top-10 ranked Virginia.
West Virginia hasn’t had the grueling schedule other top teams have had, but so far it beat its best opponent and a respectable one in Illinois, winning 89-57.
There is reason to be cautious about how good West Virginia really is since it didn’t start the season against top-five teams, but the Mountaineers are statistically one of the best teams in the nation and only have one loss.
The Mountaineers rank fifth in points per game and points allowed per game this season. They are the only team in the nation to rank top 10 in both categories. It’s telling that they’ve dominated bad teams this season, which is important since their strength of schedule ranks 254th in the nation.
Plus, West Virginia has one of the most talented benches in the nation. Ten players for West Virginia average at least five points per game and six average at least a steal per game. It’s why they’re one of the best all-around teams in the nation.
West Virginia hosts Radford and Northern Kentucky this week.
Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
9. North Carolina (10-2)
Joel Berry II returned for North Carolina on Saturday against Kentucky. After a two-game absence in which North Carolina mightily struggled on both ends of the floor, the Tar Heels almost took down Kentucky.
Their stars in Berry and Justin Jackson combined for 57 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, but North Carolina’s poor defense and suspect coaching cost them.
The Tar Heels allowed Kentucky’s freshman backcourt to score 71 of Kentucky’s 103 points, as North Carolina had no way to stop them from penetrating.
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North Carolina proved it’s a great offensive team earlier in the season, especially when it plays fast, but Kentucky beat them at their own game. The Tar Heels continuing to play man-on-man defense instead of switching into a zone proved costly as Kentucky controlled the whole game and got whatever they wanted when they got into the lane.
As poor as North Carolina looked on defense, their explosive offense kept them hanging around. North Carolina eventually took a 100-98 lead with 44 seconds left, but a poor offensive possession after a Malik Monk three cost them the game.
For as good of a coach as Roy Williams is, he got out-coached by John Calipari in a game they should have won. Whether it wasn’t changing their defense or the horrid inbound plays he drew up at the end of the game, the Tar Heels didn’t look like the same team that many felt were the top team in the country.
It’s hard to be too worried about a three-point loss to another top 10 team, but this is now three games in a row the Tar Heels haven’t looked like themselves. Granted Berry missed the previous two, but near losses to Davidson and Tennessee still shouldn’t happen.
If Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks don’t get back to playing at a high-level, North Carolina is in trouble because Berry and Jackson can’t beat great teams by themselves.
North Carolina hosts Northern Iowa this week.
Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports
8. Louisville (10-1)
Louisville’s defense is as good as any team’s, but they’ve struggled finding an offensive identity this season. Their top scorers in Donovan Mitchell and Quentin Snider are averaging 11.7 and 11.0 points per game, respectively, but both are shooting less than 38 percent from the field.
That sums up Louisville’s season so far. The Cardinals rank just 91st in the nation in points per game, but it gets worse.
Louisville’s overall field-goal percentage, two-point percentage and three-point percentage all rank lower than 215th in the nation. That’s not to mention they’re only shooting 68.9 percent from the line, which ranks 182nd in the nation.
Still, Louisville continues to find ways to win. In a sloppy game earlier in the year, they contained Purdue’s Isaac Haas and won 71-64 after holding Purdue to just 19 points in the first half and 35.8 percent shooting from the field.
In fact, Louisville has only allowed more than 60 points five times this season. Even their one loss of the season to Baylor, who needed an 18-point second half to win 66-63, didn’t even reach 70 points.
The Cardinals’ offense is starting to get better, though. They’ve scored at least 74 points in each of their past four games and 102 against Texas Southern and 87 against Eastern Kentucky.
Granted those are two teams who probably won’t sniff the NCAA Tournament, but considering the Cardinals failed to score 70 points against Old Dominion, it’s a step in the right direction.
Louisville’s defense will have a huge test this week when Kentucky comes to town. It will finally show everyone if Louisville’s defense is good enough for them to be a Final Four team.
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7. Gonzaga (11-0)
Gonzaga continues to roll with its 11th win of the season. On Sunday, Gonzaga beat a bad Tennessee team 86-76, but they played better than the score indicates.
Gonzaga jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the game and led by 14 at the half. The lead grew to 19 points less than four minutes into the second half until Tennessee flipped the script and came within four points with 2:27 left.
Gonzaga held off the late Tennessee surge to stay perfect in 2016-17.
Nigel Williams-Goss continued his stellar season as arguably the best transfer in the country. He leads Gonzaga in points and assists per game.
Against Tennessee, he flirted with a triple-double, as he finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals. It’s the type of all-around arsenal that has many people believing that he can lead this team deep into the NCAA Tournament.
Despite Gonzaga continuing to win in impressive fashion, they’re still flying under the radar. Gonzaga’s only win over a non-ranked team by fewer than 10 points is when they beat Florida 77-72. Florida later went on to be ranked, as well.
The Bulldogs rank in the top 40 in points per game and points allowed per game. Plus, teams are shooting a measly 26.3 percent from deep against them this year, which is the lowest mark in the country.
In my opinion, Gonzaga has the best chance to run the table this season. They host South Dakota this week before conference play starts.
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6. Kentucky (10-1)
Forty-seven points. That’s how many points Malik Monk scored against North Carolina in Kentucky’s 103-100 win. No freshman in Kentucky history has ever scored more … and Kentucky needed every point.
Kentucky proved it owns one of the best offensives in the nation and that its backcourt of Monk and De’Aaron Fox should not be messed with. They combined for 71 points, 12 assists and three steals and could not be stopped from getting into the lane against a veteran team.
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There is no question that Kentucky out-played the Tar Heels and should have won by more than three, especially since Kennedy Meeks fouled out. That being said, the fact that North Carolina took a lead under a minute left, and Monk’s 47 points almost weren’t enough is an issue.
Sure, Kentucky looked athletic and scary, but they needed 103 points to win. They’ve now given up 97 points and 100 points to their two best opponents this season.
Their inability to get back on defense after a made shot is a simple fundamental error they continued to make. Malik Monk and Wenyen Gabriel trying for an alley-oop instead of an easy layup late in the game tied 95-95 also shows their youth.
It’s an exciting win for a team who desperately needed a respectable win, but it’s way too early to say this team is even a top five team in the nation. Their backcourt looked dynamic and it will be hard to slow their offense, but teams can easily score on them and one big win doesn’t automatically mean they’re a top five team.
Basically every team in the Associated Press top 10 has a big win like Kentucky, and most have more than one. Kentucky is good, but they’re still learning. Exciting win, but let’s not jump the gun.
Kentucky will have another chance to prove itself against Louisville this week.
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5. Kansas (10-1)
After Carlton Bragg Jr. returned from suspension, disaster almost struck Kansas. Davidson isn’t a bad team, but trailing by one at halftime and being tied 58-58 with 11:36 left isn’t what the Jayhawks expected.
Kansas eventually ended the game on a 31-13 run to win 89-71 and improve to 10-1 on the year. Even though Kansas struggled for 30 minutes, they still won by 18 against a good mid-major team, which is telling of how quickly they can jump on teams.
Kansas has stars on their team, but it’s their depth that makes them so hard to beat. Against Davidson, eight of nine Kansas players scored at least five points and six grabbed at least three rebounds. It’s why they rank 12th in points per game and 44th in total rebounds.
Although, Kansas only ranks 126th in points allowed per game, which is a little misleading. Outside of Indiana scoring 103 points and Duke scoring 75 points, the Jayhawks haven’t allowed 75 points in a game.
Sure, it’s concerning that their only ranked opponents combined to score 178 points, but remember it was the first two games of the season. Josh Jackson is a better defender now and Udoka Azubuike is turning into a more reliable rim protector with 1.6 blocks per game.
Kansas continues to look good and win big. Their win over Davidson marked their sixth straight win of 15-plus points, and eighth of their last nine games. The Jayhawks don’t have any huge tests until late January when they travel to West Virginia, though, so expect more big wins.
Kansas travels to UNLV this week.
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4. Duke (11-1)
Duke didn’t play as well as many expected against Tennessee State. They won 65-55, but Duke only led by four at the half and shot just 37.3 percent from the field.
In fact, Tennessee State led Duke with just 14 minutes left in the game and staged a near miraculous comeback after being down 20 late in the second half. Their comeback came up short, but it was an odd sight to see a talented Mike Krzyzewski-coached team lose a big lead.
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Harry Giles also made his highly anticipated debut. He played four minutes, didn’t record any stats and missed his only shot. It’s not the stat stuffer debut many hoped for, but he’s back on the court and Duke is closer to being at full health.
Besides, Giles missed 13 months. It’s going to take time for him to get back to full strength, and it might not even happen this year. Still, the Blue Devils abundance of talent continued to show.
They only managed to score five bench points, all from Frank Jackson, but their dynamic trio of Grayson Allen, Luke Kennard and Jayson Tatum combined for 50 of Duke’s 65 points.
Even with Giles’ sub-par debut and only winning by 10, Tatum continues to look more comfortable every game. The Blue Devils biggest pitfall so far this year has been their health, and now key players are getting healthy and they’re learning to play together.
Duke needs time to learn how to play with each other, but already being one of the best teams in the country says a lot.
Duke’s only game this week is at home against Elon. They start conference play next week.
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3. Baylor (11-0)
After a week off, Baylor went 3-0, including playing a rare back-to-back in college. The Bears took down Southern, Jackson State and John Brown by an average of 36.3 points to improve to 11-0 on the year.
John Brown is an NAIA school, and Southern and Jackson State are a combined 7-15 this year. They’re not impressive wins by any means, even though they beat John Brown 107-53, but it’s hard to complain about an easy week from Baylor.
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This is the first week of the season they haven’t played a ranked team. Wins over bad mid-majors won’t help their résumé or boost them in the Associated Press, but it gives Baylor a chance to work out kinks in their game.
Even though they’ve had arguably the toughest schedule in the nation, Baylor still ranks eighth in points allowed per game.
Jo Lual-Acuil Jr blocks an astounding 4.4 shots per game, which ranks second in the nation, and Ishmail Wainright averages 2.1 steals per game. Although, Baylor’s defensive effort obviously goes beyond just them.
With another easy week, Baylor should be very well-rested heading into conference play. The excitement of the Bears beating seemingly every ranked team is over for now, but they still own the most impressive resume up to this point and should enter conference play 12-0.
Baylor will host Texas Southern this week.
Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
2. UCLA (12-0)
UCLA is really fun to watch. Whether the Bruins are beating UC Santa Barbara 102-62 or in a tight game against Ohio State, it’s hard to take your eyes off the TV with the playmakers UCLA always has on the floor.
This week, we learned what happens when UCLA’s outside shooting goes cold. Ohio State held UCLA to 48.4 percent shooting from the field and 32.3 percent shooting from three, but the Bruins still scored 86 points — 40 in the first half and 46 in the second half.
UCLA won’t stop taking threes, but with T.J. Leaf down low and wing players who thrive on getting to the basket just as much as shooting threes, the Bruins offense looks unstoppable.
They had a bad shooting night but still led Ohio State by 10 with 2:36 left in the first half and by as many as 13 in the second half. The difference was that UCLA couldn’t pull away like in previous games. Ohio State continued to make runs and cut the lead to single-digits, but UCLA always hit a clutch shot.
Just as most people expected, UCLA has to beat themselves to lose. Every team gets out-played in at least one game this season, and it will happen to UCLA, but against good but not great teams like Ohio State, the Bruins have to have a poor shooting night like they did on Saturday for them to have any chance of losing.
It gives teams at least a fighting chance, but 10 made threes and shooting 14-of-19 from the free-throw line is still hard to overcome. Besides, they still almost shot 50 percent of the field, which is telling of their ability to also go down low. The Bruins are more than a jump shooting team.
The Bruins’ defense continues to be good enough and their offense continues to be stellar. Western Michigan is the next lucky team trying to stop this offense.
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1. Villanova (11-0)
The Villanova Wildcats just keep winning. They don’t have any huge weakness. Even rebounding, an area they rank just 173rd in this season, isn’t a huge cause for concern as five players average at least four per game.
The Wildcats have only failed to score 74 points twice and their one of the best fundamentally sound defensive teams in the nation.
Their 78-57 win over Temple marks the sixth time this season they’ve held a team to fewer than 60 points and fifth time a team shot below 40 percent against the Wildcats.
Plus, they looked angry after nearly losing to Notre Dame the week before and held the Owls to just 16 points in the first half. Temple didn’t score their 10th point until 4:38 remained in the first half.
Temple isn’t a terrible team at 8-4, yet Villanova made them look like the worst team in the American Conference. The Wildcats responded well to their first poorly played game and looked like a veteran team whose been there before.
Villanova is also doing all this without an important bench piece in Phil Booth. He scored 20 points in the championship game last year against North Carolina and was averaging 5.7 points per game in Villanova’s first three games.
No, Booth isn’t another Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson or even Mikal Bridges, but he’s a solid bench player who adds even more depth on one of the deepest teams in the nation.
He may return this week when Villanova hosts American.