Men’s College Basketball Rankings: Florida, Illinois Climbing; Purdue Falls

This is the most interesting men’s college basketball season I can remember in the past 15 years. This freshmen class is incredible. NIL means that talent is staying put and the quality of play I’m watching is fantastic. What’s more, the race for the top-4 seed lines of the NCAA tournament has never been more compelling. Here’s the latest edition of my men’s college basketball rankings, as of Feb. 1. *Note: Miami (Ohio) is 22-0, but its strength of schedule is 332nd in the country. The RedHawks are a great story, but I’m not sure that I’ll rank them at all this year. Being undefeated is cool and all, but you have to put it into context. Texas A&M head coach Bucky McMillian is pushing all the right buttons with this team. The Aggies sit atop the SEC with a 7-1 record and are averaging 91.0 points in their past three games. Still, there are big challenges ahead. Arkansas lost an emotional affair with Kentucky on Saturday. The Razorbacks have six losses, but none of them are bad losses. They can’t find a rhythm, though, as their longest win streak of the season is just four games. St. John’s has won seven games in a row and beat Butler by 22 points on Wednesday. Guard Ian Jackson had 18 points and is starting to figure out his scoring role. Kentucky is turning its season around. The Wildcats beat Arkansas, led by their former coach John Calipari, on Saturday in an emotional game. Guard Otega Oweh has scored 20 or more points in seven of his past nine games. Clemson boasts one of the 15 best defenses in the country, and the Tigers used it to suffocate Pitt on Saturday; the Panthers could only muster 52 points. Clemson is now 8-1 in the ACC with its only loss in overtime to NC State. Tennessee is on a three-game win streak, beating Alabama, Georgia and Auburn. The Vols have a top-15 defense (again). St. Louis is now 21-1 after crushing Dayton by 31 points on Saturday, with its only loss coming on a miracle shot against Stanford back in November. North Carolina picked up another road win at Georgia Tech on Saturday. I enjoy watching the frontcourt duo of forward Caleb Wilson and center Henri Veesaar. The pair combined for 42 points and 18 rebounds. Virginia has the 17th best offense in the land and got two road wins this week, despite going 14-for-52 from behind the arc combined. That’s a good sign that this team is legit and can find ways to win. Three losses in a row for Purdue seemed unfathomable when it started the preseason as the top-ranked team. This team can score against anyone, but the Boilermakers struggle to guard elite, athletic teams like Iowa State and Illinois. Understandably, BYU went 0-2 this week against Arizona and Kansas. Cougars star forward AJ Dybantsa was only outscored by one point (17 to 18) by Kansas freshman guard Darryn Peterson, but it felt like more than that. Guard Richie Saunders had 33 points and greatly improved his NBA Draft stock in front of the throng of scouts that were in attendance. I was a bit surprised that Texas Tech lost at UCF after shooting above 50% as a team, but the Red Raiders couldn’t get stops in an 88-80 shootout. Texas Tech star forward JT Toppin continued his stellar season with 27 points on Saturday. I still think the Red Raiders can beat any team — anywhere. Vanderbilt smashed a good Kentucky team earlier this week and is back to its winning ways — three straight wins, in fact. Sophomore guard Tyler Tanner is only 6-foot, but his game is massive. I was so jacked up for the matchup between Dybantsa and Peterson — until the ball was tipped, and Peterson completely took over with 18 points in 17 minutes in the first half. Of course, he only played three minutes in the second half (cramping?), but his Kansas teammates kept it going, shooting 57% overall. Kansas is hitting its stride. Florida made a statement with its thrashing of Alabama at home. Alex Condon had his best game of the season with 25 points and six assists at the center position. Florida ranks sixth in KenPom and is 7-2 in the SEC. [Men’s College Hoops Spotlight: Villanova Eyes NCAA Tournament Berth] Michigan State squeaked out an overtime win at Rutgers early in the week, and the Spartans couldn’t recover fast enough for their top-10 showdown against Michigan on FOX on Friday night, losing 83-71 (the game wasn’t as close as the final score). Spartans star Jeremy Fears Jr. did his part with 31 points, but nobody else really showed up. Graham Ike returned from injury this week, and he scored 30 points in Gonzaga’s win over Saint Mary’s on Saturday night. The Zags’ only loss of the season was a 40-point beatdown at the hands of Michigan in November. Count me as one of the people who was more impressed with Nebraska in defeat (at Michigan) than any other game I’ve seen the Huskers play. Their loss on Sunday to a surging Illinois team doesn’t change their potential, but it does bring them (and their fan base) back to Earth a bit. Illinois owns the No. 1 offense in the sport and used it to avenge its loss to Nebraska. Outside of Arizona, is anyone playing better in the sport right now? Illinois has won 11 consecutive games. Besides those back-to-back road losses a few weeks ago to Kansas and Cincinnati, Iowa State looks every bit like a No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. [NCAA Bracket Projections: Michigan Reclaims No. 1 seed, ACC Rising] Houston freshman guard Kingston Flemings only had seven points on Saturday against Cincinnati, but fellow freshman forward Chris Cenac Jr. had 13 and senior guard Milos Uzan closed things out with 16. The Bearcats had no shot in that game. On Saturday, Duke star forward Cameron Boozer posted 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists in a road win at Virginia Tech. That is a career-best day for most players, but it’s just another day at the office for the best player in the sport. After narrowly escaping most of their Big East opponents, UConn demolished Creighton on the road by 27 points. The Huskies broke out of a slump by hitting 16 of their 31 3-pointers. Michigan followed up its come-from-behind win over Nebraska by controlling most of the game at Michigan State. Wolverines star forward Yaxel Lendeborg finally had a breakout game in conference play with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Arizona is the most physical team in the country and continued to impress, getting road wins at BYU and Arizona State. It seems likely the Wildcats will win the Big 12 by multiple games.