Every Monday, I will be posting a breakdown of the AP Top 25, as well as bracket headlines from power conference teams around the country.

*AAC, A10, and WCC included in power conferences*

Last Week’s Rankings

AP Top-25

Virginia Michigan State Villanova Xavier Duke Texas Tech Gonzaga Kansas Purdue UNC Cincinnati Auburn Wichita State Arizona Clemson Ohio State Michigan Rhode Island Tennessee Nevada West Virginia St Marys Houston Middle Tennessee Florida State

Top-25 Breakdown

I am seeing a lot arguments today being made for Michigan State to be number one, and I firmly disagree. I actually think they should be #3, at best, after Villanova’s win over Xavier this weekend. The Spartans not only had trouble with bottom of the barrel teams in the Big Ten, but they went down 27 to struggling Northwestern, who was playing without their BEST PLAYER. If the Spartans were to trail by even 20 points to a tournament team in the second half of a game in March, there is no way they could come back in my eyes. In other news, Houston is ranked after their upset of Cincinnati, and Middle Tennessee is ranked for the first time in program history.

Top-25 Notes

#12 Auburn goes 1-1 this week, beating Kentucky and receiving a bad upset from South Carolina.

In a Thursday Night of upsets in the Big Ten, Wisconsin beats #9 Purdue, and Penn State beats #16 Ohio State. Then on Sunday, Ohio State loses again to rival #17 Michigan in a game that the Wolverines controlled all game, and Purdue outlasts a great game from Penn State. In two other ranked matchups on Sunday, #13 Wichita State ends #11 Cincinnati’s home win streak of 39 with a very gritty win, and #5 Duke takes care of business on the road at #15 Clemson.

#14 Arizona goes on the road to beat ASU in a great game of PAC 12 basketball. Arizona is battling for a two seed.

#8 Kansas once again comes back to beat #21 West Virginia for the season sweep.

Bracket Headlines