After a sweep of the Oregon schools over the weekend, UCLA vaulted back up the polls to No. 2, its highest ranking since spending six weeks at No. 1 earlier in the season.
Florida remains the top-ranked team in the land, and rightly was named unanimously so by The Associated Press.
The Bruins were able to make their move because Wisconsin and North Carolina ““ now ranked fourth and fifth, respectively ““ both lost.
Ohio State, after its big road test against Michigan State, is now No. 3.
Add Big 12 rivals Kansas and Texas A&M to the top 5, and this year’s national champion is likely to come from that group of seven.
Although Florida is the defending national champion and returns its unique team-oriented blend of stars, the Gators still have two losses and can hardly be described as a prohibitive favorite to cut down the nets in Atlanta (the site of this year’s Final Four).
In fact, every elite team has at least two losses.
The continual shuffle atop the polls is simply a microcosm of what has defined this college basketball season ““ namely, the lack of a single dominant team in favor of several elite teams. The situation in the polls will constantly remain fluid, and in the end the rankings will matter little going into the tournament.
Last season, Florida was ranked No. 11 before the postseason began and came away winning it all. Don’t expect such a low-ranked team to be crowned champion this year, but you can expect the winner (from among the aforementioned seven teams) to have had the best matchups when the brackets are released.
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Currently, the hottest team among the elite appears to be Texas A&M. Billy Gillespie’s squad has seized control of the Big 12 by knocking off Kansas on the road Saturday before handling Texas easily on Monday. The win on Saturday was the Aggies’ first victory ever in Phog-Allen Fieldhouse, and the first for any South Division team since the formation of the league in 1996.
Senior Acie Law IV led the way with a huge 21-point, 15-assist effort against the Longhorns, and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 20 seconds to go against the Jayhawks.
By playing its now-trademarked rugged defense, Texas A&M is 13-1 since back-to-back losses to LSU and UCLA in early December. Now that the Aggies are getting consistent scoring from not only Law but also Josh Carter, Joseph Jones and Antanas Kavaliauskas, they are definitely a legitimate threat to Florida’s crown.
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Kevin Durant continues to redefine what any player, let alone a skinny 6-foot-10-inch freshman, should be capable of doing on a basketball court.
Since I campaigned for the Texas freshman as Player of the Year two weeks ago, the Longhorns have only gone 3-2, including a 100-82 loss Monday to the Aggies, but it hasn’t been the fault of Durant.
In his last five games, he’s put up point totals of 26, 34, 37, 32 and 28. Against Texas Tech on Jan. 31, Durant had a historical night, becoming the first Texas player to record a 30-20 game with 37 points and 23 rebounds. If that wasn’t enough, the freshman who defies description outscored the Red Raiders in the second half, 24-22, by himself.
Afterwards, seemingly unaware of his on court brilliance, Durant remarked, “Who, me? Oh, I didn’t even know I (outscored their team). I really wasn’t worried about my stats or my rebounds or points. I just wanted to win.”
A superstar oblivious to his own greatness? In this age of sports prima donnas, that is more rare than even such a singular talent as Durant himself.