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College Basketball Power 10: Duke Rises, North Carolina Falls

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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While no one in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll lost this week, this week’s College Basketball Power 10 still sees a lot of shaking up.

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Last week, college basketball didn’t have the same hype and excitement as the week before.

Following a week that had seven matchups between ranked teams, last week’s highlight was two ranked teams in Iowa State and Saint Mary’s losing on the same night and Butler losing to a mid-major in Indiana State.

The Sycamores became the second mid-major team from Indiana to upset a major in-state program this year — Fort Wayne defeated the Indiana Hoosiers earlier in this year.

After a month of games, there are still six undefeated teams left in the nation. Plus, major conferences look to have the potential of really close conference races this season, including the Big 12.

Unlike most years in Kansas’ 12-year regular-season championship run, the Jayhawks have real competition in Baylor and West Virginia this year. Kansas will still be big favorites heading into Big 12 play, however they’ll have to fight more than in recent years.

There will be more games between ranked opponents and better matchups this week, however that doesn’t mean nothing happened last week. There are still big shake ups in the College Basketball Power 10.

A month has come and gone and conference play starts in a couple of weeks, so here’s a look at the top 10 teams in college basketball right now.

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10. Creighton (10-0)

Creighton continues to roll over the teams it should beat with ease. Last week, the Bluejays beat Nebraska by 15 and scored a season-high 113 points to beat Longwood by 55. Creighton improved to 10-0 for the first time since they a 12-0 start in 2003-04.

The Bluejays’ only super impressive win to this point came in their second game against Wisconsin, however they still deserve respect for getting off to a better start than even Doug McDermott did during his four years.

That being said, Creighton did have a scare against Nebraska on Wednesday after jumping out to a 14-2 lead.

The Cornhuskers clawed their way back and only trailed 31-30 at halftime, but Creighton went on a 20-7 run to start the second half to put Nebraska away for good.

Letting Nebraska back in the game is not what Greg McDermott wanted to see his team do, although crazier things have happened in rivalries on the road. Creighton showed their true colors to start and end the game, therefore a poor end to the first half doesn’t negate their great season thus far.

The Bluejays rank in the top five in scoring per game (91.6), field-goal percentage (54.3 percent) and three-point percentage (45 percent) in the nation.

Plus, all five starters are averaging at least 9.7 points per game, while Maurice Watson Jr is also chipping in an impressive 9.3 assists per game.

Defense might be a problem in Big East play; however, stopping Creighton’s offense is a bigger challenge for most opposing teams.

Creighton’s only game this week is at home against Oral Roberts.

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9. Kentucky (9-1)

Kentucky stays at No. 9 despite an impressive 24-point win over Valparaiso and beating Hofstra by 23 on Sunday. Although, with no teams ahead of them losing or playing poorly enough to drop below them, the Wildcats stay at No. 9 for another week.

Even though Kentucky didn’t play great competition this week, their ability to show up and dominate two mid-majors says a lot about their potential.

They didn’t dwell on their first loss of the season, but rather went right back to work and played angry by jumping out to a 25-4 lead over Valparaiso to start the game.

The Wildcats can score, rebound and block shots as well as any team in the nation, but the also only average 0.8 years of experience per player, according to Sports Reference.

That inexperience cost them against UCLA, but their final two non-conference games against North Carolina and Louisville will test it.

Kentucky can have 10 highlight dunks and blocks per game, but they need to prove they can beat good teams. All nine of their wins have come by at least 20 points, but they also only own the 47th-toughest schedule up to this point, per ESPN.

Kentucky has electric freshmen and some key upperclassmen sprinkled in, but this is a huge week for them to show they’re a legitimate top-10 team right now.

Kentucky will play North Carolina in Las Vegas on Saturday.

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8. North Carolina (10-1)

The love fest of North Carolina’s impressive 7-0 start is quickly fading. After looking lost and losing to Indiana at the end of November, the Tar Heels lost Joel Berry II against Radford and did not look the same last week.

Some struggles are expected when losing your best player, especially when it’s a dynamic point guard like Berry. To an extent, letting Davidson, which is one of the better mid-major programs in the nation, hang around is understandable with the loss of Berry.

The Tar Heels fell in the Power 10 due to nearly being upset by Tennessee on Sunday evening.

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To be blunt, Tennessee is not a good team. They’re 4-4 with a loss to Chattanooga and struggled against Chaminade in the Maui Invitational. With or without Berry, the Tar Heels should have won by a lot more than 73-71.

Besides, the Tar Heels trailed by eight points at halftime and didn’t take their final lead until a Justin Jackson layup with 2:15 gave them a 70-69 advantage.

That speaks louder than just the loss of Berry.

Just as most teams would be, the Tar Heels are a completely different team without Berry. However, to have as drastic of a change as they had due to one player is not just surprising given the depth North Carolina has, but also somewhat troubling for a top 10 team.

Joel Berry II should return this week, but the Tar Heels have more to worry about than just getting him back. Their defense is struggling, as they’ve given up 70-plus points in back-to-back games after only giving up 70 points twice in their first nine games, and their offense isn’t as explosive as early in the season.

North Carolina will play Kentucky in Las Vegas this week in a game that will tell a lot about each team.

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7. Indiana (8-1)

The verdict is still out on the Indiana Hoosiers. After taking down North Carolina to end November, the Hoosiers beat their last three teams by an average of 31 points.

Granted they beat SIU Edwardsville, Southeast Missouri State and Houston Baptist, but it still shows that Indiana isn’t taking any team for granted anymore.

While losing to Fort Wayne likely prevented them from being ranked second in the nation behind Villanova right now, it’s a valuable lesson that some teams don’t learn until the NCAA Tournament.

Indiana is playing hard on both ends, ranking in the top 70 in both points per game and points allowed per game, and still have one of the more impressive resumes this season with two wins over top five teams.

Plus, Indiana cleared OG Anunoby to play, meaning he didn’t miss any meaningful games.

Returning averages of 12.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game to a team who is quickly finding their identity and rhythm is a scary thought.

Indiana will play Butler at a neutral site on Saturday and then host Delaware State on Monday.

Solely beating North Carolina might not erase the Fort Wayne loss, but pairing it with a win over a ranked Butler team would. This is a huge week for an Indiana team looking to regain the respect it had early in the season.

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6. Gonzaga (10-0)

Mark Few has been Gonzaga’s head coach since 1999-2000, but this is the first time his Bulldogs are 10-0 to start the season.

Maybe it’s just the consistency of success Gonzaga has had under Few or maybe it’s the fact that they don’t have any five-star freshmen–either way, the Bulldogs are flying under the radar but are one of the most complete teams in the nation.

Gonzaga has big wins over Florida, Iowa State and Arizona, but its 10 wins still get pushed to the side in favor of teams from Power Five conferences. They don’t have a bona fide star, but they can beat you inside or out and have one of the deepest teams in the nation.

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Right now, even after playing three teams who have spent time in the Associated Press top 25, Gonzaga has no glaring weakness.

They rank 36th and 37th in points per game and points allowed per game, respectively. Also, seven players average at least 7.9 points per game and four average at least 4.5 rebounds per game.

Transfer Nigel Williams-Goss leads Gonzaga in scoring and assists at 13.4per game and 4.7 per game, respectively, and is second with 1.5 steals per game.

He also stuffed the stat sheet against his former team this past week, Washington, with 23 points, five rebounds and five assists in Gonzaga’s 98-71 win.

As long as Gonzaga’s bench, which former Mizzou standout Johnathan Williams leads, continues to play well, the Bulldogs should be 17-0 heading into a home game against St. Mary’s in mid-January.

Gonzaga will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to play the Volunteers this week.

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5. Kansas (9-1)

It’s a shame that Kansas doesn’t have a ranked opponent on its schedule until late January against West Virginia. Kansas looks significantly better than at the start of the year when they lost to Indiana in overtime and barely beat an injury-plagued Duke team by two.

The Jayhawks beat UMKC by 33 points and jumped out to a 20-point halftime lead over Nebraska before beating them by 17 like they were back in the Big 8.

Frank Mason III continues to put up Wooden Award numbers– averaging 20.5 points, 5.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. He’s also shooting a ridiculous 58.7 percent from the field and 54.8 percent from three this season.

Even though Kansas’ strength of schedule nose dived after their first two games of the season, Mason’s numbers are still incredible through 10 games.

Standout freshman Josh Jackson also continues to get better every week. His double-double against UMKC and 17 points with five blocks against Nebraska are indicative of why so many people are high on his all-around potential.

The big question is how Kansas will handle losing Carlton Bragg Jr. to suspension. Bragg is second on the team with 5.3 rebounds per game and also adds 7.8 points per game on 53.7 percent shooting.

Being suspended indefinitely certainly doesn’t help, but Kansas will have time to figure out how to replace him before the bulk of their conference schedule.

Kansas will have a test against Davidson in Kansas City this week.

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4. Duke (10-1)

There might not be another team in the nation that could lose three key players, have the Wooden Award favorite in Grayson Allen banged up to the start the season and still be 10-1 with a healthy roster quickly starting to form.

Jayson Tatum and Marques Bolden both played in the last three games and Duke expects Harry Giles to return before Christmas.

Tatum and Bolden both still have clear signs of rust, but Bolden recording seven points and five rebounds in his debut and Tatum recording 22 points against a ranked Florida team in his second career game is why there is so much excitement around them.

Right now, Duke is only showing small flashes of the team many expected them to be. Leading Florida by 10 at halftime and winning 84-74, while only letting Florida get within six once in the second half, is not even close to the expectations this Duke team has when fully healthy.

The Blue Devils never fully closed the door on the Gators in the second half and left room for a comeback. It’s a game that never seemed out of their control in the second half, however a couple of threes by Florida could have made it very interesting.

Grayson Allen had the potential dunk of the year against UNLV last week, though, on his way to a career-high 34 points.

On a Duke team that is having two impact freshmen return and Luke Kennard emerging as a Wooden Award contender, having Allen score 34 points is just another positive involving Duke’s health issues.

Duke still isn’t full strength and they’re not playing their best basketball, yet. Although, right now they’re playing like a top five team and they’re only going to get better.

Duke hosts Tennessee State this week.

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3. Baylor (8-0)

The Bears had last week off, but their impressive start to the season did not go away.

Baylor is not a normal powerhouse in college basketball, so it’s expected that people will brush them off. Even though they’ve made six of the past nine NCAA tournaments, Baylor has only topped 25 wins three times under Scott Drew, who took over in 2003-04 and is just more than a decade removed from winning four games.

History shouldn’t matter when looking at who the best team this year is, but it does influence how some think of this team.

Besides, they don’t own five-star recruits or have an electrifying offense. Even though Baylor only allows 59 points per game, which ranks eighth in the nation, it doesn’t scream excitement like highlight dunks and non-stop three-point shooting.

That being said, there is no arguing about Baylor’s early season resume. The Bears have four wins over ranked teams and three came by at least 15 points.

According to ESPN, the Bears have the best RPI (.7347), second best Defensive Quotient (19.3), which is the difference between what a team allows and their opponents’ actual score, and fifth-toughest strength of schedule in the nation.

Whichever way you cut it, the Bears own one of the best defenses in the nation and have the most impressive resume in college basketball so far. Baylor will now play the easy part of their non-conference schedule, but that doesn’t negate what they did to start the season.

Baylor plays Southern, Jackson State and John Brown this week.

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2. UCLA (10-0)

The only way UCLA will lose this year is if they beat themselves. In their lone game of the week against Michigan, the Wolverines played UCLA as well as anyone this year.

Michigan scored 50 points in the first half, shot above 60 percent from the field, made 12 threes and went on a 15-2 run to take a 48-41 lead with 1:28 left in the first half. Then, UCLA’s offense came back to life and scored nine quick points to tie the game at 50 heading into the half.

To no surprise, the Bruins’ offense only got stronger and Michigan’s threes stopped falling. The Bruins ended up winning 102-84 in a game that was closer than the score indicates.

Michigan’s first half offense is a perfect example of how teams need to play against UCLA. The Bruins will score no matter the tempo of the game, therefore a team’s only hope is matching them.

It’s easier said than done, however shooting lights out and making 12-of-13 free-throws is how you do it.

That being said, letting the Bruins shoot 67.2 percent from the field and 62.5 percent from three is an easy way to be beat. Five players scored at least 14 points for the Bruins and seven players topped five points.

It’s hard to contain everyone, but giving up open threes and layups in transition doesn’t help.

The one dark spot in UCLA’s monster win is they went just 9-of-18 from the line. In an 18 point blowout win, free-throws aren’t a huge issue. However, that could be a problem for the Bruins in close games and become their Achilles heel as a result.

UCLA only shoots 73.2 percent from the line this season — 79th in the nation.

UCLA looks unstoppable and has scored 90-plus points seven times this season. UC Santa Barbara and Ohio State will try to slow down, or pray that the Bruins’ offense goes cold, this week.

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1. Villanova (10-0)

Notre Dame out-played Villanova for 30 minutes, yet the Wildcats still won 74-66. Despite owning a five-point lead at half and leading by nine with 13:17 left in the game, the Irish didn’t play well down the stretch and it cost them.

Villanova got to the basket, upped the defensive intensity and worked the glass to help complete their comeback.

Plus, Josh Hart stepped up as the team’s best player and finished the game with 37 points and 11 rebounds. He finished shooting 10-of-14 from the field, 3-of-4 from three and making all 14 free-throws.

Hart also scored 16 points in a six and a half-minute span in the second half to give Villanova a comfortable lead.

The Wildcats didn’t play their best basketball, but great teams find ways to win on off-nights, and that’s what Villanova did.

Besides, Villanova’s 10-point win over rival La Salle should not be understated. Other than the Explorers being a respectable opponent, especially when at home, anything can happen in rivalries.

It’s not the best week Villanova could have had, but they continued their undefeated season.

The biggest takeaway from this week from the Wildcats is that good point guards and defensive teams can cause them problems, but they’re still talented enough to beat good teams when they’re struggling.

The Wildcats host a good Temple Owls team this week.

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