The Bears will probably be an underdog at West Virginia Tuesday night
By Gary Parrish
• 1 min read
Baylor is No. 1 in the CBS Sports Top 25 (and one) for the fifth consecutive day and should move to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll Monday afternoon. It's a ranking earned -- most notably because the Bears are 15-0 with seven top-55 KenPom wins, including victories over Xavier, Oregon and Louisville.
Next up: A road game at West Virginia.
So, yes, Baylor will be a top-ranked underdog Tuesday night and is statistically likely to lose its first game as the AP poll's No. 1 team -- which, let's be clear about this, will not invalidate the Bears' No. 1 ranking at all, and for two reasons: 1) Anything that happens after Sunday night has nothing to do with how AP voters should've voted Monday morning. 2) Best I can tell, literally every college basketball team would, right now, be an underdog at West Virginia, if only because the Mountaineers are ranked second in both KenPom and Sagarin.
Bottom line, whatever happens Tuesday happens Tuesday.
But Baylor deserves to be No. 1 on Monday.
Biggest Movers
1 South Carolina
8 Wisconsin
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baylor | Baylor is now 15-0 with seven top-55 KenPom wins. No team in the country has fewer losses or more quality victories than Scott Drew's Bears. | -- | 24-11 |
| 2 | Villanova | The Wildcats bounced back from their loss at Butler by beating Marquette by double-digits. Josh Hart is averaging 19.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. | -- | 18-16 |
| 3 | UCLA | Lonzo Ball finished with 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds in Sunday's win over Stanford. The Bruins' only loss is a last-second loss at Oregon. | -- | 16-17 |
| 4 | Kansas | The Jayhawks have won 14 straight since their season-opening loss to Indiana. They're 3-0 in the Big 12 for the 11th straight season. | -- | 23-11 |
| 5 | Kentucky | The Wildcats have won their three SEC games by an average of 30.3 points. KenPom now projects them to finish at least four games ahead of everybody but Florida in the SEC standings. | -- | 23-10 |
| 6 | Duke | The Blue Devils are 1-0 without Mike Krzyzewski on the sideline. Grayson Allen is averaging 9.0 assists since returning from his suspension. | -- | 27-9 |
| 7 | Gonzaga | Nigel Williams-Goss finished with 36 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in Thursday's win at San Francisco. The Zags are now 33-4 vs. USF under Mark Few. | -- | 27-8 |
| 8 | Florida St. | The Seminoles will take an 11-game winning streak into Tuesday's game with Duke. Dwayne Bacon is averaging a team-high 18.1 points and 3.9 rebounds. | -- | 17-16 |
| 9 | West Virginia | The Mountaineers are forcing their opponents into turnovers on 32.8 percent of possessions. That ranks first nationally by a significant margin. | -- | 9-23 |
| 10 | Butler | Kamar Baldwin averaged 13.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in Butler's past two wins over Villanova and Georgetown. The Bulldogs will take a three-game winning streak into Wednesday's game at Creighton. | -- | 18-15 |
| 11 | Creighton | The Bluejays' lone loss is an 80-70 loss to Villanova. They're shooting 42.1 percent from 3-point range and 59.8 percent from 2-point range, which ranks third and fourth nationally. | -- | 25-10 |
| 12 | N. Carolina | UNC's 51-point victory over NC State on Sunday was the second-largest point differential in series history. Justin Jackson finished with a game-high 21 points. | -- | 29-8 |
| 13 | Xavier | The Musketeers have won six straight since dropping consecutive games to Baylor and Colorado. Myles Davis is expected to play for the first time this season Tuesday at Villanova. | 1 | 16-18 |
| 14 | Arizona | The Wildcats will take a nine-game winning streak into Thursday's game with Arizona State. Lauri Markkanen is averaging 15.9 points and 7.4 rebounds. | 1 | 27-9 |
| 15 | Florida | The Gators have won five straight since losing consecutive games to Duke and Florida State. They're 3-0 in the SEC for the fourth time in the past five years. | 1 | 24-12 |
| 16 | Oregon | The Ducks beat Washington State easily Saturday despite Dillon Brooks being ejected. Chris Boucher finished with 29 points in 25 minutes. | 1 | 24-12 |
| 17 | Notre Dame | The Irish have won five straight games since losing to Villanova and Purdue. Bonzie Colson has recorded double-doubles in three straight games and 10 times this season. | 1 | 13-20 |
| 18 | Virginia | The Cavaliers dealt Wake Forest its 25th consecutive ACC road loss Sunday. The double-digit win snapped Virginia's two-game losing streak. | 1 | 23-11 |
| 19 | Louisville | The Cardinals won at Georgia Tech Saturday to avoid an 0-3 start to ACC play. Donovan Mitchell is averaging a team-high 13.4 points and 4.9 rebounds. | 1 | 8-24 |
| 20 | Purdue | Caleb Swanigan got 18 points and 13 rebounds in Sunday's win over Wisconsin. The sophom*ore forward has 14 double-doubles in 17 games. | 1 | 34-5 |
| 21 | Wisconsin | Sunday's loss to Purdue dropped the Badgers' record to 2-3 against top-50 KenPom teams. Their best win is last week's win at Indiana. | 8 | 22-14 |
| 22 | Saint Mary's | Jock Landale finished with 26 points on 11 shots in Thursday's win over BYU. The Gaels have won seven straight since losing to UT-Arlington. | -- | 26-8 |
| 23 | Cincinnati | The Bearcats have won six straight games since losing at Butler. KenPom now projects them to be the outright American Athletic Conference champions. | -- | 22-15 |
| 24 | Minnesota | Amir Coffey finished with 19 points and five assists in Sunday's win over Ohio State. It was Minnesota's third straight win over a top-50 KenPom team. | 1 | 19-15 |
| 25 | Clemson | All four of Clemson's losses are by six-or-fewer points, and three of them are to ranked opponents. The Tigers' resume features wins over South Carolina, Wake Forest and Nebraska. | 1 | 24-12 |
| 26 | S. Carolina | The Gameco*cks are undefeated with Sindarius Thornwell in the lineup. He's averaging a team-high 18.4 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds. | NR | 26-8 |
See Also
2024 NCAA Tournament Expert Bracket Picks & Analysis for March MadnessCollege basketball picks: Expert predictions for Final Four, 2021 NCAA Tournament championBelgium vs. Ukraine prediction, odds, start time: UEFA Euro 2024 picks, June 26 bets by proven soccer insider2024 NCAA Tournament Expert Bracket Picks & Analysis for March MadnessOur Latest College Basketball Stories
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