College Basketball Rankings 2016-17: Bleacher Report's Week 5 Top 25

The reveal of the College Football Playoff is always a reminder of how much more entertaining the sport’s first few weeks would be if the field expanded and teams wouldn’t be so scared to take an early loss. Washington, for instance, made the playoff with a nonconference schedule of Rutgers, Idaho and Portland State. Ugh.

In the last week in college basketball, North Carolina traveled to Indiana and UCLA went to Kentucky. Both games were spectacles and had a March feel, and they were played because the losses will not be damning to the postseason future of either loser.

It also gives us a much clearer view of the college basketball landscape in the first month, much more so than blue bloods beating up on small schools. We now know that UCLA belongs back among the elite—the Bruins made a huge leap in this week’s rankings—and that Indiana is part of that group as well despite a loss to Fort Wayne the previous week.

This week's rankings feature the third No. 1 team we’ve had in the B/R Top 25, and we’re not even a month into the season.

There’s a lot to love about college football, but the season of a school like Oklahoma—the Big 12 champ killed its chances by playing a legit nonconference schedule and taking two L's—will act as a cautionary tale going forward and wuss up future nonconference schedules even more.

The college basketball nonconference, on the other hand, seems to get better every year. Now let’s dive into the Top 25, which features 25 teams that should all get a shot to go after a title in the postseason. Hooray hoops!

Also receiving votes: Virginia Tech, Syracuse

Voters in the poll are C.J. Moore, Brian Pedersen and Kerry Miller. Our experts participate in weekly voting for B/R's Top 25. Once a vote is cast for a specific team, it's assigned a value—25 points for the No. 1 team in the rankings, 24 points for the second spot and so on. The point totals are then added up to create the Top 25.

25-21: USC-Oregon

Chris Pietsch/Associated Press

25. USC

Record: 8-0

Previous rank: Not ranked

The Trojans are just one of 11 undefeated teams left and have solid wins over Texas A&M (on the road), SMU and BYU. Coach Andy Enfield has an experienced roster that made the tournament as a No. 8 seed last year, and considering expected progression of program players like Jordan McLaughlin, Elijah Stewart and Chimezie Metu, the Trojans were probably deserving of a preseason ranking.

24. Arizona

Record: 6-2

Previous rank: 18

Freshman Finnish big man Lauri Markkanen is living up to the hype and the Wildcats are only going to get better as they figure out how to better play through him. The 7-footer is averaging 17.8 points and burying 42.9 percent of his threes.

23. Cincinnati

Record: 6-1

Previous rank: Not ranked

This is the typical defensive-minded Bearcats. They’re blocking 20.2 percent of opponents’ two-point attempts—second-best nationally, per kenpom.com—and they held Iowa State to 54 points in a big overtime win at Hilton Coliseum this past week. The Cyclones had been averaging 88.9 points coming into that game.

22. Florida

Record: 7-1

Previous rank: 20

Second-year Florida coach Michael White has a solid core of leftovers/recruits from the Billy Donovan era and added grad transfer Canyon Barry this offseason. Florida has a pair of quality wins (Seton Hall and Miami) and what could be considered a quality loss (by five to Gonzaga). The Gators face a good litmus test Tuesday against Duke at Madison Square Garden.

21. Oregon

Record: 7-2

Previous rank: Not ranked

Dillon Brooks is starting to play like sophomore-year Dillon Brooks. The star forward missed the first three games of the season with a foot injury, and he was solid early—17 points in his second game back in a win against Tennessee—but wasn’t moving like his old self. He took a big step forward this past week, averaging 21.5 points in two easy wins.

20-16: Purdue-South Carolina

Richard Shiro/Associated Press

20. Purdue

Record: 6-2

Previous rank: 14

Sophomore Caleb Swanigan is making his decision to come back to school look like a smart one. He’s averaging 17.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. If he’s able to even stay close to those numbers, he’ll end up an All-American and Purdue will challenge for the Big Ten title.

19. Wisconsin

Record: 7-2

Previous rank: 23

This was a huge week for Wisconsin senior Nigel Hayes, who had been inconsistent the first few weeks of the season and was not taking the greatest shots. First, Hayes helped the Badgers carve up Syracuse’s zone by playing facilitator in the middle of the zone—he had a career-high 10 assists. Hayes followed that up with another impressive line: an efficient 28 points on 13 shots and six assists in a 20-point win over Oklahoma. 

18. Notre Dame

Record: 7-0

Previous rank: 21

Notre Dame coach Mike Brey has another veteran team that’s running beautiful offense and scoring efficiently (1.26 points per possession), per TeamRankings.com. Yawn. The stars change but the story is pretty much always the same in South Bend.

17. Butler

Record: 8-0

Previous rank: 17

The next two Saturdays should tell us a lot about Butler. Cincinnati comes to Hinkle this coming Saturday and then the next weekend Butler and Indiana play in Indy.

16. South Carolina

Record: 7-0

Previous rank: 16

South Carolina missed the tournament last year because of a weak nonconference schedule. Coach Frank Martin got the message and scheduled well this year. The Gamecocks already have wins over Monmouth (one of the top mid-majors this year), Michigan and Syracuse, and they have three more chances for quality nonconference wins with Seton Hall, Clemson and Memphis left on the schedule.

15-11: Xavier-Creighton

Nati Harnik/Associated Press

15. Xavier

Record: 7-1

Previous rank: 11

The Musketeers are very reliant this year on three perimeter stars: J.P. Macura, Edmond Sumner and Trevon Bluiett. Macura had a forgettable line on Saturday at Baylor—seven points on 2-of-16 shooting. It will be hard to beat Top 10 teams without all three bringing it, but Xavier is still one of the best teams in the Big East and no one is going to want to see that trio in the NCAA tournament.

14. West Virginia

Record: 6-1

Previous rank: 22

West Virginia gets more of a pass for its Temple loss after going into Charlottesville and knocking off Virginia. The Mountaineers won on the power of their press, forcing the Cavaliers into 14 turnovers. That doesn’t seem too crazy, but you just don’t turn over a Tony Bennett team, especially at home. It was the most turnovers at home for UVa since facing Shaka Smart’s VCU in the second game of the 2013-14 season.

13. Saint Mary’s

Record: 6-0

Previous rank: 15

The Gaels are the most efficient offense in college basketball—127.8 points per 100 possessions, per kenpom.com—and they’ve beat five of their six opponents by double digits. Clear your schedule for Jan. 14. That’s when Saint Mary’s travels to Gonzaga, and there’s a decent chance both teams will still be unbeaten.

12. Virginia

Record: 7-1

Previous rank: 6

The Cavaliers will always be a factor because of Tony Bennett and his pack-line defense. But this is a group that could labor to score. A home loss to West Virginia was the first sign they miss Memphis transfer big man Austin Nichols, who was dismissed from the team on Nov. 18. You have to make the Mountaineers pay when you beat their press and Nichols’ interior scoring would have helped an offense that mustered only 57 points.

11. Creighton

Record: 8-0

Previous rank: 13

Creighton’s early win against Wisconsin is looking better and better now that the Badgers have back-to-back comfortable wins over Syracuse and Oklahoma. The Bluejays should be in the conversation for best backcourt in the country with former K-State guard Marcus Foster (19.4 PPG), point guard Maurice Watson Jr. (12.0 PPG and 9.0 APG) and sophomore wing Khyri Thomas (13.8 PPG and 54.2 percent from three) all playing at a high level.

10. Louisville

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Record: 7-1

Previous rank: 10

Louisville coach Rick Pitino has made his career on market inefficiencies. When no one was embracing the three, he did. Most coaches are weary of playing zone or press. He utilizes both. And most blue bloods are after elite scorers. Pitino seems to have built his current roster with defense in mind.

The Cardinals are super long, and that makes getting off clean looks almost impossible. According to Hoop-Math.com’s numbers, Louisville opponents are shooting just 23.3 percent on shots inside the arc that aren’t at the rim. This group finished second in adjusted defensive efficiency last year and is No. 1 thus far this season, per kenpom.com. That’s likely to continue.

Pop in the tape from Purdue this past week to see how difficult Louisville makes it to run offense and score over length. Purdue has one of the best (and biggest) front lines in college basketball in Caleb Swanson and Isaac Haas. Those two combined to make only 3-of-13 twos in Purdue’s loss at Louisville. As a team, the Boilermakers shot just 9-of-30 from inside the arc. In all other games, Purdue has made 57.1 percent of its twos.

9. Indiana

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Record: 7-1

Previous rank: 11

The latest in the possible blessing in disguise injuries this college basketball season has delivered is OG Anunoby.

The breakout sophomore star sprained his ankle in the final minutes of IU's win over North Carolina. Luckily for the Hoosiers, they have another uber-skilled forward to fill his spot in Juwan Morgan, and Morgan, also a sophomore, is taking advantage of his increased role.

In the two games he’s started with Anunoby out, Morgan went for 18 points on 8-of-8 shooting against SIU Edwardsville and scored 11 points on another perfect shooting night (4-of-4) on Sunday against Southeast Missouri State.

IU coach Tom Crean loves to create mismatches and a Morgan-Anunoby-Thomas Bryant lineup is a different look from the typical small-ball units Crean employs. It is one he’s used some this year, but Crean will likely be even more comfortable with his big lineup now that he's seen what Morgan can do over increased minutes.

8. North Carolina

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

Record: 8-1

Previous rank: 3

North Carolina point guard Joel Berry II sprained his ankle in Sunday’s blowout win over Radford, and that’s the worst news to come out of UNC this past week. There’s no shame in losing at Indiana.

The Tar Heels have looked like a well-oiled veteran machine outside of the IU game, and this is a team that has plenty of experience dealing with a key piece out with injury—see the last two years with Marcus Paige.

The hope will obviously be that Berry will be able to play in two weeks when the Heels play Kentucky in Las Vegas, but this is one team that doesn’t need early-season vindication of how good they can be. A national title appearance this past March told them that.

7. Gonzaga

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Record: 8-0

Previous rank: 6

Gonzaga coach Mark Few is one of the best in the country at generating inside touches for his big men and getting his bigs to work together in high-low action. His staff is also pretty good at identifying big man talent, and the Zags have the deepest frontcourt in college basketball this season.

That frontcourt, led by behemoth Przemek Karnowski, almost guarantees that Gonzaga is going to have one of the most efficient offenses in the country. Gonzaga’s top three bigs (Karnowski, Johnathan Williams and freshman Zach Collins) are shooting a combined 60.8 percent from the field.

Let’s go ahead and bury any “they play in the WCC” narratives down the road for why the frontcourt is so dominant. They’ve already played four legit opponents (San Diego State, Florida, Iowa State and Arizona), and the Zags have dominated inside in all four games.

6. Baylor

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Record: 8-0

Previous rank: 8

Baylor’s win over No. 7 Xavier on Saturday gave the Bears their fourth win over preseason Top 13 teams. Indiana is the only other team with multiple wins (two) against that group.

The Bears left the Bahamas a week ago feeling pretty good about themselves, because not only had they knocked off Michigan State and Louisville, but transfer point guard Manu Lecomte was slumping and they’d still won.

Baylor coach Scott Drew knew that would not last for Lecomte, who was a 43.4 percent three-point shooter in two years at Miami. "That’s the one thing about early numbers," Drew told B/R last week about his team’s unexpected rise. "We know that number is going to improve. There’s not a big enough sample size."

Since that conversation, Lecomte has made 8-of-13 treys and he scored 24 points in a win over Xavier. The talent and resume cannot be disputed. Baylor is for real.

5. Kentucky

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Record: 7-1

Previous rank: 1

The only real flaw that UCLA exposed on Saturday is that Kentucky has some issues when it comes to halfcourt offense. The only reliable outside shooter in the rotation is Malik Monk, and the Wildcats don’t have a horse in the post they can throw the ball to and get the easy bucket. Freshman Bam Adebayo is extremely talented, but he’s just not there yet as a back-to-the-basket scorer.

Now the Wildcats still put up 92 points, so it’s hard to poke many holes in their offense. The reason halfcourt offense had not been an issue until Saturday and how UK still put up 92 against the Bruins was John Calipari has unleashed his young guys to play uptempo.

Calipari usually talks about wanting his teams to play fast but rarely does so. The Wildcats have finished in the top 100 in adjusted pace only once in Calipari’s first seven years in Lexington, and that was his first year when he had John Wall—the 'Cats finished 65th, per kenpom.com.

What Calipari always does well is adjust his style to his personnel, and he’s wisely letting the backcourt trio of De'Aaron Fox, Monk and Isaiah Briscoe get out and run. Kentucky’s average offensive possession is 13.5 seconds, fourth-fastest nationally, according to kenpom.com. The ‘Cats get up a shot in the first 10 seconds of a possession 39.6 percent of the time, according to Hoop-Math.com.

The formula to beat UK will be to not turn the ball over and try to slow the tempo. But that’s really hard to do against UK’s defense—forcing a turnover almost once every four possessions—and Fox is so fast it’s difficult for the defense to set even on made baskets. Eventually, the ‘Cats will have to get better in the halfcourt to compete for the national title, but they’re going to run their way to a shiny record whether they figure it out or not.

4. Duke

Ben McKeown/Associated Press

Record: 8-1

Previous rank: 5

Duke freshmen Jayson Tatum and Marques Bolden made their debuts on Saturday. In his postgame comments, coach Mike Krzyzewski made it sound like fellow freshman Harry Giles is close and that Frank Jackson and Grayson Allen shouldn’t miss significant time.

Now let’s assume that the Blue Devils eventually get healthy and that the freshmen eventually play to their potential…is it possible that their absence was for the betterment?

If they would have been available from the start, we also have to assume that sophomore guard Luke Kennard would have had less of a role and probably come off the bench. He might still come off the bench once Duke is at full strength, but Krzyzewski is going to have to find a way to get that dude starter minutes.

Kennard dropped 35 points on 16 shots on Saturday against Maine. Yes, it was Maine, but 35 on 16 shots would be impressive against the local Durham city league champs. Kennard has put up a killer line this year—19.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game—and he’s been Duke’s best player. Doubtful that ever happens without the unique circumstances. Now Coach K has to figure out how to distribute minutes and allow Kennard to keep cooking.

3. Kansas

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Record: 7-1

Previous rank: 4

Kansas and its small-ball attack has the potential to become one of coach Bill Self’s best offenses ever, even though it’s a change from the high-low norm we’re used to seeing from Self’s team. The ability to spread the floor with shooters and drivers is making offense really easy.

After a chilly start from beyond the arc to start the season, the Jayhawks are really starting to warm up. They’ve made 39-of-69 threes (56.5 percent) over their last three games, and while that isn’t sustainable, the Jayhawks should be one of the best shooting teams in the country.

The reason for this is the type of looks they’re getting. KU’s guards are so good at driving and kicking that the three-point shots they’re taking are often wide open and on kick-outs from the paint. There's no easier way to shoot a three. Out of the 36 threes KU made the last three games, all but four of those shots were assisted.

2. UCLA

James Crisp/Associated Press

Record: 9-0

Previous rank: 9

Kentucky is probably going to end up as a No. 1 seed this season, and that’s important to consider when trying to put UCLA’s win on Saturday in context.

Since John Calipari took over in Lexington in 2009-10, he’s had three other teams that were No. 1 seeds. Those teams went 55-0 at Rupp Arena. Before Saturday, Calipari had only lost three games at Rupp and two of those were in the disastrous 2012-13 NIT season.

That’s enough right there to tell you that the Bruins are legit. And what’s even crazier is UCLA won at Kentucky on a day when star freshman point guard Lonzo Ball wasn’t at his best. Ball had six turnovers and took some ill-advised shots. Saturday was more about UCLA than Kentucky. There’s nothing flukish about winning at Rupp.

1. Villanova

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Record: 8-0

Previous rank: 2

The last two years Villanova and the Golden State Warriors have crushed the theory that jump-shooting teams cannot win a championship. The Wildcats attempted 42.7 percent of their shots from deep last season, and the highest three-point rate of a champ in the 2000s.

This year’s version of the Wildcats is reaching another extreme. Nova is now jacking 48.3 percent of its field-goal attempts from deep. In four of eight games, Jay Wright’s team has actually attempted more threes than twos.

The reason it works so well for the Wildcats is they’re well-schooled, waiting for a good look to present itself every possession. You think of a team that shoots a lot of threes as one that probably plays fast, but the Wildcats rank 324th in adjusted tempo, per kenpom.com. This is not a reckless bunch. The Wildcats play smart basketball and to their strength, and based on their accuracy (40.5 percent) and rings, no one can argue they should play any other way.

C.J. Moore covers college basketball and football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @CJMooreBR.