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Monday marks Week 7 of the college basketball season, and it brings the newest edition of the AP Top 25 men's basketball poll.
A quiet week of hoops leading up to the holiday weekend meant little movement in the new AP Poll, as the top five remain unchanged and no new teams entered the rankings. But Florida Atlantic rose seven spots to #7 — its highest ranking ever — thanks to a huge win over Arizona, while Creighton dropped 10 spots to #22 after losing at home in overtime to Villanova.
There were also several noticeable snubs. While the AP Poll is by no means the be-all and end-all for determining how good a college basketball team is, it is an important capsule for determining who is playing the best basketball at any given week. Here are the three biggest snubs from the latest AP Top 25 men's basketball poll.
Utah
A pair of neutral site losses to NCAA Tournament teams in Houston and St. John's are all that is currently holding Utah back from a spot in the AP Top 25 poll in the eyes of the voters, but this Utes team deserves to be ranked right now. Utah owns impressive Quad I wins against Saint Mary's and BYU and is 25th in the latest NET Rankings.
The Utes also have the 58th-ranked non-conference strength of schedule per KenPom, putting them well ahead of back-end Top 25 teams like Mississippi and Providence. Both schools have strength of schedules that are rated 270th or worse and are each below Utah in the KenPom rankings.
Last week we showed how a lack of Quad I wins was holding back fringe teams from earning a spot in the AP Top 25 poll. But with Utah, that is clearly not the case; and Utes fans will want more consistency from the voters.
Nevada
After another strong week, the Wolfpack keeps winning against Power Conference opponents. Nevada took home the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, easily defeating Temple in the opener before taking down TCU and Georgia Tech to win this Multiple-Team Event. The win over TCU gives Nevada its second road/neutral site victory over a Power 6 program this year, with a win at Washington in the second game of the season.
The Wolfpack moved up eight spots in the “Others Receiving Votes” category, but it is hard to believe that this 12-1 team still received just 13 points in the voting.
Grand Canyon
The top of the leaderboard for Quad I victories this season looks much how one would expect: Purdue has five, while Houston and Arizona are tied for second with four each. But tied for third with three Quad I wins is an unexpected team: Grand Canyon. After making the NCAA Tournament last year as the WAC Champions, the Antelopes have a real shot at earning an at-large bid this season.
GCU has wins over San Francisco, San Diego State, and Liberty — and thanks to some savvy scheduling, all three count as Quad I victories since they came at neutral sites or on the road. The Antelopes are one of just 10 teams with at least Quad I wins, and they are 25th in the Wins Above the Bubble Metric, which measures a team's resume in comparison to that of the average team on the bubble for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
While the rest of their schedule is weak, Grand Canyon deserves more recognition for its quality wins.
