Predicting Where WVU Will be Ranked in the New AP Top 25
The West Virginia Mountaineers were one of just three top 10 teams to avoid being upset this past week. They went 2-0 with wins over TCU and Kansas State while No. 2 Baylor suffered their first loss of the season, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Illinois fell to unranked Michigan State, and No. 8 Villanova dropping to unranked Butler just to name a few.
So that brings us to our weekly Monday morning question: Where will the Mountaineers be ranked in this week's AP Top 25 Poll?
I think Baylor and Michigan flip-flop spots with Illinois moving up to No. 4. Yes, the Illini did fall to Sparty, but they finished the week off nicely, including a top 25 road win at Wisconsin. After No. 4, I think just about anything can happen. When so many teams lose in the top ten all in the same week, it's absolute chaos. I would imagine Iowa would become No. 5 after their beatdown of No. 4 Ohio State on Sunday. The reason I would put the Hawkeyes slightly in front of the Mountaineers is because of two things. 1. Iowa was viewed as the better team before last week's rankings were released and losing big to Michigan and beating Ohio State by a wide margin kind of cancel each other out. I believe No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 8 Villanova will fall out of the top 10, but we could see Kansas shoot up to as high as No. 10 following their win over the Baylor Bears.
Here's my prediction for this week's rankings:
Ceiling: 5th
Floor: 7th
Prediction: 6th
Top 25 Results from last week with last week's rankings:
No. 1 Gonzaga: W 89-75 vs Santa Clara, W 86-69 vs Loyola Marymount
No. 2 Baylor: W 77-72 vs. Iowa State, L 71-58 vs. No. 17 Kansas
No. 3 Michigan: W 79-57 vs. No. 9 Iowa, W 73-57 vs. Indiana
No. 4 Ohio State: L 71-67 vs. Michigan State, L 73-57 vs. No. 9 Iowa
No. 5 Illinois: L 81-72 vs. Michigan State, W 86-70 vs. Nebraska, W 74-69 vs. No. 23 Wisconsin
No. 6 Alabama: L 81-66 vs. No. 20 Arkansas, W 64-59 vs. Mississippi State
No. 7 Oklahoma: L 62-57 vs. Kansas State, L 94-90 (OT) vs. Oklahoma State
No. 8 Villanova: W 81-58 vs. St. John's, L 73-61 vs. Butler
No. 9 Iowa:L 79-57 vs. No. 3 Michigan, W 73-57 vs. No. 4 Ohio State
No. 10 West Virginia: W 74-66 vs. TCU, W 65-43 vs. Kansas State
No. 11 Florida State: W 88-71 vs. Miami, L 78-70 vs. North Carolina
No. 12 Houston: W 81-57 vs. Western Kentucky, W 98-52 South Florida
No. 13 Creighton: W 77-53 vs DePaul, L 77-69 vs UCLA
No. 14. Texas: W 75-72 (OT) vs. Kansas, L 68-59 vs. No. 18 Texas Tech
No. 15 Virginia:L 68-61 vs. North Carolina
No. 16 Virginia Tech: L 69-53 vs. Georiga Tech, W 84-46 vs. Wake Forest
No. 17 Kansas: L 75-72 vs. No.14 Texas, W 71-58 vs. No. 2 Baylor
No. 18 Texas Tech: L 74-69 (OT) vs. Oklahoma State, W 68-59 vs. No. 14 Texas
No. 19 USC: W 72-58 vs Oregon, L 80-62 vs Colorado, L 71-61 vs Utah
No. 20 Arkansas: W 81-66 vs. No. Alabama, W 83-75 vs. LSU
No. 21 Loyola-Chicago: W 54-52 vs. Valparaiso, W 60-52 vs. Southern Illinois, W 65-58 vs. Southern Illinois
No. 22 San Diego State: W 78-66 (OT) vs. Boise State, W 62-58 vs. Boise State
No. 23 Wisconsin: L 74-69 vs. No. 5 Illinois
No. 24 Missouri:L 60-53 vs. Ole Miss
No. 25 Tennessee: W 70-58 vs. Vanderbilt, L 77-72 vs. Auburn
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