Tennessee State went on to win against a demanding schedule for the major teams in the Southeast Conference. This has propelled the volunteers to their highest ranking this season in The Associated Press men’s basketball survey.
While Gonzaga, Arizona and national champion Baylor remained at the top of the polls on Monday, Rick Barnes tied Purdue in ninth to break into the top 10 for the first time this season. This came after the Volunteers (23-7, 14-4 SEC) closed the regular season schedule Hitting No. 15 Arkansas Although mostly outperformed by 24 points.
However, they achieved their fourth consecutive win and ninth in 10 matches. This extension included victories against No. 4 Auburn And the No. 5 Kentuckysending the volumes to this week’s SEC Championship in Tampa, Florida, as the No. 2 seed.
Defense was a strength, with volunteers ranking third nationally in adjusted KenPom efficiency by allowing 87.4 points per 100 possessions. They are also in seventh place with 13.6% of defensive possessions and 18th with 14.1% of opponent’s shots blocked.
They also rank 17th in Division I by charging 16.2 turnovers per game.
“It was tough, I can tell you,” Barnes said of the Securities and Exchange Commission after the Arkansas win. “I think we were able to learn from a lot. I think we will learn from today. And we need that, because now you are playing in the tournament. If you have breaks and you keep throwing lifelines at the wrong time, finish your season.”
Volunteers climbed four places in the top 25 draws at UCLA and 16 in Illinois for the biggest leaps this week.
Upper class
Bulldog Mark Vue has 52 out of 61 votes to finish first for the fourth consecutive week and the eighth time this season back to a pre-season poll. Gonzaga faced San Francisco Monday night as he opened play in the West Coast Conference semifinals.
The Wildcats stayed second for the third week in a row under Year One coach Tommy Lloyd and took six first place votes, while Scott Drew’s Bears—who finished first for five weeks earlier this season—earned the other three.
Auburn and Kentucky made the top five, followed by Kansas, Duke, Villanova, Purdue, and Tennessee.
Height
Eight teams jumped from their positions last week, including Villanova who moved up three places after that Hitting No. 11 Providence And Butler last week, Murray State climbed three places to nineteenth After winning the Ohio Valley Conference championship.
sliding
Southern California saw the biggest drop of the week, dropping five places to 21st after losing Arizona And the University of California. No. 18 Houston dropped four points After losing to Memphis At the end of the regular season. In all, 10 teams are down from the previous week.
the current situation
Five teams remained in the same position, with sixth-ranked Kansas and 24th-ranked Iowa holding their position alongside the top three teams.
welcome back)
Colorado’s 23rd joined North Carolina’s 25th place as new additions in the survey, overtaking Ohio and Alabama from last week’s rankings. The Rams spent four weeks in December and January polling, peaking at number 20.
The Tar Heels opened the year at 19 but fell out of the rankings by Thanksgiving — part of the Atlantic Coast Conference that has only one team ranked in the Blue Devils for most of the season.
They didn’t get any votes in the past six polls, but they jumped again on Monday after that Beat Duke on Saturday in the final held at Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“I would say our expectations have never changed,” Big Little Man in UN Command Armando Bacot He said. “I don’t know if it was just being fancy or confident. But we’ve always felt like we’re a great team… I don’t want to be complacent and I don’t want to be too excited because ‘you’ve had big wins and you haven’t responded in the right way’.”
conference clock
The Big 12, SEC and Big Ten led the way with four seeded teams each, followed by Pac-12 and Big East with three.
The ACC joined the WCC with two seeded teams each, while the America Athletic Conferences, Ohio Valley and Mountain West each had one.
