College hoops are officially underway, meaning the rankings and comparisons have begun.
You likely know by know how we feel about rankings. No matter the algorithms to determine the strength of schedule, no ranking list holds up for long. The eye test remains as valid as anything else, though it is filtered through biases and knowledge of the sport. So can any ranking list truly be trusted in the sports world? No. Do sports fans, including ourselves, still appreciate a good ranking list? Of course.
There is nothing quite like a healthy hoops discussion to decide who is the best of the best. So we indulge in rankings ourselves, whether local prep players or the teams on the biggest stage in the NBA.
Below are the rankings as of December 6th for men’s NCAA hoops per ESPN. Check for yourself to see if they got it right and draw your own conclusions! (First-place votes in parenthesis)
Can Purdue keep up the good work? Will Memphis continue to implode, keeping them off this list all year? There is still plenty of basketball left to be played, and we are excited to find out all of the answers.
On the women’s side, also as of Dec. 6th, ESPN rightly has the 9-0 South Carolina Gamecocks at number one.
NC State, UConn, Louisville, Tennessee, Baylor, Arizona, Stanford, Texas, and Maryland round out the top ten.
UConn superstar Paige Buekers was injured this week and will miss 6-8 weeks. The Huskies will be hard-pressed to keep their March Madness hopes alive without the most electric player in women’s college hoops.
There is quite a bit of overlap on the top 25 lists between men's and women’s squads so far. The most notable case is Baylor, with the number two men’s team and number six women’s. It will be interesting to see which basketball powerhouse schools remain near the top of both lists.
Stay tuned for more NCAA news as well as a little bit of everything else from the world of hoops!