NCAA - Men and women's rankings

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!

College hoops on the horizon

The Basketball Movement is looking ahead to the 2021-22 college basketball season.

College basketball is nearly back, this time in full force following a strange, pandemic-altered season. The NCAA kicks off November 9th with the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden featuring Duke vs. Kentucky and Kansas vs. Michigan State.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has announced that this will be his final season, and the Blue Devils are hoping to send him out with a bang. Kentucky will be on a mission to end its Final Four drought as well.

As for rankings, Gonzaga has remained on top essentially since the end of last season. They are bringing back an impressive squad in addition to the number one recruit, Chet Holmgren. The defending champs, the Baylor Bears, did not retain as much talent and are expected to drop off a bit.

Below are ESPN’s rankings as of October 11:

  1. Gonzaga Bulldogs

  2. Kansas Jayhawks

  3. UCLA Bruins

  4. Villanova Wildcats

  5. Texas Longhorns

  6. Purdue Boilermakers

  7. Memphis Tigers

  8. Michigan Wolverines

  9. Kentucky Wildcats

  10. Baylor Bears

  11. Duke Blue Devils

  12. Oregon Ducks

  13. Illinois Fighting Illini

  14. Arkansas Razorbacks

  15. Houston Cougars

  16. Alabama Crimson Tide

  17. North Carolina Tar Heels

  18. Tennessee Volunteers

  19. Ohio State Buckeyes

  20. Maryland Terrapins

  21. Florida State Seminoles

  22. Auburn Tigers

  23. UConn Huskies

  24. St. Bonaventure Bonnies

  25. Virginia Cavaliers

As you can see, many familiar names are on the list to begin regular season play. Houston has finally proven to the big media outlets that they are here to stay and the mention of St. Bonaventure is good to see as well. Arkansas and Alabama forging their way into these rankings are interesting too with both schools historically only gaining football attention.

Memphis is viewed as a top 10 team but still will have plenty to prove. They certainly have the talent to do it, now sporting touted recruits, Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren.

Of course, we have our personal favorites as Yanders Law alumni and other friends of The Basketball Movement are scattered on men’s and women’s teams all over the country. Right here in Missouri, we have two players on Mizzou and two for Missouri State that we will be watching excitedly.

Good luck to the young men and women everywhere as another exciting college basketball season nears tipoff. Keep checking back here for news and updates on NCAA hoops as well as everything else from prep to pro.

NCAA Rankings - College basketball is nearly back

With NCAA college basketball just over a week away, we dig into the men’s preseason rankings.

We always point out the triviality of preseason rankings, but that doesn’t mean we can’t discuss leading up to the tipoff of NCAA basketball! The first games of the season begin Tuesday, November 5th. No team has been quite as hyped this season as we saw Duke last year with their star freshman that have since departed for the NBA.

However, there is still plenty of buzz as always ahead of another exciting hoops season. It seems to be anyone’s race, at least for now. Vegas odds-makers like Gonzaga, while the AP and others see Michigan State as the favorite, having retained much of the roster that took them to the Final Four a season ago.

The season starts soon, but we are still a long way from March Madness. In the meantime, here are the AP top-25 rankings before seeing these squads in action:

1 - Michigan State

2 - Kentucky

3 - Kansas

4 - Duke

5 - Louisville

6 - Florida

7 - Maryland

8 - Gonzaga

9 - North Carolina

10 - Villanova

11 - Virginia

12 - Seton Hall

13 - Texas Tech

14 - Memphis

15 - Oregon

16 - Baylor

17 - Utah State

18 - Ohio State

19 - Xavier

20 - Saint Mary's (Cal)

21 - Arizona

22 - LSU

23 - Purdue

24 - Auburn

25 - VCU

Again, there is plenty to look forward to this season, and it begins early. The top four above teams will be meeting each other to open things up. November 6th, Michigan St. plays Kentucky and Duke plays Kansas in back-to-back games of the Champions Classic. The games will be played at Madison Square Garden and will be sure to start the season off with a bang.

Reigning champ Virginia is at number 11, having lost multiple starters. Memphis (number 14) will be an exciting team to keep an eye on if you are looking for the next big squad of talented young players.

Are any of the above teams ranked too high? Too low? Let us know here or start the discussion over on our social media pages as we all get pumped for the return of college hoops!