College Basketball Weekly: How to win titles, Wyoming & Providence rise

A beautiful week of college basketball is behind us and an even better one ahead. This week, I’m breaking down the golden rule for winning national championships and touting the talents of Wyoming and Providence. Of course, we also have a heads or tails ruling for Penny, results and games of the week, plus rankings.

Let’s dive in!

Results of the Week

• Creighton 59 @ (19) UConn 55
• (13) Kansas 70 @ (16) Iowa State 61
• (21) Texas 64 @ (10) Texas Tech 77
• (8) Wisconsin 67 @ (20) Illinois 80
• (15) Villanova 73 @ (23) Marquette 83
• (6) UCLA 66 @ (9) Arizona 76
• (19) UCONN 74 @ (15) Villanova 85
• (16) Iowa State 41 @ (21) Texas 63
• DePaul 69 @ (17) Xavier 65
• (7) Baylor 59 @ (13) Kansas 83
• (14) Michigan State 63 @ Rutgers 84
• USC 63 @ (9) Arizona 72
• (6) UCLA 84 @ Arizona State 87 (3OT)
• (2) Gonzaga 90 @ BYU 57

Teams that Win Championships

Since 2010, every title-winner except the two UConn teams and last year’s Baylor squad shared the same analytical quality: ranking in the top-15 in the country in KenPom’s adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency. Let’s take a look.

Team	Year	O-Rating	D-Rating
Baylor	2021	2nd	22nd
Virginia	2019	2nd	5th
Villanova	2018	1st	11th
North Carolina	2017	9th	11th
Villanova	2016	3rd	5th
Duke	2015	3rd	11th
UConn	2014	39th	10th
Louisville	2013	7th	1st
Kentucky	2012	2nd	7th
UConn	2011	19th	15th
Duke	2010	1st	5th

Obviously, 2014 UConn sticks out, although their 2011 team was closer to top-15 in both than we may remember. Also, Baylor technically wasn’t top-15 in defense last season. However, they were a top-10 unit on that end of the court for the entire season but went through a rough couple of weeks of COVID absences that set their ranking back.

Elsewhere, it’s elite teams on both ends of the court winning college basketball championships. Aside from the UConn’s and Louisville, each of these teams were better on offense too. Defense wins championships, right? Yes, so long as you also have a nuclear-powered offense.

As of Monday morning, six teams fulfill the criteria in the 2021-22 season.

Team	O-Rating	D-Rating	Overall
Gonzaga	2nd	10th	1st
Arizona	12th	5th	2nd
Kentucky	5th	11th	3rd
Houston	8th	12th	4th
Auburn	13th	14th	7th
Duke	11th	15th	9th

Matt Jones likes to promise that he can pick five teams ahead of the NCAA Tournament and one of them will win it all. Well, if you just cut out Houston (who lost two of their three leading scorers for the season in December), your 2022 National Champion is almost certainly coming from the list above.

No fluke whatsoever. Those are the consensus best teams at this point in the season. Whether you ask KenPom or other analytical rankings or even the AP Poll, these are the six best teams — they score and defend at equally high levels.

Friars Own the Big East

Providence head man Ed Cooley is putting together an undeniable Coach of the Year case. The Friars are 20-2, the best Power Conference record aside from first-ranked Auburn, and 10-1 in the Big East with a stranglehold on the rest of the league.

Providence is going to comfortably slide into the top-10 of the AP Poll this week and rightfully so. But this simply isn’t a team with top-10 talent or even top-10 performance on the court. Instead, Providence is maximizing the roster they have by taking care of business against lesser competition while narrowly defeating their better opponents.

The Friars are 13-0 in games decided by 10 points or less and their two losses came by 18 to a bad Virginia team and by 32 to Marquette. Meanwhile, lowly Georgetown and DePaul are the only Power Conference teams they’ve beaten by more than 10.

20-2 is 20-2 though. Not an easy accomplishment for a Power Six basketball team. And a remarkable resume to go along with it. Ed Cooley really is living the American Dream. Shout out to him and his Friars.

Providence is 20-2.

Ed Cooley does not have a first-round pick.

Ed Cooley does not have an All-American.

Ed Cooley does not have a first-team All-Big East player.

As of today — Ed Cooley — is your National Coach of the Year. https://t.co/hw4S40ehek

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 6, 2022

Kansas Bounces Back

Do you believe in ghosts? Folks that watched Kentucky curb-stop Kansas at Phog Allen ought to. The Jayhawks that showed up that night were a ghost of the team they’ve been throughout the rest of the season.

Before facing Kentucky, Kansas was 17-2 with six Quad 1 wins. And this past week, KU handled Iowa State on the road without POY candidate Ochai Agbaji then thrashed Baylor on the same court they received a thrashing on a week ago. Bill Self’s team may not have the ceiling of the teams led by Frank Mason and Devonte’ Graham, but they’ll absolutely earn a top-three seed in the NCAA Tournament once again.

Wyoming Gone Wild

Wyoming completed the most impressive week of performances by any team in the country, taking down Boise State, Fresno State and Colorado State in a span of six days. Aside from the Cowboys themselves, that’s three of the other top-four teams in the Mountain West — a perennially solid mid-major conference.

That’s enough to earn them a spot in my rankings this week (below). But aside from their performances on paper, this is a greatly entertaining basketball team. They’re led by two guys that average 20 & 19 points a night. First, there’s Graham Ike, a 6-foot-9 forward who scores 20 points and grabs 8.9 rebounds a night. Then there’s the lovable Hunter Maldonado, a 6-foot-7 ace of spades who scores 19.3 points a game, leads the teams in assists with 6.4 per game and is second behind Graham in rebounds (5.6 per game).

He’s a more athletic Chandler Vaudrin, for those of you who followed Winthrop last year. A non-shooter who makes nothing look pretty, but fills the stat sheet one way or another.

For those looking ahead to bracket season, let me propose Wyoming as this season’s Oral Roberts. Graham and Maldonado as the Abmas/Obanor combo with a stronger, more-athletic supporting cast. These Cowboys won’t choke in the postseason on the basketball court.

Penny: Heads or Tails?

Two heads weeks in a row for Penny! His team has had a couple of games canceled lately, but in their one game this week, Memphis pounded a decent (or maybe not) UCF team 88-60 — an absolute rear-kicking from the Tigers, who haven’t lost since January 20th.

Also, Jalen Duren threw down an abusive dunk on the poor rims at the FedEx Forum.

watching some dudes play (college) basketball pic.twitter.com/6MsH8DNsXA

— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) February 6, 2022

Good vibes in Memphis for now. Penny isn’t harassing reporters or cursing at press conferences lately. Good job.

Let’s get on to this week’s rankings and the games of the week ahead.

College Basketball Rankings

1. Auburn
2. Gonzaga
3. Houston
4. Purdue
5. Kentucky
6. Duke
7. Arizona
8. Kansas
9. Providence
10. Texas Tech
11. Wisconsin
12. Baylor
13. Illinois
14. UCLA
15. Ohio State
16. Marquette
17. Villanova
18. Michigan State
19. Wyoming
20. Arkansas
21. Texas
22. Murray State
23. Tennessee
24. Xavier
25. Saint Mary’s

Games of the Week

• (8) Kansas @ (21) Texas (Mon./9 p.m./ESPN)
• (16) Marquette @ UCONN (Tue./6:30 p.m./FS1)
• (1) Auburn @ (20) Arkansas (Tue./7 p.m./ESPN2)
• (11) Wisconsin @ (18) Michigan State (Tue./7 p.m./BTN)
• (13) Illinois @ (4) Purdue (Tue./9 p.m./ESPN)
• (21) Texas @ (12) Baylor (Sat./Noon/ESPN2)
• Indiana @ (13) Michigan State (Sat./3:30 p.m./FOX)
• (25) Saint Mary’s @ (2) Gonzaga (Sat./10 p.m.)
• (14) UCLA @ USC (Sat./10 p.m.)