The Kansas Jayhawks responded well to getting to the No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll last week. Kansas went out and won both of their games over the last week of play, defeating Oklahoma and Oklahoma State over the last several days. The Jayhawks improved their record to 28-3, received 59 out of 65 No. 1 votes in the AP Poll, and it's hard to picture them not having a No. 1 seed in the NCAA March Madness tournament. They will now look ahead to preparing for and winning the Big 12 tournament, an event that starts on Wednesday and continues to the weekend ahead of the NCAA's Selection Sunday.
Villanova, UCLA, Gonzaga don't budge
The Kansas Jayhawks weren't the only ones that stood pat in the college rankings. Villanova, UCLA, and Gonzaga remained the respective No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 teams. None of them dropped a game last week, although neither of them faced a formidable opponent either. Gonzaga won what was a game in their conference tournament while the Wildcats and Bruins will start their conference playoffs later this week.
North Carolina dropped down
The highest-ranked team that saw a setback was the North Carolina Tar Heels. They dropped a ten-point decision to the Virginia Cavaliers early last week before defeating the Duke Blue Devils by 7 on the weekend. The mixed results didn't see them drop down too far, but they did lose a spot going from 5th to 6th as the Oregon Beavers gained a rung.
The big droppers of the week were both Florida and Butler and they lost to Vanderbilt and Seton Hall respectively to lose five spots a piece in the updated AP Poll on Monday.
Selection Sunday, the day when all the teams in NCAA basketball find out their draw (if any) in the national tournament, will be next week. The conference tournaments, as always, promise to be huge as they represent a chance for the bubble teams to score a big win to try and impress the Selection Committee. However, many of these teams need not just a game win, but a conference title in order to secure direct entry into the March Madness tournament which will start in just over a week's time.
