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Juan Fanta
College basketball broadcaster and reporter
The Auburn Tigers are the best team in men’s college basketball.
Sure, Tennessee is undefeated and pretty impressed to test that record at Illinois and win. And yes, Bruce Pearl’s team suffered a loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium, but what this team did the last two Saturdays (beat Ohio State by 38 points and followed it up with a blowout 87-69 victory over Purdue) is enough for me. Putting Auburn in first place until I see otherwise.
The Tigers (11-1) have beaten their competition by an average of more than 23 points per game this season and are fueled by National Player of the Year favorite Johni Broome, who battled from his shoulder Tuesday against Georgia State and recorded his eighth double-double of the season (23 points, 11 rebounds) on Saturday. Its interior presence combined with significant perimeter depth gives Pearl a luxury of richness.
The win over Purdue summed up the depth the Tigers possess. While Chad Baker-Mazara and Miles Kelly shot a combined 1 of 7 from 3-point range, Denver Jones broke out, shooting 6 of 10 from the floor for 15 points. And then there’s freshman Tahaad Pettiford, a 6-foot-1 guard who changes the Tigers’ dynamic when he’s on his game. He had 18 points and five assists in the double-digit victory.
[Read more: Ranking the top 50 players and coaches in the country]
An Auburn team with the best offense in the country is huge because Pearl-led teams always defend (10th in KenPom defense this year). That’s how he led the program to its first Final Four in school history in 2019. To think the Tigers are once again in prime position is a testament to Pearl and his ability to make Auburn a destination during his tenure.
Here are five other takeaways from this weekend:
The Buckeyes make a statement!
Ohio State entered the year with high expectations, but after a heartbreaking loss to Pittsburgh and crushing losses to Auburn and Maryland, it made us wonder if Year 1 of the Jake Diebler era was going sideways.
On Saturday, Bruce Thornton and the Buckeyes made a resounding statement that they are very much an NCAA tournament-caliber team, giving Kentucky a reality check with a stunning 85-65 blowout of the previously record-setting Wildcats. 10-1 at Madison Square Garden. . It was a defensive display from Ohio State, which had an outstanding Saturday in athletics with the rout of Tennessee in the College Football Playoff to advance to the Rose Bowl.
The Buckeyes held a top-10 Kentucky offense, known for its perimeter firepower, to 4 of 22 from deep. But the story was Thornton, who controlled the game with the best performance of his career, scoring 30 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the field and going 13 of 14 from the free throw line. With Kentucky transfer Aaron Bradshaw back in the lineup and scoring 11 points, and freshman John Mobley continuing to be an X-factor with 15 points and a +28 plus/minus, Ohio State showed the world something of college basketball this weekend. Is it sustainable? We’ll see, but it also showed that Kentucky isn’t the same team if you close down the perimeter and make the Wildcats play tough basketball.
North Carolina saved their season with a comeback from 16 down to surprise UCLA.
The Tar Heels looked dead and buried, staring at 6-6 and a very real scenario that they could miss the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years — an unfathomable scenario. But RJ Davis and Ian Jackson didn’t let Hubert Davis’ team give up, and freshman Jackson really boosted UNC down the stretch by scoring five in a row when the team trailed 65-60 to finish with 24 points. In my opinion, UNC has to avoid serious losses and needs to finish in the top three in the ACC, but getting a second win in Quad-1 on Saturday was huge.
Michigan State can be the best team in the world Big Ten.
How about Tom Izzo in his 30th year at the helm? His team was unranked in the preseason, but it won five straight and beat Florida Atlantic on Saturday. Jeremy Fears has 20 assists in his last three games, Jaden Akins has become the alpha scorer, Jaxon Kohler is averaging close to a double-double, Jase Richardson is contributing as a perimeter X-factor off the bench and Coen Carr is a phenomenon. of nature.
Izzo has a second-weekend NCAA Tournament team that ranks among the top 15 in the country in defense.
Mississippi State We should not continue sleeping after a resounding victory over Memphis.
Now in his third year at the helm, Chris Jans has done an outstanding job in Starkville developing a program built on toughness. We saw it on Saturday, when MSU came to Memphis and dominated the Tigers on their own court, 79-66. Florida transfer Riley Kugel scored 19 points in the win, Josh Hubbard continued his stellar season and KeShawn Murphy continued his junior surge with 13. Hubbard is truly one of the best guards in the country that no one is talking about.
Cincinnati showed that it is a nightmare of confrontations prepared for a great year in the 12 big with a 66-59 conquer dayton.
The fourth year of the Wes Miller era in Cincinnati brought expectations and pressure to break through and reach the NCAA Tournament. The Bearcats haven’t danced since Miller took over, but they have shown over the past two weeks that the drought is going to end and this team could be one of the ones that goes far in the tournament. Their defense is outstanding, and we saw that on Friday when they held Dayton to 17 points in the first half en route to the victory. Dan Skillings Jr., part of a deep and versatile defense, carried Cincinnati with 17.
Let’s get to our Top 25!
1. Chestnut (11-1)
The Tigers are off until Dec. 30, when they will host Monmouth to complete non-conference play.
The Vols topped Western Carolina and will host Middle Tennessee on Monday night before closing out non-conference play against Norfolk State on New Year’s Eve.
3. Iowa State (10-1)
Life in the Big 12 picks up speed next for the Cyclones, who open 9-2 at Colorado on Dec. 30 before hosting Baylor in their first game of 2025.
4. Duke (10-2)
Kon Knueppel led the Blue Devils with 18 points and five assists, while Khaman Maluach had 15 and eight rebounds as Jon Scheyer’s team moved to 2-0 in ACC play with an 82-56 victory over Georgia Tech. Duke hosts Virginia Tech on New Year’s Eve.
The Crimson Tide has won seven of its last eight games after wins against North Dakota and Kent State this week. I give them credit for playing North Dakota in a true road game to give Grant Nelson a chance to come home. Mark Sears and Nelson each scored 23 points in the 97-90 victory. The Tide finished non-conference play against South Dakota State on December 29 before hosting undefeated Oklahoma in its SEC opener.
6. Florida (12-0)
The Gators are loaded with outstanding guards and remained undefeated at 12-0 with a 26-point performance from Will Richard to lead them past North Florida on Saturday. Florida hosts Stetson on Sunday before visiting Kentucky.
The Golden Eagles moved to 11-2 with a 72-70 win at Xavier on Saturday behind a combined 39 points from Kam Jones and David Joplin. The ending generated a lot of controversy, when Ryan Conwell of the Musketeers brought the ball up the court. What do you think of this? Marquette is happy about it. Next up is a visit to Providence on New Year’s Eve (6 p.m. ET on FS1 and the FOX Sports app).
The Jayhawks topped Brown on Sunday to cap non-conference play at 9-2. Up next: Big 12 play begins on New Year’s Eve against West Virginia.
9. Kentucky (10-2)
The Wildcats remain in my top 10, but they have some issues to work on when 3-point shots aren’t hitting. Additionally, the trend of slow starts has to stop. The Buckeyes outplayed and pushed them with Otega Oweh and Jaxson Robinson shooting a combined 7-of-24.
10. University of Connecticut (10-3)
There are two reasons why the Huskies are back in my top 10:
1. They have won six in a row and are undefeated on dry land. That Maui Invitational nightmare is over and in the rearview mirror, and this team regained its magic, winning 78-74 over Butler on Saturday as Alex Karaban hit two 3-pointers and Liam McNeeley continued his strong season.
2. At the end of the day, I really wouldn’t pick 10 more teams than Dan Hurley’s team, and I’m willing to say that this team has come leaps and bounds on defense, with more work to do, and is a bandwagon of a shooting team .
11. Oregon (11-1)
12. Oklahoma (12-0)
13. houston (8-3)
14. Texas A&M (10-2)
15. Michigan State (10-2)
17. Cincinnati (10-1)
18. Mississippi State (11-1)
20. Maryland (10-2)
21. San Diego State (8-2)
22. Illinois (8-3)
23. Arkansas (10-2)
24. Baylor (7-3)
25. Georgia (11-1)
John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as a lead anchor on the BIG EAST Digital Network and providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. follow him on @John_Fanta.
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