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Oregon Basketball Rises Three Spots in Newest AP Poll

By Alex Weber

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 16: Will Richardson #0 of the Oregon Ducks moves past defense from Tyus Battle #25 in the first half of the game during the 2k Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 16: Will Richardson #0 of the Oregon Ducks moves past defense from Tyus Battle #25 in the first half of the game during the 2k Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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After a ho-hum week for Oregon Basketball which saw a lone victory over Green Bay, the Ducks avoided the Feast Week chaos and kept steady in the AP Poll

Feast Week was as exciting as ever this year round. Rui Hachimura and Gonzaga toppled top-ranked Duke, Shaka shocked some folks by upsetting North Carolina, and the Oregon Basketball team beat the highly touted Green Bay Phoenix! All that and more was accounted for in this week’s rendition of the Associated Press’ Top 25. Here’s the list:

  1. Gonzaga
  2. Kansas
  3. Duke
  4. Virginia
  5. Nevada
  6. Tennessee
  7. Michigan
  8. Auburn
  9. Michigan State
  10. Kentucky
  11. North Carolina
  12. Kansas State
  13. Virginia Tech
  14. Iowa
  15. Florida State
  16. Ohio State
  17. Texas
  18. Oregon
  19. Purdue
  20. Texas Tech
  21. Buffalo
  22. Wisconsin
  23. Villanova
  24. Maryland
  25. Mississippi State

Others receiving votes: Arizona St 156, Clemson 135, Furman 72, Creighton 65, LSU 41, Indiana 35, UCLA 30, Iowa St. 22, St. John’s 19, Minnesota 17, Miami 10, TCU 8, Syracuse 8, Arkansas 6, Nebraska 6, Notre Dame 4, UConn 4, Florida 3, UCF 3, Houston 1, Davidson 1.

Too High 

Mississippi State – My gripe with this one isn’t that MSU is ranked too high, but that they are ranked ahead of a certain other “state” team that didn’t get in. That’s right, I’m talking about Arizona State, who sits at number 26 with 156 votes–5 less than the 161 MSU got. Look, Sparky bested the Bulldogs on a neutral court. Isn’t that how we determine who is the better team…if you beat them on a neutral court? ASU did and is still below MSU. That’s more disrespectful than when Kaffee called Colonel Jessup an SOB at the end of A Few Good Men. 

Villanova – I could sit back and be preached to about how Nova and Jay Wright are the most successful program in the country at this point. I could, really. But I’d sit there with a smug grin on my face knowing full well that Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges aren’t stepping foot ever again in the Pavillion for basketball-playing purposes. I said this on my podcast back in May that “for the first time in 4 years, Villanova does not have a Wooden Award winner on its roster. When you’ve had so many, it sometimes might be difficult to adjust to not having one. After all, this team has two losses already: to Michigan by a million, and to Furman. Both at home. Get outta here.

Too Low

Kansas – I’m going to argue that Kansas should be number one right now. I know the trendy pick is the Zags because they beat an NBA team (you know, because Jay Williams said Duke could beat the Cavaliers. Silliness. Please feel free to mock him). One win over Duke isn’t going to do it totally for me. Kansas has already amassed an impressive platter of wins already with victories over fellow top-ten-ranked Michigan State and Tennessee, and frisky Marquette. They’ve looked the superior squad, to me, so far. But the gap is tighter than Will and Chuckie in Good Will Hunting.