As the college basketball betting season drags on and team’s resumes become more and more prolific, NCAA betting fans can begin to make better and more profitable predictions. Something that will indubitably help fans make more lucrative predictions is staying up to date with the AP college basketball rankings. A lot can happen in a week; teams can find their strut or teams can begin to fall apart. So keeping up to date with the frequent momentum swings is pivotal to finding success at the sportsbooks. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the current AP Poll rankings, specifically which teams have risen and which have fallen.
Rank School Record Points Previous
1 Villanova 11-0 1,614 1
2 UCLA 12-0 1,514 2
3 Kansas 10-1 1,450 3
4 Baylor (6) 11-1 1,439 4
5 Duke 10-1 1,385 5
6 Kentucky 10-1 1,337 6
7 Gonzaga 11-0 1,211 8
8 North Carolina 10-2 1,170 7
9 Creighton 11-0 1,058 10
10 Louisville 10-1 1,044 11
11 West Virginia 9-1 937 12
12 Virginia 9-1 886 13
13 Butler 10-1 821 18
14 Wisconsin 10-2 781 14
15 Purdue 9-2 754 15
16 Indiana 8-2 719 9
17 Xavier 9-2 542 17
18 Arizona 10-2 501 19
19 Saint Mary’s 8-1 389 20
20 Oregon 10-2 299 22
21 Florida State 11-1 290 23
22 South Carolina 9-1 218 16
23 S. California 10-0 212 24
24 Cincinnati 9-2 202 25
25 Notre Dame 9-2 188 21
As college basketball betting fans will note, not much has changed in the Top 5 but lower on down the list there have been some interesting movements. Usually non-conference wins over elite teams will translate into conference success, and this past weekend Butler edified the sportsbooks as to their chances of knocking off Villanova in the Big East.
The Kentucky Wildcats are the absolute favorites in their league after winning the highest-rated college basketball game of 2016 against the Tar Heels this past weekend. However, there has been a resurgence in the Big East with No. 9 Creighton being unblemished so far and Butler jumping up 5 spots to No. 13 this week. Additionally, Butler now has wins over Indiana, Cincinnati, Arizona and Utah, and with Xavier not falling behind at No. 17; it’s clear that Kentucky will have to contend with some excellent college basketball betting teams for the Big East crown.
Of course, Kentucky’s win over UNC is just as important. Thanks to Malik Monk’s 47-points, the Wildcats were able to best the Tar Heels in a high-scoring thriller. Kentucky hasn’t budged in the AP Poll, but with that loss the Tar Heels fell one spot to No. 8. But still, dropping a single slot reflects how the voters truly feel about UNC; one of the best teams in the Nation that ran into a one-man wrecking machine this past Saturday. At the start of the season the sportsbooks looked upon UNC with favorable eyes and not much has changed in this short span of time.
