College basketball rankings: Purdue remains No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 after winning on road at Alabama
Trey Kaufman-Renn made his season debut in the Boilermakers' victory vs. the Crimson Tide
By
Gary Parrish
•
2 min read
I officially stopped trying to make sense of the Associated Press Top 25 poll years ago, right after I retired that old Poll Attacks column. Life's too short and all that. But I still pay attention to it, obviously. And so, yeah, I noticed, on Monday, when AP voters, collectively, dropped Purdue from No. 1 to No. 2 after one week of this season, presumably because the Boilermakers weren't impressive enough while starting 2-0 with their All-American forward (Trey Kaufman-Renn) sidelined by a minor injury.
It was a confusing move, if only because undefeated top-ranked teams had only ever previously dropped once in the AP poll without losing. And if we were following the script of that Michael Jordan documentary, this is where Purdue All-American Braden Smith might pop in and say, "It became personal with me." Because, on Thursday night, in Purdue's first game since being demoted by AP voters, the CBS Sports Preseason National Player of the Year finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and four assists in an 87-80 victory at Alabama.
"I give Purdue a ton of credit — they're tough," said Alabama coach Nate Oats, whose Crimson Tide had just won at St. John's five days earlier, giving credence to the idea that the Boilermakers now possess the sport's best victory to date, specifically a seven-point win on the road over a top-10 team that just won at Madison Square Garden. "They're one of the most disciplined [teams]. They run their stuff in the halfcourt. They know how to attack all of your coverages.
"At the end of the day, the tougher team won tonight," Oats added. "They out-rebounded us by 24. That's embarrassing."
Needless to say, I get Oats' point. Allowing Purdue to grab 19 offensive rebounds on 35 missed shots was a problem too difficult to overcome. But, broadly speaking, there's nothing that embarrassing about losing to the Boilermakers regardless of the circumstances because most everybody who has played them since Smith enrolled as an unheralded recruit has pretty much done the same thing.
Purdue is now 90-23 since Smith joined Matt Painter's program with three outright Big Ten regular-season titles, one Big Ten Tournament title and three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, one of which resulted in a trip to the championship game. Winning is what the Boilermakers do. And they did it again Thursday, in front of a hostile and capacity crowd, thanks to an all-everything performance from Smith, the first of many double-doubles this season from Kaufman-Renn, and a 9-of-21 effort from beyond the arc that helped offset Alabama's 16 made 3-pointers.
The Boilermakers remain No. 1 in Friday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. Alabama is No. 10. Purdue's next game is Sunday against Akron. After that, the Boilermakers will travel to the Bahamas, where they'll meet Memphis in the Baha Mar Championship on Thursday.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
1
Louisville
1
Alabama
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Braden Smith finished with 29 points and seven rebounds in Thursday's 87-80 win over Alabama. The Boilermakers' next game is Sunday against Akron. | -- | 3-0 |
| 2 |  | Emanuel Sharp finished with 19 points and four assists in Wednesday's 78-45 win over Oakland. The Cougars' next game is Sunday against Auburn. | -- | 3-0 |
| 3 |  | Robert Wright III finished with 26 points, nine assists and nine rebounds in Tuesday's 85-68 win over Delaware. The Cougars' next game is Saturday against UConn. | -- | 3-0 |
| 4 |  | Solo Ball finished with 23 points and three assists in Monday's 89-62 win over Columbia. The Huskies' next game is Saturday against BYU. | -- | 3-0 |
| 5 |  | Koa Peat finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in Tuesday's 84-49 win over Northern Arizona. The Wildcats' next game is Friday against UCLA. | -- | 3-0 |
| 6 |  | Thomas Haugh finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds in Tuesday's 78-76 win over Florida State. The Gators' next game is Sunday against Miami. | -- | 2-1 |
| 7 |  | Aday Mara finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds in Tuesday's 85-84 overtime win over Wake Forest. The Wolverines' next game is Friday at TCU. | -- | 2-0 |
| 8 |  | Dame Sarr finished with 19 points and three rebounds in Tuesday's 114-59 win at Army. The Blue Devils' next game is Friday against Indiana State. | -- | 3-0 |
| 9 |  | Mikel Brown Jr. finished with 29 points and five assists in Tuesday's 96-88 win over Kentucky. The Cardinals' next game is Saturday against Ohio. | 1 | 3-0 |
| 10 |  | Latrell Wrightsell was 2-of-9 from the field in Thursday's 87-80 loss to Purdue. The Crimson Tide's next game is Wednesday against Illinois. | 1 | 2-1 |
| 11 |  | Joson Sanon was 1-of-6 from the field in Saturday's 103-96 loss to Alabama. The Red Storm's next game is Saturday against William & Mary. | -- | 1-1 |
| 12 |  | Tyler Bilodeau finished with 21 points and four rebounds in Monday's 83-62 win over West Georgia. The Bruins' next game is Friday against Arizona. | -- | 3-0 |
| 13 |  | Andrej Stojakovic finished with 23 points and three steals in Tuesday's 81-77 win over Texas Tech. The Illini's next game is Friday against Colgate. | -- | 3-0 |
| 14 |  | Tamin Lipsey finished with 25 points and six assists in Monday's 96-80 win over Mississippi State. The Cyclones' next game is Monday against Stonehill. | -- | 3-0 |
| 15 |  | Graham Ike finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 90-63 win over Creighton. The Bulldogs' next game is Friday at Arizona State. | -- | 3-0 |
| 16 |  | Christian Anderson was 4-of-12 from the field in Tuesday's 81-77 loss at Illinois. The Red Raiders' next game is Friday against Milwaukee. | -- | 2-1 |
| 17 |  | Otega Oweh was 4-of-13 from the field in Tuesday's 96-88 loss at Louisville. The Wildcats' next game is Friday against Eastern Illinois. | -- | 2-1 |
| 18 |  | Carson Cooper finished with 17 points and four steals in Thursday's 79-60 win over San Jose State. The Spartans' next game is Tuesday against Kentucky. | -- | 3-0 |
| 19 |  | Jackson Shelstad finished with 22 points and eight assists in Wednesday's 83-69 win over South Dakota State. The Ducks' next game is Monday against Oregon State. | -- | 3-0 |
| 20 |  | Darius Acuff Jr. finished with 21 points and four assists in Tuesday's 93-56 win over Central Arkansas. The Razorbacks' next game is Friday against Samford. | -- | 2-1 |
| 21 |  | Caleb Wilson finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds in Tuesday's 89-74 win over Radford. The Tar Heels' next game is Friday against North Carolina Central. | -- | 3-0 |
| 22 |  | Kohl Roasrio finished with 16 points and five rebounds in Tuesday's 77-46 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday against Princeton. | -- | 2-1 |
| 23 |  | Nate Ament finished with 19 points and nine rebounds in Wednesday's 99-66 win over North Florida. The Vols' next game is Monday against Rice. | -- | 3-0 |
| 24 |  | Elijah Freeman finished with 21 points and five rebounds in Tuesday's 93-62 win over Wofford. The Tigers' next game is Sunday against Houston. | -- | 3-0 |
| 25 |  | Nolan Winter finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 86-55 win over Ball State. The Badgers' next game is Monday against SIUE. | -- | 3-0 |
| 26 |  | Ilias Kamardine finished with 26 points and four assists in Tuesday's 83-77 win over Memphis.The Rebels' next game is Friday against Cal State Bakersfield. | -- | 3-0 |
