College basketball rankings: Kansas surges in Top 25 And 1 after undefeated run in Players Era Festival
The Jayhawks went 3-0 in Las Vegas and Bill Self's squad will enter December with some much-needed momentum
By
Gary Parrish
•
2 min read
Kansas traveled to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival with a 3-2 record featuring two double-digit losses, no good wins and lots of questions considering the Jayhawks were about to play three games in three days without their best player, Darryn Peterson.
None of this was ideal.
There were reasons for KU fans to be concerned -- and there still are on some level, I guess. But what could've been a really rough week that, worst-case scenario, would've sent Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame coach Bill Self into December with a losing record for the first time since he started 0-2 at Oral Roberts in 1994 actually went really well.
KU went 3-0 in the Players Era Festival.
So the Jayhawks won it?
No, silly.
I realize it's confusing and nonsensical. But the Players Era Festival was an 18-team tournament in which it was possible to go undefeated but still not win the trophy. Kansas and Iowa State both did it -- with the Jayhawks finishing third and the Cyclones finishing fifth. Why the event's organizers didn't anticipate that their goofy format would overshadow the fun matchups they produced is a mystery to me -- but they clearly didn't. So, hopefully, in advance of next year, they'll remember that no American sport is more closely associated with brackets than college basketball, and that any college basketball "tournament" without a bracket isn't really a tournament. And, even if they claim it is, college basketball fans will never embrace it the way they're conditioned to embrace tournaments with brackets -- some as big as 68 teams, some as small as four.
Anyway ...
Kansas went 3-0 in Las Vegas with wins over Notre Dame, Syracuse and Tennessee. Obviously, the last of those three was the best. It was an 81-76 victory over a UT team that entered with a 7-0 record highlighted by a neutral-court win over Houston. So, yeah, the worst-case scenario for the Jayhawks when they entered Las Vegas was that they'd exit with a 3-5 record. Instead, they're exiting with a 6-2 record featuring a victory over Tennessee. As a result, the Jayhawks are up to No. 14 in Thursday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
Tennessee is down to No. 15.
And if you're looking for an explanation for the movement in the middle of the Top 25 And 1, here it is: I jumped North Carolina from No. 19 to No. 13, even though the Tar Heels didn't play Wednesday, and that's because UNC is 6-0 with a win over the previously mentioned Kansas team that just beat Tennessee. So I wanted to keep UNC ahead of the Kansas team it beat, but also get Kansas ahead of the Tennessee team it just beat, while also keeping Tennessee ahead of the Houston team it defeated a day earlier, and the best way to do all of that was to just jump North Carolina ahead of all of them, which caused Houston, Michigan State, Texas Tech and Arkansas to be pushed down one spot each, no fault of their own.
As you'll see if you keep scrolling, Arizona remains No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 for the eighth consecutive day. The Wildcats are 6-0 with three wins over teams that were ranked in the top 15 of the preseason AP poll -- specifically Florida, UConn and UCLA. That's the best resume in the sport. Tommy Lloyd's team will return to the court Saturday, when they play Norfolk State inside the McKale Center.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
7
Kansas
13
St. John's
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Brayden Burries finished with 20 points and seven rebounds in Monday's 103-73 win over Denver. The Wildcats' next game is Saturday against Norfolk State. | -- | 6-0 |
| 2 |  | Oscar Cluff finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds in Friday's 86-56 win over Texas Tech. The Boilermakers' next game is Friday against Eastern Illinois. | -- | 6-0 |
| 3 |  | Yaxel Lendeborg finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday's 101-61 win over Gonzaga. The Wolverines' next game is Dec. 6 against Rutgers. | -- | 7-0 |
| 4 |  | Eric Reibe finished with 16 points and six rebounds in Sunday's 72-49 win over Bryant. The Huskies' next game is Friday against Illinois. | -- | 5-1 |
| 5 |  | Richie Saunders finished with 26 points and three rebounds in Friday's 98-70 win over Wisconsin. The Cougars' next game is Thursday against Miami. | -- | 4-1 |
| 6 |  | Alex Condon finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds in Friday's 80-45 win over Merrimack. The Gators' next game is Thursday against TCU. | -- | 4-1 |
| 7 |  | Cameron Boozer finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds in Sunday's 93-56 win over Howard. The Blue Devils' next game is Thursday against Arkansas. | -- | 7-0 |
| 8 |  | Ryan Conwell finished with 32 points and nine rebounds in Wednesday's 104-47 win over NJIT. The Cardinals' next game is Wednesday at Arkansas. | -- | 7-0 |
| 9 |  | Milan Momcilovic finished with 24 points and five rebounds in Wednesday's 95-64 win over Syracuse. The Cyclones' next game is Wednesday against Alcorn State. | -- | 7-0 |
| 10 |  | Graham Ike missed all nine of the shots he attempted in Wednesday's 101-61 loss to Michigan. The Zags' next game is Dec. 5 against Kentucky. | -- | 7-1 |
| 11 |  | Labaron Philon finished with 20 points and six assists in Wednesday's 105-72 win over Maryland. The Crimson Tide's next game is Wednesday against Clemson. | -- | 5-2 |
| 12 |  | Andrej Stojakovic finished with 24 points and six rebounds in Monday's 87-73 win over UT Rio Grande Valley. The Illini's next game is Friday against UConn. | 1 | 6-1 |
| 13 |  | Henri Veesaar finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds in Tuesday's 85-70 win over St. Bonaventure. The Tar Heels' next game is Thursday against Michigan State. | 6 | 6-0 |
| 14 |  | Elmarko Jackson finished with 17 points and four rebounds in Wednesday's 81-76 win over Tennessee. The Jayhawks' next game is Tuesday against UConn. | 7 | 6-2 |
| 15 |  | Ja'Kobi Gillespie missed 14 of the 19 shots he attempted in Wednesday's 81-76 loss to Kansas. The Vols' next game is Tuesday at Syracuse. | 1 | 7-1 |
| 16 |  | Emanuel Sharp finished with 17 points and five rebounds in Wednesday's 66-56 win over Notre Dame. The Cougars' next game is Dec. 6 against Florida State. | 1 | 7-1 |
| 17 |  | Jaxon Kohler finished with 16 points and eight rebounds in Tuesday's 89-56 win over East Carolina. The Spartans' next game is Thursday against North Carolina. | 1 | 6-0 |
| 18 |  | Christian Anderson finished with 23 points and five assists in Wednesday's 82-50 win over New Orleans. The Red Raiders' next game is Sunday against Wyoming. | 1 | 5-2 |
| 19 |  | DJ Wagner finished with 17 points and seven assists in Friday's 115-61 win over Jackson State. The Razorbacks' next game is Thursday against Duke. | 1 | 5-1 |
| 20 |  | Malachi Moreno finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday's 104-54 win over Tennessee Tech. The Wildcats' next game is Tuesday against North Carolina. | -- | 5-2 |
| 21 |  | Rienk Mast finished with 31 points and five rebounds in Tuesday's 80-73 win over Winthrop. The Cornhuskers' next game is Saturday against USC Upstate. | 1 | 7-0 |
| 22 |  | Reed Bailey finished with 21 points and four rebounds in Tuesday's 86-69 win over Kansas State. The Hoosiers' next game is Saturday against Bethune Cookman. | 1 | 6-0 |
| 23 |  | Isaia Howard finished with 19 points and six rebounds in Wednesday's 59-46 win over Grand Canyon. The Hawkeyes' next game is Tuesday at Michigan State. | 1 | 7-0 |
| 24 |  | Tahaad Pettiford finished with 27 points and three steals in Wednesday's 85-74 win over St. John's. The Tigers' next game is Wednesday against NC State. | NR | 6-2 |
| 25 |  | Oziyah Sellers missed six of the seven shots he attempted in Wednesday's 85-74 loss to Auburn. The Red Storm's next game is Dec. 6 against Ole Miss. | 13 | 4-3 |
| 26 |  | Chad Baker-Mazara finished with 23 points and four assists in Wednesday's 88-75 win over Arizona State. The Trojans' next game is Tuesday against Oregon. Skyy Clark was 3 of 11 from the field on Friday's 69-65 loss to Arizona. The Bruins' next game is Tuesday against Sacramento State. | -- | 7-0 |
