Steve Hewitt’s college hoops Top 25: Providence continues to roll, knocking on Top 10 ranking

Editor’s note: Herald sports reporter Steve Hewitt is a voter in the Associated Press college basketball Top 25 poll. Every week through the end of the season, he’ll write a column providing some analysis and thoughts from his poll.

It may have taken some help elsewhere, but Providence finally seems to be getting the credit it deserves.

The Friars didn’t necessarily “wow” the country this week with road wins over Big East bottom feeders St. John’s and Georgetown. But again, that’s what good teams do: Take care of the games you should win. And with losses by teams ahead of them, including UCLA (which lost twice), PC rightfully moved up to No. 11 in both my and the Associated Press’ Top 25 poll this week, its highest ranking of the season.

The 20-2 Friars, who are off to their best start since 1972-73 and in first place in the Big East by two games in the loss column, somehow are still not getting love in the metrics. They’re 26th in the NET and 41st in KenPom. But their resume is still among the best in the country. As of Monday, they’re one of six teams in the nation with at least 10 combined Quad 1 and 2 wins. The other five are Auburn, Kansas, Baylor, Wisconsin and Purdue, all teams ranked in the Top 14 of this week’s poll.

Some other thoughts on my poll this week:

Auburn is barely hanging on to its No. 1 ranking after escaping a bad Georgia team by two on Saturday, and the Tigers have work to do if they want to retain their top spot for a fourth week next Monday, as they travel to Arkansas on Tuesday. The Razorbacks re-entered my poll at No. 24 this week as one of the hottest teams in the country with eight wins in a row.

A month ago, Illinois wasn’t even ranked. But the Illini, who were No. 11 in the preseason poll, is finally hitting its stride with wins in 10 of their last 12. They’re in first place in a loaded Big Ten, making Tuesday’s meeting at No. 3 Purdue – who they lost to in double OT three weeks ago – appointment viewing.

UConn barely stayed in the poll this week, at No. 25 in mine and No. 24 in the AP, after the Huskies lost back-to-back games to Creighton and Villanova. They can thank LSU, Iowa State and Xavier for all suffering bad losses to keep a pathway in. But they’ll have to earn their way to stay, with games against Marquette and Xavier this week.

Welcome to Murray State, which entered my poll at No. 22 and earned its first AP Top 25 ranking since 2015. The Racers own a 22-2 record and pass the metrics test.

Link to Associated Press Top 25 for Feb. 7, 2022

Steve Hewitt’s Top 25 ballot, Feb. 7, 2022

1. Auburn
2. Gonzaga
3. Purdue
4. Kentucky
5. Kansas
6. Arizona
7. Houston
8. Duke
9. Texas Tech
10. Baylor
11. Providence
12. Illinois
13. Wisconsin
14. UCLA
15. Ohio State
16. Marquette
17. Villanova
18. Tennessee
19. Texas
20. Saint Mary’s
21. Michigan State
22. Murray State
23. Wyoming
24. Arkansas
25. UConn

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