Last year, I attempted to make my late grandmother’s banana bread without her recipe. For two months, I tweaked the recipe, switching from whole milk to buttermilk to sour milk. I tried whipping the bananas and then mashing the bananas. I experimented with a glass pan, then a metal pan and then a ceramic dish.
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But I never got the recipe right. And don’t get me wrong: The bread was always tasty, but it was never quite the way I remember my grandma making it. And that’s basically how putting together this week’s top 25 went for me. I knew my main ingredient (South Carolina), but past that, it was a lot of mixing and matching. I feel good about where I landed, but I don’t feel great. There are a lot of strong arguments out there for alternative viewpoints of the top 10 specifically (I know, because I made them over and over again). But, as Grandma used to say, eat less, chew more. Meaning, enjoy the process over the product. I’m sure you’ll agree with all of my decisions.
I’ll see you in the comments.
| Rank | Team | Previous ranking |
|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | |
2 | 4 | |
3 | 3 | |
4 | 9 | |
5 | 5 | |
6 | 6 | |
7 | 14 | |
8 | 7 | |
9 | 2 | |
10 | 10 | |
11 | 11 | |
12 | 15 | |
13 | 12 | |
14 | 13 | |
15 | 8 | |
16 | 16 | |
17 | 19 | |
18 | 20 | |
19 | 24 | |
20 | NR | |
21 | NR | |
22 | 21 | |
23 | NR | |
24 | 17 | |
25 | NR |
Dropped out: Florida State (18), UCLA (22), Georgia Tech (23), Virginia Tech (25)
Almost famous: Gonzaga
Notes on the votes
• South Carolina has shown itself to be the best team in the country at this point. The Gamecocks have two wins over teams currently in my top three (Connecticut and NC State), and their depth can’t be matched among other teams in the top 10. I just don’t see another team right now that has consistently put a product on the floor that could stay with South Carolina for four quarters. When the Gamecocks offense is patient and finds Aliyah Boston in the paint, there’s not a player who can stop her. Prove me wrong.
• NC State leapfrogged UConn because of the Wolfpack’s better result against South Carolina earlier this season and because Jada Boyd, the ACC’s reigning co-sixth player of the year who tore a tendon in her hand in the offseason, returned last week. As I evaluated so many teams with depleted rosters and confounding rotations, Wes Moore seems to be one of the few coaches whose roster got stronger.
• UConn didn’t play this week, but South Florida’s continued success only makes the Huskies’ seven-point win earlier this season look even better. Cheer for your team; cheer for the teams your team has beaten.
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• I considered putting Arizona anywhere from No. 4 to No. 7. Ultimately, there’s a trait the Wildcats have that not every top 10 team has, which I give weight to despite my hesitations about them: Arizona has gutted out wins. I don’t love a two-point win over Vanderbilt or being tied late against DePaul, but the Wildcats have closed out in the fourth quarter when they needed to (with the exception of Louisville, in which case they were able to win in overtime — but my point stands). They move ahead of the Hoosiers and Cardinal because Indiana had a chance against Stanford late as did Baylor against Maryland, and they didn’t finish the job. Arizona has, and that matters in a team.
• Baylor and Indiana basically have a similar issue — depth — but in different ways. Regardless, both teams are one injury away from a very dire situation. Four of the Hoosiers’ starting five are averaging at least 34 minutes per game. While their starters have balanced scoring, nobody off the bench averages more than 3.3 points. I wonder how the starters’ legs are going to hold up through a Big Ten season in which I’d imagine we’ll see many close games because of the conference’s depth. None of Baylor’s starters averages more than 32 minutes per game, but unlike Indiana, the Bears’ scoring depth is what gives me pause. Sixty-two percent of Baylor’s points and 54 percent of the team’s shot attempts come from three players — NaLyssa Smith, Queen Egbo and Jordan Lewis.
• When Maryland is fully healthy, with all the weapons it can put on the floor, the Terrapins are one of the best teams in the country. Even down a player or two, they’re still very, very good. But their disjointedness in the Bahamas, specifically the first half against NC State and their transition defense against Stanford, was a red flag. Coach Brenda Frese said she made this tough schedule specifically for the team to learn about itself early in the season. This past week gave them plenty of tape. I dropped the Terrapins because of that, but I also know that if/when Katie Benzan, Diamond Miller and Faith Masonius return and help Maryland get into the flow of games together, the Terrapins will be very dangerous.
• Not every team played top competition last week, so in those circumstances, there wasn’t a chance to learn a ton about them. But when a very good team plays an overmatched team, the best thing it can do is win by a lot, and Louisville, Texas, Kentucky and Ohio State did that. Also, it was good to see Texas guard Audrey Warren back on the floor against Cal State Northridge after she departed the Longhorns’ game against Tennessee when she hit the floor hard and needed to be helped to the locker room.
• Outside of South Carolina, South Florida might have the fullest résumé of any team in the country at this point in the season. Beyond the fact that the Bulls have wins over Stanford and Oregon as well as quality losses to UConn and Tennessee, you have to look at how they finished their game against Stanford. USF scored five points in the final 15 seconds with Sydni Harvey hitting one of the most clutch shots of the season so far. I enjoyed this perspective from USF’s bench: https://twitter.com/USFWBB/status/1464336776135389189?s=20
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How a team performs when it’s down late says a lot, and so I had no issues moving the Bulls into the top 10. The potential downfall now is that the Bulls only have two more opportunities (West Virginia and Ole Miss in the West Palm Invitational on Dec. 20 and 21, respectively) for Power 6 wins this season, but none will be of the caliber of what they’ve already seen.
• BYU had a very good week with wins over ranked Florida State and West Virginia. The Cougars have been in my top 25 since my preseason poll, and we should see them pop into the overall top 25. In a way, they’re similar to USF — they did a good job of performing against the biggest power conference opponents on their schedule and now, before entering conference play, the Cougars will get three more power conference opponents that don’t quite meet that top-25 threshold (Utah, Oklahoma, Washington State). But you’ve got to play the schedule you’ve got, and BYU took advantage of picking up top-25 wins when it could.
• Iowa was home this week but dropped in my ballot because its strength of schedule has become less impressive. Its opponents have gone a combined 7-13 this season. I’m excited for the Hawkeyes’ games against Duke and Michigan State this week and especially looking forward to that Dec. 8 matchup with Iowa State. We’ll finally have a chance to see them face good competition … but don’t get used to it. Their Big Ten schedule is heavily backloaded, so after Iowa State, there’s a decent chance Iowa doesn’t face a ranked opponent until the end of January.
• Notre Dame picked up a quality loss to Georgia, which made its way into my top 25 this week, and then the Irish took down Oregon State (which fell in this week’s rankings after losing to Notre Dame and Michigan). One big reason why: Olivia Miles. The freshman-not-freshman (since she played part of last season when she could’ve been a senior in high school) currently ranks fifth nationally with 6.9 assists per game, but that number leads all Power 6 players.
Big game that could shake up the rankings
NC State at Indiana, 7 p.m. (ET) Wednesday, ESPN 2
In a rematch of last year’s Sweet 16, which Indiana won 73-70, NC State will travel to Bloomington. In the NCAA Tournament, the Hoosiers’ defense pestered the Wolfpack, forcing 17 turnovers and totaling 10 steals while all five starters finished in double figures. Wes Moore and Co. will have a good idea of the Hoosiers’ personnel, but Teri Moren’s staff will need to account for two folks they didn’t see the last time around — Diamond Johnson and Kayla Jones.
Three other games that matter
Michigan at Louisville, 7 p.m. Wednesday, ESPN
Louisville should have the edge at home, but if Leigha Brown — who appeared to be on minutes restriction the last two games after missing two weeks with a leg injury — can return to action full-time, the Cardinals will be faced with a tough matchup as they look to slow Brown and Naz Hillmon. Louisville also will feel a sense of urgency, as it already missed out on the first chance this season to pick up a marquee nonconference win (against Arizona). With the Wolverines in town, the Cardinals need to get the job done. (Also, it’s a good time to be a Louisville fan — home games against Michigan, Kentucky and UConn are in the next three weeks.)
Iowa at Duke, 9 p.m. Thursday, ESPN
We still don’t know the extent of the Iowa roster that tested positive for COVID-19, but last season, after teams and players faced quarantines, there was sometimes a lag in how they got back into their flow and conditioning. How will the Hawkeyes look after two weeks off? And how will they look against their first Power 6 opponent this season? Big questions to answer for Iowa.
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Texas at Texas A&M, 4 p.m. Sunday, SEC Network
Texas holds a 62-24 all-time advantage in games against the Aggies, but this isn’t just any meeting. This will be the last time a Gary Blair-led Texas A&M team takes on Texas (unless they see one another in the postseason). Blair is 14-9 against the Longhorns, with several of those games coming when Texas coach Vic Schaefer was on the sidelines with Blair at A&M. Expect this to be the first game that has some “farewell tour” vibes surrounding Blair.
(Photo: Karl B. DeBlaker / AP)