NCAA: Arizona still number one in Top 25

NCAA – In this week’s AP Top 25  rankings, Arizona still keeps it’s leader status after a very close victory over Michigan 72-70, upping their pristine record to 11-0. Arizona is the consensus top team heading into holiday break with the expectation that they could possibly hit 15-0 before heading to UCLA at January 9th.

Syracuse is 10-0 as the Orange continue to surprise and impress experts with their wins at home and on the road. They took down St. John’s 68-63, feeling at home in Madison Square Garden. They’re 10-0 and are riding high on the current momentum.

Ohio State rounds out the top three with undefeated 10-game win streak under their belt. The Buckeyes are a threat to watch out for as their anticipated December 21st game versus Notre Dame will be a battle.

Wisconsin, at 12-o are playing some inspired basketball this season and are looking very formidable. They’ve down #11 Florida in November and will get tested by #25 Iowa on January 5 to usher in 2014 with a bang.

Wisconsin is trailed by Michigan State, Louisville and Oklahoma State with 8-1, 9-1 and 9-1 records respectively and are the teams ranked fifth to seventh.

Villanova is #8 with a 10-0 record and are making waves, mainly in the paint as they are the 14th ranked team as far as rebounds per game go at 42.5. They’ve also defeated some tough competition in November to get this far, as they defeated KU and Iowa in back-to-back games hosted in neutral territory. They’re tied with Duke, which has a 7-2 record. The Blue Devils recently steamrolled passed Gardner-Webb thanks to Jabari Parker’s 21 points.

Connecticut is #10 and are 9-0 are set to face Pac-12’s Stanford (7-2) on December 18. Wichita State, Baylor and Oregon are holding steady, filling the 11 to 13 ranks respectively.

This weekend #19 Kentucky and #14 North Carolina faced each other with the Tar Heels pulling out an 82-77 victory over the preseason number one ranked team. Don’te let their 7-2 record fool you. They have defeated two other ranked teams aside from Kentucky, Louisville and Michigan State.

Memphis #15 and Florida #16 are set to square off tonight at the Jimmy V Classic, so we expect to see some upward and downward movement in the rankings after that game is over and done with.

Iowa State still has a spotless record at 8-0 and are chugging along with their buttery-smooth passing game as they lead the NCAA in points per game with 90.9 and are currently second in assists per game with 19.8. As long as they can keep putting up points on the board, they remain a nightly threat to contend with.

Kansas is 18th (7-3) despite suffering some tough losses to Villanova, Colorado and Florida.

Despite falling to 19th, Kentucky is far away from being written off just yet. They face an uphill battle with their 8-3 record, but they have the tools to make a critical turnaround when it counts.

Colorado and Gonzaga sit at #20 and #21 with identical 10-1 records.

Having defeated New Mexico in November 22, Massachusetts# 22 is hanging tough with a 9-0 sheet.

At #23 Missouri put their perfect 10-0 record on the line against the Big Ten’s Illinois (9-2) on December 21st.

San Diego State has only one loss and it’s to current top-ranked Arizona Wildcats. They are on track to fill out their sheet and go for three in a row over the remaining games in December.

Rounding out our Top 25 we have the Iowa Hawkeyes, who fell some spots in the rankings after their loss to Iowa State on December 13. They’re looking to regroup and climb up the rankings once again in the coming weeks.

*There are only 14 teams that remain undefeated out of the 351 teams in Division I, 11 of which are part of this week’s Top 25.