2024 College basketball rankings: Wild week in college hoops leads UConn, North Carolina to top spots

College Basketball

Updated Jan. 14, 2024 4:51 p.m. ET

College Basketball Broadcaster and Reporter

Last week, I wrote that we are in for one wild ride to March. That was my reaction to a variety of surprising results from across the country in college basketball that led to four new teams entering our weekly top 25. That being said, our top five remained unaffected as none of those teams lost. They weren’t safe for long.

College basketball reminded us why March Madness is the most insane postseason in sports. We got a taste of it on Tuesday and Wednesday, with four of the top five teams in the country losing in a 48-hour span, all to unranked teams.

According to FOX Sports Research, it marked the first time that four of the top five teams in the AP poll lost to unranked teams in just a two-day window.

The big theme to these losses? They’re coming on the road. With 16 ranked teams losing this week (the majority of those defeats coming away from their homecourts) and a collective 9-10 record for top-10 teams from Monday to Saturday, it just showed how much of a different animal conference play is, and how much parity there is in this sport right now.

The transfer portal and NIL have created a nonstop offseason and chaos in some regard, but it’s also led to the gap closing between the great and the good, and even the good to the average teams across the nation.

The one team in that top five that did not lose this week: the reigning national champion UConn Huskies, who have won five in a row and are 15-2 on the season after a win over Georgetown on Sunday. No Donovan Clingan? For the most part, it’s been no problem. And of course, Connecticut needs its 7-foot-2 monster back to hit its ceiling and pursue a repeat national title. That said, the fact they’ve navigated this stretch with a 4-0 record without him due to a tendon injury in his right foot, it says a lot about sixth-year head coach Dan Hurley and the championship pedigree that’s been reestablished in Storrs.

With their only losses coming at Kansas and at Seton Hall, which is the surprise team in the Big East and tied with the Huskies at 5-1 in conference play, this UConn team has had zero championship hangover. They’ve handled their obstacles well and have a very real chance of being the first repeat champion in college basketball since Billy Donovan led the Florida Gators to the feat in 2006 and 2007.

Here are three other storylines related to my rankings:

1. Credit to Hubert Davis. North Carolina has put up a big-time bounceback season thus far, and the Tar Heels rise to No. 2 in my rankings

UNC has won six straight games, and they’ve done it with terrific defense. After giving up 87 points to UConn and Kentucky in back-to-back games, the Tar Heels have only allowed 60.3 points per contest over the last six, all of which have been wins. There’s a pride factor between Armando Bacot and RJ Davis in avenging for last season’s nightmare, and we’re seeing it play out. Davis is performing like an All-American, averaging 20.4 points and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 41 percent from 3-point territory. While many questioned and doubted the roster construction of the offseason, they’ve been silenced and proven wrong. Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan have fit in perfectly, giving North Carolina four scorers in double-figures, while freshman Elliot Cadeau has been a quality distributor. This team has the pieces to reach the Final Four for a second time in three years.

2. Wisconsin cracks top 10

Purdue is the given, and the Boilermakers are still in my top-three despite the road loss to Nebraska. Illinois is still hanging in the top 20, but a home loss to Maryland is a cause for concern.

But the revelation in the Big Ten? Wisconsin! Greg Gard’s Badgers are 5-0 in Big Ten play. We thought this would be a top-25-caliber team potentially. Why? Because they welcomed back nine of their top 10 scorers from last season, are hungry off of missing the NCAA Tournament and welcomed in a high-end transfer in AJ Storr. This is not the same old Wisconsin. The Badgers are sixth in KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency.

3. My team of the week: TCU

The Horned Frogs had what looked like a death march in the toughest conference in America, the Big 12. Think about this three-game stretch: at No. 3 Kansas, home to No. 9 Oklahoma and home to No. 2 Houston. After an absolute heartbreaker of a loss to the Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse last Saturday in an 83-81 affair, the question was how this TCU team would respond.

They did it by handing a Sooners team that entered the game with just one loss on the year its second defeat, and then they proceeded to knock off Houston, 68-67.

What do I like about Jamie Dixon’s team most? Experience wins in college basketball, and they are the fourth-most experienced team according to KenPom at 3.27 years.

Fifth-year senior wing Emanuel Miller continued the best season of his college career this week, combining for 40 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in two victories, including the game-winning bucket against the Cougars.

The complete Top 25:

1. UConn (15-2)

2. North Carolina (13-3)

3. Purdue (15-2)

4. Kansas (14-2)

5. Auburn (14-2)

6. Kentucky (12-3)

7. Tennessee (12-4)

8. Houston (14-2)

9. Duke (13-3)

10. Wisconsin (13-3)

11. Memphis (15-2)

12. Arizona (12-4)

13. Baylor (14-2)

14. Utah State (14-1)

15. Oklahoma (13-3)

16. Marquette (11-5)

17. Illinois (12-4)

18. Creighton (13-4)

19. Dayton (13-2)

20. Mississippi (15-1)

21. Iowa State (13-3)

22. Seton Hall (12-5)

23. BYU (13-3)

24. TCU (13-3)

25. Grand Canyon (16-1)

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.

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