It’s been a fun first eight weeks of the season.
It’s flown by, hasn’t it?
I don’t want to suggest things have gone exactly as expected — because they haven’t. But 17 of the teams that were in the CBS Sports Preseason Top 25 And 1 college basketball rankings remain in Monday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, including each of the preseason’s top 12 teams.
My highest-ranked team in the preseason that is no longer ranked is Arkansas. The team I had unranked in the preseason that is highest ranked now is Kentucky.
That’s interesting for obvious reasons.
If you follow the sport closely, you likely know there are only four undefeated teams remaining — three of which originate from the SEC. The best of the bunch, at least in my opinion, is Tennessee, which remains No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 for the 26th consecutive day. The Vols are 12-0 with 11 double-digit victories and wins over two schools also in the Top 25 And 1 — specifically a 66-64 victory at No. 17 Illinois and a 77-62 neutral-court win over No. 25 Baylor.
Next up for the Vols is Tuesday’s game against Norfolk State that should move them to 13-0 and, either way, will complete the non-league portion of their schedule. After that, it’s the SEC opener against John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks, a game KenPom.com currently projects Tennessee to win by 13 points before traveling to Florida for a top-10 showdown.
