NCAA College Basketball Rankings Week 17: Ohio State Back At #1

Another week, another new No. 1. After Duke's fall to Virginia Tech on Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes reclaimed the top spot in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. OSU had no trouble last week, defeating Illinois and Indiana by a combined 40 points. Ohio State has Penn State this week and their regular season finale in a rematch against Wisconsin on Sunday.

Kansas claimed 14 votes (right behind OSU's 17) for the No. 2 spot in the polls. The Jayhawks went General Sherman on Oklahoma, scorching OK and OK State by a total of 174-135. With Texas's loss to Colorado on Saturday, Kansas has the edge in the Big 12 standings over the Longhorns, with Texas A&M a distant third at 9-5.

BYU jumped up to No. 3 and joins OSU and Kansas with two losses on the year. Jimmer and the Gang continue to roll through conference play and are making their case for a number one seed, as long as they can take care of business in their conference tournament.

Duke dropped to fourth, with Pitt, Purdue and Notre Dame locking up the 5th-7th spots. Texas, after their loss, dropped to eighth.

The Big Ten as a whole has three representatives in the top ten (OSU, Purdue, Wisconsin), but the rest of the conference is really struggling. All of the top three teams have four or fewer losses in conference, and the next group falls off--with Illinois, Penn State and Michigan State all at 8-8. The Buckeyes, Boilermakers and Badgers are the only three teams in the Big Ten with fewer than 11 losses. Although the parity appears to be there, come Selection Sunday, unless those middling teams can make a case soon, the Big Ten might be left with three or four bids.

Here is the rest of the Top 25: