Each Monday through the Final Four, our own Robbie Buckets -- known in some circles as Rob Snyder, associate producer at CSN -- will take a look at the world of college basketball: Games to watch each week, players who might be on the Celtics' radar come draft time, what's going on locally . . . and, of course, power rankings (which will eventually morph into bracketology). Enjoy!
After a one-week hiatus, Villanova is back in the No. 1 spot as Butler suffered its first loss of the season. This week, I'll be doing something a little different with the rankings. For each team, I'll show you their signature wins so you can get a feel for what they've done so far this season. By the way, we had another bonkers week of basketball, and conference play could not be better. I was going to spend a lot of time on Duke here in this paragraph, but I'll spare you the rant. You can follow me on Twitter for that.
POWER RANKINGS
1. Villanova (17-1) - Best wins: at Purdue, vs. Notre Dame (neutral floor), at Creighton, vs. Xavier
2. Kansas (16-1) - Best wins: vs. Duke (neutral floor), at TCU, vs. Kansas State
3. Gonzaga (17-0) - Best wins: vs. Florida, vs. Iowa State, vs. Arizona (all neutral floors), vs. St. Mary's
4. UCLA (18-1) - Best wins: at Kentucky, at Utah, vs. Texas A&M
5. Kentucky (15-2) - Best wins: vs. Michigan State, vs. UNC (both neutral floors)
6. Baylor (16-1) - Best wins: vs. Oregon, vs. Michigan State, vs. Louisville, vs. Xavier (all neutral floors), at Kansas State
7. Creighton (17-1) - Best wins: vs. Wisconsin (neutral floor), vs. Butler
8. West Virginia (15-2) - Best wins: at Virginia, vs. Baylor
9. Oregon (16-2) - Best wins: vs. UCLA, vs. USC
10. North Carolina (16-3) - Best wins: vs. Wisconsin (neutral floor), vs. Florida St.
11. Florida State (16-2) - Best wins: vs. Florida, at Virginia, vs. Duke
12. Notre Dame (16-2) - Best wins: vs. Louisville, at Virginia Tech
13. Louisville (15-3) - Best wins: vs. Purdue, vs. Kentucky, vs. Duke
14. Duke (14-4) - Best wins: vs. Florida, vs. Rhode Island (both neutral floors)
15. Butler (15-3) - Best wins: vs. Arizona (neutral floor), vs. Cincinnati, vs. Villanova
LOCAL FLAVOR
Rhode Island - Things just aren't going right for the Rams. They barely beat UMass and also suffered a bad home loss to LaSalle this week. They just aren't in the spot we thought they would be. The goal now must be to get things right in time for the their conference tournament. It will most likely be their only way into the dance.
Providence - The Friars got a nice little home win over Seton Hall, but it doesn't mean much after they suffered a horrid loss to DePaul. They still have Villanova, Creighton and Xavier at home this season, and they better win at least two of three if they want a shot at an at-large come March.
WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK
- Monday, January 16: Creighton at Xavier
- Wednesday, January 18: Notre Dame at Florida State
- Saturday, January 21: Louisville at Florida State; Arizona at UCLA
POTENTIAL FUTURE CELTICS TO WATCH
Lonzo Ball - The 6-foot-6 freshman point guard still has a great shot at going No. 1 overall. He's averaging 14.6 points, 8.0 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting a cool 53 percent from the field and 43 percent from 3-point range. He can literally do it all.
Edmond Sumner - A nice late-first-round/early-second-round product. The Xavier sophomore is a lean 6-foot-6 point guard who plays much taller and longer than that. His athleticism is off the charts and his potential is through the roof. He still plays out of control at times and his jump shot needs work, but he's young and improving.
Follow me on Twitter @RobbieBuckets for college hoops musings and off-the-cuff sports takes.