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College Basketball Rankings January 22: Purdue Still In Top 3

A pair of blowouts in Big Ten play keeps Purdue among the elite.

NCAA Basketball: Purdue at Iowa Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

When you reach no. 3 in the polls there is obviously not a lot of room left to rise. Sure, teams can catch you from behind, but Purdue was 40 points ahead of No. 4 Oklahoma in the AP poll (and the Sooners lost twice anyway) and 14 points ahead of Wichita State in the coaches poll (with the Shockers losing twice).

Purdue trailed Virginia by 112 points in the AP Poll for No. 2 and by 79 points in the coaches poll. That margin closed just a little this week as Purdue stayed at No. 3.

  1. Villanova (63) 1,623
  2. Virginia (1) 1,537
  3. Purdue (1) 1,499
  4. Duke 1,439
  5. Kansas 1,338
  6. Michigan State 1,243
  7. West Virginia 1,217
  8. Xavier 1,180
  9. Cincinnati 1,087
  10. North Carolina 1,014
  11. Arizona 974
  12. Oklahoma 917
  13. Ohio State 787
  14. Texas Tech 763
  15. Gonzaga 610
  16. St. Mary’s 571
  17. Wichita State 547
  18. Clemson 474
  19. Auburn 470
  20. Florida 366
  21. Arizona State 353
  22. Tennessee 260
  23. Nevada 190
  24. Rhode Island 189
  25. Michigan 123

Since Kendall Stephens is averaging 12.8 points per game for Nevada I am just going to go ahead and add their 190 points to Purdue and move us to No. 2.

All kidding aside, Villanova hosts a good Providence team this week before going to Marquette, while Virginia hosts Clemson and goes to Duke. If Purdue can stay hot this week against a ranked Michigan team and against a bitter rival on its home floor, there could be a chance to move up.

In the coaches poll Purdue stays at No. 3:

  1. Villanova (31) 798
  2. Virginia 759
  3. Purdue (1) 740
  4. Duke 707
  5. Kansas 639
  6. Michigan State 589
  7. West Virginia 571
  8. Xavier 566
  9. Cincinnati 566
  10. North Carolina 517
  11. Oklahoma 407
  12. Arizona 403
  13. Ohio State 385
  14. Texas Tech 346
  15. Gonzaga 288
  16. Wichita State 280
  17. Clemson 275
  18. St. mary’s 217
  19. Auburn 190
  20. Arizona State 187
  21. Tennessee 158
  22. Florida 136
  23. Rhode Island 107
  24. Miami (FL) 98
  25. Michigan 97