College Basketball Rankings January 27: Purdue Still Being Considered

When Purdue lost by double digits at home to Illinois on Tuesday the five year streak of receiving votes in every AP Poll was in severe jeopardy. Then Purdue blew out Wisconsin and looked completely different three days later. That was enough to keep getting votes for at least another week, as the overall computer numbers are very strong for an 11-9 team.

Here is this week’s AP Poll:

1. Baylor 1,578
2. Gonzaga 1,552
3. Kansas 1,434
4. San Diego State 1,408
5. Florida State 1,318
6. Louisville 1,277
7. Dayton 1,163
8. Villanova 1,110
9. Duke 1,084
10. Seton Hall 1,055
11. Oregon 926
12. West Virginia 874
13. Kentucky 839
14. Michigan State 751
15. Maryland 650
16. Butler 631
17. Auburn 619
18. Iowa 545
19. Illinois 483
20. Colorado 314
21. Houston 296
22. LSU 260
23. Wichita State 114
24. Penn State 114
25. Rutgers 102

Others receiving votes:

Creighton 59, Arizona 55, Texas Tech 33, Ohio State 16, Indiana 15, East Tennessee State 14, Northern Iowa 13, Memphis 11, USC 9, Rhode Island 6, Purdue 6, Florida 4, Arkansas 3, Saint Mary’s 3, Tulsa 3, SMU 3, Wisconsin 1, Akron 1, Harvard 1

Can Purdue still reach the top 25? It is quite amazing we’re still getting votes even with nine losses, but there are plenty of opportunities still out there. That includes this week with a chance to win at top 25 Rutgers. Penn State still comes to Mackey Arena, while there are two games yet against #18 Iowa, two against Indiana, and one each at Ohio State and Wisconsin.

All Purdue needs (and what it has needed all year) is some consistency and a bit of a run. That would move us from the 10-11 seed range into the 5-6 range because of our schedule strength. We’ve only had a single three-game winning streak though, so even getting to four straight wins would do wonders.