Tennessee is currently ranked No. 3 at KenPom, No. 4 at Bart Torvik and No. 3 at Evan Miya. Auburn is No. 1 at all of those sites and looked dominant again this weekend in a blowout win over Purdue. But Tennessee will likely be the No. 1 team in the AP poll on Monday. Not here, though.
It’s dangerous to simply go off win-loss record at this time of year (see the Oklahoma section below). The Tigers have been the best team in college basketball, and their offense is far and away the best in Division I.
But enough about offense. It’s defense appreciation week here at the Top 25. Duke, Marquette, Maryland and Cincinnati have four of the best defenses in college basketball, and they get some love below.
Thanks to everyone for following along so far this season. Programming note: There will not be a Top 25 next week as I’ll be taking some time off to spend with family. Happy holidays.
Reminder: Below my Top 25, I give nuggets on an unspecified number of teams each week. So when a team appears in the table but not in the text below, that’s why. Scroll on for notes on Auburn, Duke, Marquette, UConn, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Maryland, Illinois, Cincinnati.
No. 1 Auburn
Auburn put on another offensive clinic in its 87-69 win over Purdue on Saturday, scoring 40 points at the rim and picking on Purdue’s big man in drop coverage.
The Tigers do a great job of using their flex action to empty out one side of the floor. When Purdue lock-and-trailed on the down screen, the man coming off the screen curled, which engaged the screener’s man, opening up the roller.
Auburn kept picking on Purdue with what was essentially a Spain action on the side of the floor: a side ball screen followed by a back pick, with the back screener’s man playing catch-up because of the screen that was set for him on the other side of the floor. Auburn got Purdue on this three times:
The ability to create these easy buckets consistently has this offense cruising. In eight of its 12 games, Auburn has produced the most efficient performance the opposing defense has allowed and the second-most efficient output three times. The other game was against North Carolina in Maui, when Auburn had the fourth-most efficient performance UNC’s defense has allowed this season. And on that “off” night, the Tigers still scored 85 and won by 13.
No. 3 Duke
Duke ranks No. 1 in adjusted defensive efficiency on KenPom, and its defense can totally flip a game. Georgia Tech hung with the Blue Devils for 20 minutes, trailing 43-39 less than a minute into second half. Then the Yellow Jackets didn’t score for nearly six minutes as Duke went on a 14-0 run.
During that stretch, Georgia Tech had just one turnover and missed 11 straight shots, most of which were heavily contested. It’s difficult to find any airspace against Duke’s length. Khaman Maluach continues to get better and is almost impossible to score over. Watch how in drop coverage he can quickly backpedal and stay in a stance, then keep his balance to block the shot.
Duke can also switch everything and never be at a disadvantage because of its size.
The Blue Devils should dominate the ACC, which has only one other team (Pittsburgh, at 19th) with a top-20 offense at KenPom.
No. 8 Marquette
Marquette won 72-70 at Xavier on Saturday with hustle, and Stevie Mitchell was once again the defensive star, finishing with four steals. Mitchell personifies what coach Shaka Smart’s team is all about. He is one of the best in the country at simply taking the basketball from his man or sneaking in to take it from someone else’s man, and three of his steals on Saturday were the result of his quick hands. On one of the biggest possessions of the game, with Xavier needing a basket, Mitchell nearly took the ball from Dayvion McKnight and then did take it from Jerome Hunter.
Mitchell has stolen the dribble or stripped the ball out of someone’s hands on 15 of his 31 steals this season. The Xavier game was the fourth this season in which he’s had four steals, after reaching that mark five times in each of the last two seasons. Mitchell should be the early favorite for Big East Defensive Player of the Year, an award Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner has won for three consecutive years. With the Bluejays defense ranked 57th in adjusted efficiency this season, it could be time to end that streak.
No. 12 UConn
One reason for UConn’s turnaround since the Maui Invitational has been the steady point guard play of Hassan Diarra. Over the first seven games of the season (including the 0-3 showing in Maui), Diarra had 33 assists and 17 turnovers. In the six games since, Diarra has 48 assists and only nine turnovers.
The Huskies are now up to No. 2 in adjusted offensive efficiency. Their defense is still not up to the standard — 99th at KenPom — but playing Diarra a majority of the minutes at point guard has helped there, too. The Huskies’ defensive efficiency with Diarra on the floor is six points per 100 possessions better than when Aidan Mahaney is on the floor, per CBB Analytics. Mahaney, who was the starting point guard the first five games, is now just playing spot minutes. The Saint Mary’s transfer has played only 27 minutes the last four games; Diarra is averaging 36 minutes per game over that stretch.
No. 16 Mississippi State
Mississippi State is one of the best cutting teams in the country, averaging 11.5 points per game on cuts, per Synergy. The Bulldogs are smart cutters when drives draw help, looking to cut from either the baseline or the wing:
The Bulldogs also get a lot of baskets from getting the ball into the paint and then dumping it off. They always play under control, and their bigs do a great job of looking for each other.
Playmaking four Cameron Matthews, who delivered the above dime, is averaging a team-best 4.0 assists per game. The Bulldogs have really improved playing under control: After ranking 298th in turnover rate last season, they are up to 15th this year.
The Bulldogs also dominate on the offensive glass, and they’re getting nearly 10 shots more per game than their opponent. Against Memphis on Saturday, they had 17 more field goal attempts in an impressive 79-66 win on the road.
No. 17 Oklahoma
The Sooners are now 12-0 with six wins over high-majors, yet the computers don’t seem to like them. Oklahoma currently ranks 37th at KenPom, 45th at Bart Torvik and 30th at Evan Miya. I went back through the last 10 years to find some similar comps, using Torvik’s sorting tool to search for any high-majors that were undefeated on the Sunday closest to Christmas but didn’t rank in the top 25 at that site.
| Torvik rank near Xmas | AP ranking near Xmas | Final record | Final Torvik rank | NCAA Tournament | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
USC (16-17) |
54 |
22 |
26-10 |
62 |
Lost in Round of 32 |
|
Creighton (16-17) |
30 |
10 |
25-10 |
28 |
Lost in Round of 64 |
|
TCU (17-18) |
29 |
10 |
21-12 |
24 |
Lost in Round of 64 |
|
St. John’s (18-19) |
67 |
NR |
21-13 |
84 |
Lost play-in game |
|
Ole Miss (23-24) |
61 |
24 |
20-12 |
79 |
Missed |
|
Oklahoma (24-25) |
45 |
14 (last week) |
?? |
?? |
?? |
I’m higher on the Sooners than the computers, but if history is any indication, the computers might be onto something.
No. 19 Maryland
In two wins last week, Maryland’s opponents shot just five free throws. The Terps do an excellent job of vertical contests at the rim.
Syracuse made just 13 of its 23 shots at the rim. Maryland is now up to seventh in adjusted defense at KenPom, and what it’s best at is keeping opponents off the free throw line and limiting them to just one shot; the Terps rank ninth in defensive rebounding rate. My fellow AP voters need to catch up. This team should be ranked.
No. 20 Illinois
Illini freshman Kasparas Jakucionis has six straight games with 20 points or more, and he hit the game-winner on Sunday against Missouri. Jakucionis is a little turnover-prone, but there are few players in the country as good at shooting off the bounce. He has an effective field goal percentage of 61.5 percent on shots off the dribble, per Synergy, and he scored 11 of his 21 points on those shots against the Tigers. Kylan Boswell is a good complement to Jakucionis. The Arizona transfer is one of the best perimeter defenders in the country, and he makes it so that Jakucionis doesn’t always have to initiate offense. Do not be surprised if the Illini are one of the teams that improve as much as anyone between now and March. This is a young group with a high ceiling, and Jakucionis, who will likely be a one-and-done lottery pick, is a big reason.
No. 25 Cincinnati
Cincinnati is looking like a replica of Iowa State or Houston from last year’s Big 12. The Bearcats rank fifth in adjusted defense and became the first team to hold Dayton under one point per possession this season in Friday’s 66-59 win. The Flyers scored only four points in the first 11 minutes. It looked exhausting to try scoring on this defense.
The Bearcats have length, are great on-ball defenders and can fly around. Villanova, Cincy’s only loss so far, is the only team to top one point per possession against this defense. The offense has struggled against better opponents, but that defense should be good enough to get Cincy to the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Wes Miller.
Dropped out: Michigan, Dayton.
Keeping an eye on: Drake, San Diego State, West Virginia, Missouri, Arkansas, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Baylor, Texas Tech, Wisconsin.
(Photo: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)
