Overrated and Underrated College Basketball Teams - Reviewing the AP Poll For Week 4

November 28, 2023

Ryan's list of overrated and underrated CBB power rankings from AP, for 2023 NCAA college basketball teams for Week 4. Who are the most overvalued and undervalued college basketball teams after Week 3?

It's been three weeks since the 2023-24 college basketball season tipped off, which means feast week has come and gone. Multiple exhilarating tournaments occurred between some powerful teams that led to a little shake-up in the new top-25 for Week 4.

There is a new No. 1, while four of the top five teams all experienced a single bump up. Five new squads gained membership to this week's poll and there was some considerable movement among the others that managed to stay in the national ranks. Here we'll pick out a few of them who are overvalued and undervalued relative to their ranking. 

It's time for the next article of a year-long series: Overrated and Underrated College Basketball Teams after the release of the weekly Associated Press Poll. All rankings listed are based on the Week 4 AP Poll.  

Overrated College Basketball Teams For Week 4

Gonzaga Bulldogs: No. 11 (No movement)

The Zags didn't have a bad week per se, escaping a loaded Maui Invitational with a 2-1 record. The one loss came to eventual Maui champion Purdue by double digits, but they were able to blow out Syracuse and eek by a good UCLA team.

There's no doubt Mark Few has another very good team - Gonzaga will probably win the WCC yet again even though they weren't picked to finish first this year. There are some major concerns with them though, namely their severe lack of guard depth behind Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman.

That duo, while extremely talented, combined to shoot 10-31 in the Purdue loss and committed six turnovers to eight assists. They also played 55 out of a possible 60 minutes. While that can work against most WCC teams, it's much more concerning when playing against top competition and in the NCAA tournament.

Of course, the AP poll isn't meant to judge teams based on how well they project in March, but with Gonzaga getting handled by Purdue and barely squeaking by a No. 33 (KenPom) ranked UCLA team, it should have dropped them at least a spot or two.

BYU Cougars: Unranked -> No. 19

The word that comes to mind when watching this BYU team is balance. They have seven guys averaging between nine and 15 points per game, three players shooting above 45% from long range, and a top-20 defense in the country. This Cougars team is not like the teams of old who had one goal and that was to score as many points as possible.

The reason why I have the Cougars here is because they have not proved enough to warrant a six-spot bump in the AP poll, which feels larger when you start from an unranked position. While they might be as good as the metrics say (KenPom - No. 10, EvanMiya - No. 9), they have only beaten one ranked team thus far (No. 17 San Diego State). Two other power-five teams also fell victim to the Cougs, but they are by no means juggernauts - NC State (No. 55) and Arizona State (No. 100).

This team doesn't face another real test until conference play starts, so they will likely only continue to rise as others with tougher schedules drop a few here and there. They will be tested nearly every night with their jump to the B12, so we may not get to see how good BYU really is until January.

Underrated College Basketball Teams For Week 4

Villanova Wildcats: Unranked -> No. 18

The loss to Penn was bad. Real bad. It caused some of the Wildcat faithful to call for head coach Kyle Neptune's head, and it gave us this beautiful tweet of an alumnus flaunting his degrees and money, claiming that he won't watch any more Villanova basketball as long as Kyle Neptune is the head coach. I bet that guy has since changed his mind.

While it may seem hypocritical to include BYU in the overrated column when going from unranked to No. 19 when Nova virtually followed the same path, the Cougars simply did not have the week that Villanova did.

Neptune and the 'Cats were able to bounce back in a major way during feast week, ripping off four straight Ws against top-60 KenPom power-five teams. They easily handled the competition in three of the four, winning by an average of 16 points compared to an average spread of 4.5.

The Wildcats have one of the most talented rosters in the country - which is why they were picked so highly preseason - but stumbled out of the gate. Now, you'd be hard-pressed to find a hotter team anywhere. Creighton, Marquette, and UConn may have a challenger in the Big East.

UConn Huskies: No. 5 -> No. 4

It feels like splitting hairs including a top-five teams in this category, but with how the Huskies are playing right now it's hard to keep them out. 24 straight non-conference victories for UConn, beating North Carolina's all-time record from 2008-2009. Dan Hurley and Co. are playing lights out, having easily beaten both Indiana and Texas at Madison Square Garden to claim the Empire Classic title.

The Longhorns were without two starters and actually did hang around for much of that game, but the Huskies are just playing as a complete unit right now, even without their five-star freshman point guard Stephon Castle in the lineup and elite big man Donovan Clingan not at 100%.

A massive test awaits on Friday when UConn travels to No. 5 Kansas in what could be the game of the year. If they are able to leave Lawrence with a victory they will assuredly get many more first-place votes than the two that they have right now.

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