RADIO
Mike's college basketball rankings for Week 16 of the 2025-26 season. His top college basketball teams. Where are Duke, Houston, Arizona, and Gonzaga ranked?
There are only two weeks left of the regular season. Where did the season go? I have a theory. Back in the "old days," college football ended during the first couple of days of January. College basketball took center stage for the entirety of the conference season. All was right in the world.
Now with the expanded playoff, college football takes up most of January. Not because of the games themselves, but because the incessant babbling about the teams still in the hunt for the national championship and the lead-up to the championship game left college basketball without a platform.
If you were here since the holiday tournaments and the exhibitions before, I do this for you. For those of you who are only following because football is over, welcome. I hope you find this sport as enjoyable as we do. It's okay to follow more than one sport at a time, I promise. The top 25 gets an extreme makeover this week. Carnage was everywhere, except the little village of Oxford, Ohio.
25. Miami (FL) (21-6)
Last week: 23 (⇓2)
Results: W 67-66 vs. Virginia Tech, L 83-86 at (18) Virginia
Miami's win over North Carolina is more impressive than anything Louisville has done. Louisville just has a star freshman and was ranked when the season began. That's the only difference.
24. Central Florida (19-7)
Last week: NR
Results: W 82-71 vs. TCU, W 73-71 at Utah
UCF has beaten both Kansas and Texas Tech this year. Teams ranked down here simply don't have wins like that. Yes, this team can lose to anyone. It has also beaten two really good teams that most people thought they didn't have a prayer of beating.
23. Wisconsin (19-8)
Consistent. pic.twitter.com/ZGxEHe8ibq
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) February 24, 2026
Last week: 24 (⇑1)
Results: L 69-86 at Ohio State, W 84-71 vs. Iowa
Wisconsin has beaten the Big Ten's elite. They have wins over Michigan, Illinois, and Michigan State. Two of those were on the road. St. Louis, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Miami, and Villanova all lost, and none of them has even one win of that caliber.
22. Miami (OH) (27-0)
Last week: 25 (⇑3)
Results: W 86-77 at Massachusetts, W 91-77 vs. Bowling Green
Yes, the schedule sucks, but this team is so much fun. Nine different players on this team have scored 20 or more points in a game this season. Only this year's Northeastern team has accomplished the same thing since 1996.
Look how many teams have lost to unranked teams this year. Winning all of your games isn't as easy as it sounds.
21. BYU (20-7)
Last week: 23 (⇑2)
Last week: 21 ⇔
Results: L 68-75 at (2) Arizona, W 79-69 vs (6) Iowa State
Splitting 1-1 against two top-6 teams isn't a bad look. BYU gets a bit of a break this week. The Cougars have lost five of the last eight games. They need a couple of easy ones.
MOOOOOO'D
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/2fhRICd1rP
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) February 22, 2026
The win over Iowa State was BYU's first against an AP top-10 team since they downed second-ranked Gonzaga in February of 2020.
20. Alabama (20-7)
Last week: NR
Results: W 117-115 vs. (15) Arkansas, W 90-83 at LSU
Alabama has two solid wins out of conference against Illinois and St. John's, but the only reason they are higher in the AP Poll is that they lost to good teams that Tennessee didn't play.
They were still blown out by Arizona and lost to Gonzaga by 10. Why should that count more than not playing them at all? Alabama has scored at least 90 points in 18 games this year. That's by far the most in Division I. Akron is second with 14.
19. Tennessee (20-7)
Last week: NR
Results: W 89-66 vs. Oklahoma, W 69-65 at (19) Vanderbilt
Tennessee has the same record as the Tide and has wins over Houston and Louisville. That Houston win is the best win for any SEC team, and Tennessee beat the Tide head-to-head. They also beat Vanderbilt. It's time for the Vols to be back in the rankings.
18. Arkansas (20-7)
Last week: 15 (⇓3)
Results: L 115-117 at Alabama, W 94-86 vs. Missouri
DARIUS ACUFF JR. IS A BUCKET 🪣
His 49 points in the loss to No. 25 Alabama are the most points by a Razorbacks freshman and the second-most EVER in an Arkansas men's basketball game 🔥 pic.twitter.com/81YRPHgC8W
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) February 19, 2026
That Arkansas-Alabama game was the best game I've watched in a while, and definitely the best game of this season. So why do I have Alabama behind Arkansas despite the same record?
Arkansas beat Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Alabama lost to both. Arkansas also beat Texas Tech and Louisville in the non-conference season. Those still count.
17. Virginia (24-3)
Last week: 18 (⇑1)
Results: W 94-68 at Georgia Tech, W 86-83 vs. (23) Miami (FL)
Virginia has still only played two AP-ranked teams. They beat Louisville and lost to North Carolina. How is that even possible in a conference that supposedly has nine NCAA Tournament teams? I had Miami ranked, so I do consider that a solid win.
16. St. John's (22-5)
Last week: 17 (⇑1)
Results: W 76-70 at Marquette, W 81-52 vs. Creighton
The Johnnies blew out the Creighton team that beat UConn at home. That's a really good look. St. John's has 13 consecutive wins. That's the longest since the team won 19 straight games in 1984-85. Chris Mullin was on that team that ended up in the Final Four.
15. Florida (21-6)
Last week: 16 (⇑1)
Results: W 76-62 vs. South Carolina, W 94-75 at Mississippi
Where's the big win? That's right...you're not going to find it. The lasting narrative is that Florida is a Final Four team. They lost to Arizona, Duke, and UConn...75% of the projected Final Four. Beating up on a mid SEC team doesn't make Florida a juggernaut.
14. North Carolina (21-6)
Last week: 14 ⇔
Results: L 58-82 at North Carolina State, W 77-64 at Syracuse
That loss to NC State isn't terrible, but it's not great either. Carolina has taken out Duke, Kansas, and Virginia this year. Florida has played better teams but lost to all of them.
Wins have to matter, so Carolina stays put. They have a better record than Florida and have beaten a far better team. Besides, the Gators had their shot at Duke and lost a close one.
13. Kansas (20-7)
Last week: 9 (⇓4)
Results: W 81-69 at Oklahoma State, L 68-84 vs. Cincinnati
We know why Texas Tech and North Carolina lost to unranked teams. They lost star players. Kansas? They beat Arizona without star freshman Darryn Peterson.
Kansas suffered its worst home loss in school history as an AP-ranked team to an unranked opponent with Peterson in the game. The AP Poll has been around for 77 years.
Kansas had a streak of 425 straight home games without a double-digit loss to an unranked team, by far the most in the AP era.
12. Texas Tech (20-7)
Last week: 11 (⇓1)
Results: L 67-72 at Arizona State, W 100-72 vs. Kansas State
Just a brutal hit for Texas Tech and all of college basketball.
JT Toppin, you will be missed 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/snNtFGLiQa
— College Basketball Headquarters (@CBBheadquarters) February 18, 2026
Tech could fall farther faster if they struggle without JT Toppin. They did well against Arizona State after Toppin went down, but looked much better against K-State with a few days of practice without Toppin. Can Tech keep it up?
11. Illinois (22-6)
Last week: 10 (⇓1)
Results: L 101-65 at USC, L 94-95 at UCLA
The Illini at least split the West Coast swing. Carolina didn't do that. Jokes aside, this was not a great look for Illinois. The Illini have lost three of the last five games. The only thing they have going for them is that everyone else is losing, too.
10. Gonzaga (27-2)
Last week: 13 (⇑3)
Results: W 80-59 at San Francisco, W 71-62 vs. Pacific
The WCC regular season wraps up this week, so we know that Gonzaga will take a dive, win or lose, in a couple of weeks. The attention span of AP voters is roughly as long as a toddler's.
Gonzaga will fall with everyone else in action the first week of March. The Bulldogs move up this week thanks to losses to unranked teams from Kansas, Illinois, and Texas Tech. It's a rough world out there.
Gonzaga has won 15 or more conference games for the 10th time in the last 13 years. No other team has done so in more than seven seasons. The lack of depth in the WCC has something to do with that, but other teams in small conferences aren't doing this either. It's a testament to the consistency of this program.
9. Michigan State (22-5)
Last week: 12 (⇑3)
Results: W 82-59 vs. UCLA, W 66-60 vs. Ohio State
It's easy to move up when you blow the doors off the team that beat one of the teams in front of you. Michigan State's loss to Wisconsin doesn't look so bad now. The wins over Arkansas, North Carolina, and Illinois are still good ones.
8. Nebraska (23-4)
Last week: 7 (⇓1)
Results: L 52-57 at Iowa, W 87-64 vs. Penn State
The loss at Iowa hurts. It was Nebraska's first loss to a team outside of the top 10 this season. It was easily Nebraska's worst game of the season, but also a stark reminder of what can happen if a team manages to slow Nebraska down.
Nebraska's 23 wins are tied for the second-most in school history with the 2023-24 team. Only the 1990-91 team had more wins (26).
7. Purdue (22-5)
Last week: 8 (⇑1)
Results: L 80-91 vs. (1) Michigan, W 93-64 vs. Indiana
Losing to Michigan in Ann Arbor is something that was expected. The demolition of Indiana in a revenge game was not. This was Purdue's largest margin of victory over Indiana since 1969, and the first time scoring 90 against the Hoosiers since 1998.
Braden Smith passed East Tennessee State's Keith Jennings for fifth on the all-time assists list this week. Smith tallied 14 assists this week, leaving him 15 behind Long Island's Jason Brickman for fourth all-time.
Braden Smith assists tonight: 8
Braden Smith career assists: 994Assists until Big Ten record: BROKEN
Assists until national record: 83Games until national record broken at current rate (8.7 APG): 10 (6 games into Postseason)
— Braden Smith Assist Tracker (@assisttracker) February 21, 2026
Purdue only has four regular-season games left, and Smith is still 82 assists away from tying Bobby Hurley's NCAA record. A record that once seemed a certainty is going to need a big postseason run from Purdue to come to fruition.
6. Connecticut (25-3)
Last week: 4 (⇓2)
Results: L 84-91 vs. Creighton, W 73-63 at Villanova
The Villanova win is nice. The loss to the worst Creighton team of the Doug McDermott era is not. If you lose in the Birdcage, that's one thing, but it was AT HOME. UConn is lucky they didn't fall farther, but no one else wanted this ranking either. It was total carnage in the top 10 this week.
5. Houston (23-4)
Last week: 5 ⇔
Results: L 67-70 at (6) Iowa State, L 66-73 at (3) Arizona
This was the first time in 87 games that Houston has lost back-to-back contests...yet they didn't lose a spot. We expected carnage with the four top teams in the AP Poll playing each other.
Truth be told, if Connecticut hadn't lost to an unranked team, it would still be ahead of Houston. Losing to two teams in the top eight isn't horrible. Losing to a generational bad Creighton team is.
4. Iowa State (23-4)
Last week: 6 (⇑2)
Results: W 70-67 vs. (5) Houston, L 69-79 at (21) BYU
It was a weird week for the Cyclones. They beat Houston but fell spectacularly in Provo. In most cases, that would result in a fall in the rankings. The thing is, they beat one of the teams in front of them -- a team that lost twice last week.
The other team in front of them lost to the worst incarnation of a team in the last decade. Besides, Iowa State blew out Purdue and beat the St. John's team that beat UConn.
3. Michigan (25-2)
Last week: 1 (⇓2)
Results: W 91-80 at (8) Purdue, L 63-68 vs. (3) Duke
This isn't about Michigan's loss to Duke. It's that the out-of-conference schedule was significantly weaker for Michigan than for Duke or Arizona. The out-of-conference schedule isn't everything, but the game on Saturday showed that the gap between the top three teams isn't that wide.
2. Arizona (25-2)
Last week: 2 ⇔
Results: W 75-68 vs. (21) BYU, W 73-66 at (5) Houston
It's a tough week when beating two ranked teams, including a top-5 team on the road, isn't enough to move up. Duke's wins over Michigan, Michigan State, and UConn are a touch better than Arizona's wins over UConn, Alabama, and Houston.
The win over Houston was the third for Arizona against an AP top-3 team this year. There's tied for the most ever. The last team to do so was Kansas in 2011-12.
1. Duke (25-2)
Last week: 3 (⇑2)
Results: W 101-64 vs. Syracuse, W 68-63 vs. (1) Michigan
Michigan's reign at the top lasted one whole week. Duke now has wins over Michigan, UConn, Florida, Michigan State, Kansas, and Arkansas. It doesn't really matter that the ACC isn't producing teams of the caliber of Duke as long as the Blue Devils keep getting elite games out of conference.
The win over Michigan was Duke's 11th win all-time over AP No. 1 teams. Only North Carolina (14) and UCLA (12) have more.
