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Mike's college basketball rankings for Week 13 of the 2025-26 season. Where are Duke, Houston, Arizona, and Gonzaga ranked?
College Basketball Top 25 Power Rankings Week 13
There was a shakeup in the top 5 once again, with one of the last three undefeated teams falling. As with the last two undefeated teams, this team also lost twice in the same week, as Purdue and Vanderbilt did. There was a lot of movement in the rankings again this week. If this is any indication of what March will be like, the madness could be unlike any other this season. Let’s take a look at the risers and fallers of the week, and the one team that just refuses to lose.
25. Miami (OH) (22-0)
Last week: 25 ⇔
Results: W 86-84 vs. Massachusetts, W 85-61 vs. Northern Illinois
The 22 straight wins are a new MAC record. In typical mid-major fashion, the Redhawks don’t have a signature win. The big programs near them won’t play them, and the school doesn’t have a surplus of money to go to the holiday tournaments even if they were to get an invite. It may be MAC Tournament champs or bust for the Redhawks, but no one can take 22-0 away from them, no matter what happens from here on out.
24. Tennessee (15-6)
Last week: NR
Results: W 86-85 at Georgia, W 77-69 vs. Auburn
Tennessee’s wins over Houston and Louisville are carrying them. The win over Alabama doesn’t look like much now, but the Vols are the only SEC team to take out the Aggies.
23. St. Louis (21-1)
Last week: 24 (⇑1)
Results: W 79-76 vs. George Washington, W 102-71 vs. Dayton
What can Cream Abdul-Jabbar (Robbie Avila) do for you? St. Louis scored 100 or more points for the seventh time this season against Dayton. That is the most in Atlantic-10 Conference history. Rhode Island had six games of 100 or more in the 1987-88 season. Do you want to know the kicker? The Billikens had never scored 100 or more in more than three games in a season before.
22. Clemson (18-4)
Last week: 22 ⇔
Results: W 77-63 at Georgia Tech, W 63-52 vs. Pittsburgh
Clemson hasn’t beaten a currently ranked team, but they have beaten Pittsburgh 15 times in a row. That’s something, right?
21. Texas A&M (17-4)
Last week: 23 (⇑2)
Results: W 92-77 at Georgia
The Aggies lead the SEC at 7-1 right now, but they haven’t played Florida, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, or Kentucky yet. The only loss in conference is to Tennessee. Much like in football, the Aggies have gotten fat off of SEC bottom-feeders. Unlike in football, the Aggies will have to face the upper teams at some point. They get Florida this week and Vandy next week.
20. Virginia (18-3)
Last week: 18 (⇓2)
Results: W 100-97 at Notre Dame, W 73-66 at Boston College
Virginia spanned the ACC globe, beating up on Catholics this week, but still moved down. This comes a week after losing to North Carolina and moving up. Well, Central Florida and Florida beat as many ranked teams this week as Virginia has all season. The Wahoos have only played two currently ranked teams in 21 games. They’re lucky to be ranked at all!
19. Central Florida (17-4)
Last week: NR
Results: W 79-76 vs. Arizona State, W 88-80 vs. (10) Texas Tech
Three of Central Florida’s losses are to Vanderbilt, Arizona, and Iowa State. We have to forgive that Arizona State loss at some point. That’s easy to do when the Knights beat Kansas in Lawrence and Texas Tech in Orlando. What’s it going to take for others to be serious about this team? UCF does play Houston tomorrow night. Can they topple another Big 12 heavyweight?
18. Arkansas (16-6)
Last week: 15 (⇓3)
Results: W 83-79 at Oklahoma, L 77-85 vs. Kentucky
That loss to Kentucky hurts, but Arkansas has still beaten Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Louisville. Those wins are better than teams below them with fewer losses.
17. Florida (16-6)
Last week: 19 (⇑2)
Results: W 95-48 at South Carolina, W 100-77 vs. (21) Alabama
Florida washed the Auburn loss off the palette by blowing out South Carolina in Columbia and giving Alabama a taste of its own medicine. Florida only turned the ball over twice against the Tide, its lowest total in any game of the last 30 years.
16. Vanderbilt (19-3)
Last week: 17 (⇑1)
Results: W 80-55 vs. Kentucky, W 71-68 vs. Mississippi
Vanderbilt scored over 100 points in four of the first five games of the season. They found out that wasn’t working in SEC play after losing three straight games in January. The Commodores have slowed it down against the more athletic teams in the SEC with some success. They have held six SEC opponents to 80 points or less. Texas was the only team to beat them out of those six.
15. North Carolina (17-4)
Last week: 16 (⇑1)
Results: W 85-80 at (18) Virginia, W 91-75 at Georgia Tech
It looks like that West Coast disaster was an anomaly. The Heels have won three straight, with two of those on the road since that trip. The first meeting with Duke looms this week. We’ll finally get that long-awaited duel between Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson that has been talked up since this summer. Wilson has 15 games with at least 20 points this season. That sets a new Carolina record for freshmen.
14. Purdue (18-4)
Last week: 13 (⇓1)
Results: L 67-72 at Indiana, W 93-63 at Maryland
The Indiana football team showed up to the rivalry game after winning the National Championship in football. You knew that Purdue was going to lose that game. We’ll forgive that. We won’t forgive the loss at UCLA.
Braden Smith only had 11 assists in two games this week. He did pass UNLV’s Greg Anthony to get to 10th on the all-time assists list with 954. He is now tied with Aaron Miles. Smith still trails Bobby Hurley by 122 assists with at least 11 games to go in his college career. As long as Purdue doesn’t lose in the first round of the conference tournament or NCAA Tournament, Smith should still get that record.
13. Kansas (16-5)
Last week: 14 (⇑1)
Results: W 86-62 at Kansas State, W 90-82 vs. (11) BYU
This is the latest in the season that Kansas had its first five-game winning streak of the season since 2008-09. The Jayhawks consistently play a tough non-conference schedule. That speaks volumes about how good Kansas has been throughout the years and how off this team is without Darryn Peterson. His constant nagging injuries could be what holds this team back.
12. Texas Tech (16-5)
Last week: 10 (⇓2)
Results: L 80-88 at Central Florida
Texas Tech is still ahead of Kansas because they at least lost to UCF in Orlando. Kansas lost to them at home. Big wins over Houston, BYU, and Duke have the Red Raiders as the highest-ranked five-loss team. The body of work is a little more impressive than that of Kansas and Purdue. This team lost its mojo by not playing a mid-week game this week.
11. BYU (17-4)
Last week: 11 ⇔
Results: L 83-86 vs. (1) Arizona, L 82-90 at (14) Kansas
How did BYU lose twice and still not fall? I’m glad you asked. Unlike Texas Tech, Kansas, and Purdue, BYU hasn’t lost to an unranked team. Kansas, North Carolina, and Purdue have lost to two of them each. Losing at home to the top-ranked team and losing in one of the hardest places to play shouldn’t hurt. I would like it if BYU had a big win, but we just have to settle for no ugly losses right now.
10. Iowa State (20-2)
Last week: 12 (⇑2)
Results: W 97-67 vs. Colorado, W 95-61 at Kansas State
What got into the Cyclones this week? They scored 95 or more points in consecutive games against conference opponents for the first time since 1990. It might have something to do with the quality of the teams, but the Cyclones still aren’t known for proficient scoring.
9. Gonzaga (23-1)
Last week: 7 (⇓2)
Results: W 68-66 vs. San Francisco, W 73-65 vs. St. Mary’s
Schedule strength is starting to catch up to Gonzaga. The only early-season win that is still regarded as a good win is the win over Alabama. If they had played Michigan close, we might be having a different conversation. Losing by 40 on a neutral court doesn’t help the cause. It allows Nebraska and Michigan State to stay ahead of Gonzaga.
8. Houston (19-2)
Last week: 8 ⇔
Results: W 79-70 vs. TCU, W 76-54 vs. Cincinnati
You don’t want to play Houston at the Fertitta Center. Houston has only lost once in their last 50 games there. That was Texas Tech last year.
7. Michigan State (19-3)
Last week: 6 (⇓1)
Results: W 88-79 at Rutgers, L 71-83 vs. (5) Michigan
Michigan State’s three losses are to teams in the top six. Wins over North Carolina and Arkansas are holding up well, but it seems that Michigan State was teetering against Rutgers. A game against Illinois this week will tell us where Michigan State’s headspace is.
The Spartans have now lost 10 in a row to teams in the AP Top 5. The last win over one was against Kentucky in November of 2022.
6. Nebraska (20-2)
Last week: 4 (⇓2)
Results: L 72-75 at (5) Michigan, L 69-78 vs. (9) Illinois
Unlike the other undefeated teams to hit the canvas with two losses in a week, Nebraska lost to two top 10 teams. One of those was on the road without their best player (Rienk Mast). When you stack Nebraska up against the two-loss teams, the wins over Michigan State and Illinois are more impressive. They only lost to Michigan by three in Ann Arbor, while Gonzaga lost to the Wolverines by 40 on a neutral court.
Unfortunately for Nebraska, they were just the eighth team in AP history to lose their first two games as a top-five team. The only other team to do so since 1986 was Butler in 2019-20.
5. Illinois (19-3)
Last week: 9 (⇑4)
Results: W 75-66 vs. Washington, W 78-69 at (4) Nebraska
Illinois took down Purdue and avenged an earlier loss against Nebraska in the span of a week. The three losses (Alabama, Connecticut, Nebraska) were by less than half of what Gonzaga lost to Michigan by. Couple that with two more big wins to go with the wins over Texas Tech and Tennessee earlier this year, and we can consider the Illini a top 5 team.
The AP has been around for 78 years. Keaton Wagler became the first player to score 25 or more in multiple road wins against top 5 teams in the same season. He’s a freshman! You can add Wagler to the long list of outstanding freshmen in the college game this year. This might be the most loaded lottery in NBA Draft history.
4. Michigan (20-1)
Last week:5 (⇑1)
Results: W 75-72 vs. (4) Nebraska, W 83-71 at (6) Michigan State
Wow, what a week for the Wolverines! Why didn’t they move up more? Duke also beat this Michigan State team, and Michigan’s only win over a currently ranked team before this week was against Gonzaga. The gap among the top four tightened a lot, but Michigan doesn’t deserve to be ahead of Duke or UConn yet.
Strangely enough, Michigan still has a date with Duke on February 21 for the Duel in the District in Washington, D.C. That’s going to be a great one!
3. Duke (20-1)
Last week: 3 ⇔
Results: W 83-52 vs. (20) Louisville, W 72-58 at Virginia Tech
Recency bias clearly got to the AP this week. Before this week, Michigan’s only win over a currently ranked team was against Gonzaga. Duke beat Kansas, Michigan State, Arkansas, Florida, and Louisville twice. On top of that, the loss to Texas Tech is better than Michigan’s loss, no matter how Duke lost that game. This is Duke’s best start since the 2007-08 season.
2. Connecticut (21-1)
Last week: 2 ⇔
Results: W 87-81 vs. Providence, W 85-58 at Creighton
I’m not going to let recency bias cloud me here either. UConn beat Florida, Kansas (at the Phog!), BYU, and Illinois out of conference. Their only loss is a four-point loss against Arizona. Those are better than Michigan’s wins and its loss.
Connecticut is 11-0 in conference play for the first time since the 1998-99 Championship team. The 17-game winning streak since the loss to Arizona is the longest since that season as well. Can this iteration catch that 19-game winning streak?
1. Arizona (22-0)
Last week: 1 ⇔
Results: W 86-83 at (11) BYU, W 87-74 at Arizona State
The Wildcats kept rolling with a pair of road wins. That’s where other undefeated teams slipped up earlier this month. The 22-0 start is the best for any Arizona team in school history. It also ties the longest winning streak in school history. Arizona also won 22 in a row from 1914-17. This also ties the 1996-97 Kansas team for the best start in Big 12 history. The Wildcats can have history all to themselves with a win over Oklahoma State on Saturday.
