A winless run through the Maui Invitational led to predictions of UConn's demise after two straight national championships.
Not so fast.
Re-energized by a return trip home, the Huskies showed they're still a formidable team with an impressive win over Baylor. UConn carried the momentum from that to Austin, where the Huskies beat Texas by 11.
The pair of victories held a lot of sway with AP Top 25 voters, who moved the Huskies up seven spots to No. 18 in this week's poll.
"Maybe the people with the shovels and the dirt, maybe they were too quick to grab the shovel and throw the dirt on us,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said.
The Huskies have another big game on Saturday, facing No. 8 Gonzaga at Madison Square Garden.
The Zags have some impressive wins this season, including a blowout of Baylor and two victories at The Battle 4 Atlantis. Gonzaga is coming off one of college basketball's best games of the early season, a 90-89 loss to No. 5 Kentucky in Seattle.
Both teams will have at least six days to prepare for the game in the Garden, so it will likely be must-watch TV.
Surging Cyclones
Iowa State had its highest preseason ranking at No. 5 and, after a two-point loss to No. 2 Auburn, have climbed to their highest ranking in decades.
The Cyclones beat No. 6 Marquette by 11 and blew out Jackson State, earning them a No. 3 ranking in this week's poll — highest since 1956-57. Keshon Gilbert was named the Big 12 player of the week after scoring 24 points and adding seven assists in the win over Marquette.
Iowa State has what should be an emotional game on Thursday, playing at rival Iowa. The Hawkeyes are off to a solid start at 7-2, but are coming off a two-point loss No. 14 Michigan.
Vols on top
Tennessee lost four starters from last year's SEC championship team, but it has done nothing to slow the Vols down.
Led by dynamic senior guard Chaz Lanier, Tennessee (8-0) is off to its best start since opening the 2000-01 season 9-0 and is No. 1 in the NET rankings. The Vols moved to No. 1 for the first time since 2018-19 season, moving up two spots after Kansas lost twice and Auburn lost to No. 4 Duke.
“It doesn't mean a whole lot other than its a compliment to the start we've gotten off to and it's a compliment to them,” Vols coach Rick Barnes said. “They've certainly worked hard and they want to be No. 1, but they want to be No. 1 at the end of the year.”
Tennessee kicks off its first week at No. 1 against Miami at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, then heads to Champaign to face a tough Illinois team on Saturday.
Aggies and Boilermakers
No. 11 Purdue has handled losing two-time AP player of the year Zach Edey quite well.
The Boilermakers already have wins over two ranked teams — No. 7 Alabama and No. 19 Ole Miss — and big man Trey Kaufman-Renn has been superb, averaging 18.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
Purdue gets another ranked team at home on Saturday.
No. 17 Texas A&M opened the season with a loss to UCF, but has wins over Ohio State and Creighton. The Aggies knocked off Texas Tech in their last game and have one of the Big 12's best guards in Wade Taylor IV, who's averaging 16.1 points, 4.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game.
Ratings variations
The NET rankings released by the NCAA on Monday matched AP voters with Tennessee and Auburn at 1-2. KenPom came to a different conclusion, rating the Tigers ahead of the Vols.
Bart Torvik came to a different conclusion completely, rating Houston — No. 15 in the AP poll — at No. 1, followed by Duke. Auburn was No. 3 and Tennessee right behind.
The NET was much higher on Gonzaga, ranking the Zags third while they're No. 8 in the AP poll. KenPom has Gonzaga fourth, behind Duke, with Bart Torvik putting the Zags fifth.
