College Basketball Rankings Betting Analysis

If it’s a brand new week in the 2015-16 college basketball season, then it must be time for a new No. 1 team in the national rankings. Yes…it’s been that kind of a season for college hoops online betting enthusiasts.

College Basketball Rankings Betting Analysis

Top Spot: Wildcats are No. 1 in both Major Polls for the first time in program history | https://t.co/klUWGS2jNp pic.twitter.com/WN9PrgMgsZ

— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) February 8, 2016

With last week’s losses by former No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 North Carolina, formerly third-ranked Villanova now becomes the sixth school to hold the No. 1 spot this season, just one off the all-time NCAA record. This season, Kentucky and Carolina were both ranked No. 1 for two weeks. Michigan State held on to the No.1 ranking for three weeks while Kansas held it for two weeks and Oklahoma, three. In 1982-83, a whopping seven teams, (North Carolina, UCLA, Houston, Indiana, Memphis, Virginia and UNLV) held on to the No. 1 spot in the country briefly. There have been six No. 1s in five other seasons with the last coming during the 2008-09 season when North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Duke, Connecticut and Louisville all managed to reach No. 1 nationally. With the arrival of Week 14, the Villanova Wildcats have reached No. 1 for the first time in the school’s storied program. New No. 2 Maryland has also never been ranked No.1 in the nation. The Sooners and Tar Heels losses against unranked teams marked the first time in 10 years that the top two teams lost on the same day to programs ranked outside the Top 25. Villanova garnered 32 of 65 first-place votes while Maryland received 13 and No. 4 Iowa had 11 votes. No. 3 Oklahoma received seven first-place votes despite suffering losses in consecutive weeks. Virginia and Kansas both received one vote for the top spot. Villanova’s next game comes on Tuesday at DePaul. Maryland is home to Bowie State on Tuesday, but Bowie State is not a Division I school. The Terps’ next game in Big Ten play is on Saturday at home against Wisconsin.

AP Top 25

1. Villanova (20-3) The Cats have won three straight and covered the spread in their last two games. 2. Maryland (21-3) The Terrapins have won four in a row while going 3-1 ATS along the way. 3. Oklahoma (19-3) The Sooners squeaked by Texas in a thriller on Sunday after getting smacked around by K-State on Friday. 4. Iowa (19-4) The red-hot Hawkeyes have won and covered the spread in three straight. 5. Xavier (21-2) The Musketeers have won five straight (2-3 ATS) and I believe they’re underrated and should probably be ranked third. 6. Kansas (19-4) The Jayhawks have won three straight but they’ve also suffered two losses in their last six games. 7. Virginia (19-4) The Cavaliers have won six straight games while holding the opposition to 62 points or less in five of those contests. 8. Michigan State (20-4) The Spartans have won and covered the spread in four straight, including as a 28-point home fave against Rutgers on January 31. 9. North Carolina (19-4) The Tar Heels have lost and failed to cover the spread in two straight games and have gone 1-5 ATS over their last half-dozen games. 10. West Virginia (19-4) The Mountaineers have won and covered the spread in two straight and three of their last four games but are just 4-3 SU over their last seven.

Here is the rest of the AP Top 25

The Rest

11. Oregon (20-4) 12. Miami (18-4) 13. Louisville (19-4) 14. Iowa State (17-6) 15. Texas A&M (18-5) 16. SMU (20-2) 17. Arizona (19-5) 18. Purdue (19-5) 19. Dayton (19-3) 20. Providence (18-6) 21. Baylor (17-6) 22. Kentucky (17-6) 23. USC (18-5) 24. Texas (16-7) 25. Wichita State (17-6) Out: Indiana, South Carolina In: USC, Texas