NCAA basketball is keeping oddsmakers, as well as fans, on their toes.  Especially over the past two weeks with a number of upsets, there has been a greater amount of movement up and down the NCAAB power ranking charts, fueled, in part, by some surprise underdog victories.  With March Madness now just a month away, there’s no room for error and, more than ever, every point counts.

NCAAB Upsets Power Rankings

The power rankings give marginally more weight to ongoing events and, consequently, the Arizona State Sun Devils have a place on the edge of the Top 25. The Sun Devils have been totally on top of their game over the past couple of weeks, while dominating eight back-to-back matches. They currently sit at 19-8 on the season and are ascending seed lines and power rankings. Arizona State plays at a frantic pace across the court, and could still find its way deep into March Madness.

The Ohio State Buckeyes split their challenges this previous week with a loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes on the road before defeating the Maryland Terrapins at home. The Buckeyes have apparently recuperated from their weak performance a couple of weeks ago, and are once again mounting a winning strategy.  Head coach Chris Holtmann and the rest of his crew have done an awesome job of bringing back the quality and the team could be a perilous group in March with their present degree of play. Nebraska out and about comes next before an overwhelming last three customary season games.

The Michigan Wolverines right now are on a five-game series of wins and are visibly working their way up in the rankings.  The team has recaptured its beat on offense and defense, and are close to being listed in the top ten.  This has been an exceptionally amazing stretch for first-year head coach Juwan Howard. It’s difficult to disregard this present group’s ongoing run in ostensibly the best conference in the nation.

BYU set up one of the most amazing upsets recently of any group in the nation to climb the NCAAB rankings. The Cougars started by capturing a victory at home over an underestimated Santa Clara squad and, afterward, figured out how to overturn Gonzaga only two days later. With a solid Yoeli Childs in the lineup, BYU is one of the fiercest teams in the nation, and the win against Gonzaga came as a surprise to virtually everyone.  Head coach Mark Pope has created an offensive monster that isn’t easy to defend, and the eight straight wins are proving why the team is bound for glory.

Seminoles Moving Up

The Florida State Seminoles continue to move up, as I said they would two months ago.  The team has put everything in order in every one of its two challenges during this previous week with wins over the Pittsburgh Panthers at home and the NC State Wolfpack on the road.  While the Seminoles’ productivity measurements probably won’t demonstrate a Top 10 group in the nation, their record absolutely does. The team sits at 23-4 (13-3 in the ACC) on the season and has been reliably performing at an elevated level. Florida State is superb protectively and uses its length/physicality to drive turnovers on a high pace of assets.

The Duke Blue Devils endured beating at the hands of NC State last week, losing by a massive 22 points.  That defeat exposes certain weaknesses in the team’s capabilities, which it tried to hide against the Virginia Tech Hokies and the rebound win.  However, beneath the surface, the weakness remains and could prove costly in the championship tournament series.  The Blue Devils have done well enough to rank high among the leading teams, but they could suffer an unexpected defeat during the playoffs.

The Baylor Bears took a loss against the Kansas Jayhawks, helping Kansas to secure a spot at the top of the charts.  The Jayhawks are now favored to win the Big 12 tournament, but the Bears are still hanging on strong.  They have only lost two games this season and have to be watched closely as March Madness gets underway.