The latest college basketball rankings have been released, and Connecticut and Pitt remain at No. 4 and No. 6, respectively, in both the AP and Coaches polls. How might the outcome of tonight’s matchup between the two teams affect the rankings?
If the Panthers were to win, I’m not sure it would affect them much. It would certainly vault them past UConn, but that’s probably about it, unless one of the other four teams above them (Duke, Ohio State, Kansas, Syracuse) were to lose as well. All those teams are undefeated, and Pitt already has a loss to Tennessee.
If the Huskies were to win, especially if they were to win convincingly, that might be a different story. They probably wouldn’t pass No. 1 Duke, but I wonder if they might pass Ohio State and especially Kansas. The two teams have only one each win so far against ranked teams, and Kansas has two very narrow victories against unranked USC and UCLA teams. That would make Connecticut No. 2 in the country, so there’s quite a lot on the line tonight.