Thank goodness for South Carolina. While the rest of the college basketball world is impossible to figure out, the Gamecocks keep treading along, collecting double-digit conference wins like they’re going out of style. This week, they avenged their only two losses from 2021-22 against Kentucky and Missouri in dominant fashion and have remained a stabilizing force atop these power rankings.
Beyond the defending champs? Chaos reigns on any given night. Three top-10 teams lost this week, and it was almost four as No. 10 Utah squeaked by against Arizona by a margin of one — on a strange weekend when the Utes only had one game because Arizona State had to forfeit the other matchup. While the Pac-12 cannibalizes itself, the Big 12 does the same, and the ACC is currently boasting the most surprising conference champ of all. Let’s start with those Blue Devils for this week’s exercise, but first … the rankings.
Dropped out: Oregon, Kansas
Almost Famous: Florida State, Arkansas, Creighton, Oregon
• Duke’s record — 16-1 with one loss to then-No. 3 UConn — suggests the Blue Devils should slot in higher than No. 12 this week. And it’s not as if Duke is getting by on smoke and mirrors — its average margin of victory is 19.5 points, good for 11th in the nation, per Her…
