Hey listeners, welcome back to the pulse of college basketball, where February frenzy is hitting full throttle with just one month until Selection Sunday. Michigan sits atop the AP Top 25 at number one with a stellar 24-1 record, according to the latest polls from NCAA.com and CBS Sports, after clawing back from 16 down against Northwestern, outscoring them 45-17 in the final 14 minutes for an 87-75 win. Andy Katz's Power 37 rankings have the Wolverines leading the pack too, but tonight they face a massive test at Purdue, the number seven team who's 21-4 and coming off an overtime road thriller over Nebraska.
Houston holds steady at number two, 23-2, with eyes on a number one seed in their region, as noted in NCAA.com's conference crunch breakdown. They've got a brutal stretch ahead: at Iowa State, home against Arizona, then at Kansas—all top-10 foes with a combined 63-9 record. Arizona, now number four after their first loss in three months, welcomes BYU next, kicking off five top-25 battles in six games. Duke, number three at 23-2, just demolished Syracuse 101-64 on Monday, per ESPN recaps, with Cameron Boozer dropping 22 points and 12 boards.
Down the rankings, Saint Louis is scorching at 24-1 with a 17-game win streak, leading the nation in scoring margin at 23.3 points, while Miami (Ohio) is the lone undefeated at 25-0. Purdue's been grinding through a three-game skid but bounced back with that Nebraska victory, though they blew a 22-point lead before overtime heroics. Kentucky's wildcats have trailed by double digits in 10 games but won five comebacks, sitting 17-7 and tied for second in the SEC. Clemson snapped their streak with a home loss to Virginia Tech but heads to Duke next, where they've won 14 straight ACC road games.
The Big 12 is chaos gold: four top-nine AP teams like Iowa State at six, Kansas at eight, and Texas Tech climbing to 13. Expect six top-10 matchups there in the next 17 days. Bracketology from Saturday Down South projects the top seeds solidifying, with Michigan, Houston, Duke, and Arizona leading the way.
Crunch time means every game ramps the stakes, listeners—from Michigan's road gauntlet at Purdue, Duke, Illinois, and Iowa, to Saint Louis' road tests at Dayton and Rhode Island tonight. Who's peaking for March Madness?
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