College basketball power rankings: Tennessee jumps to the top, Maryland rockets up to No. 2

Four of the top five teams and eight of the 16 total teams in last week’s power rankings took at least one loss over the last week, making way for a complete overhaul at the top of this week’s rankings led by Tennessee’s pole vault from No. 5 to No. 1. The Volunteers’ leap this week came almost by default after losses by Auburn, Kansas, Kentucky and Marquette, but also serves as recognition for what they’ve done this season. Only two teams have a higher scoring margin at this juncture in the season than Tennessee, with Tennessee Martin and Syracuse becoming just the latest victims in its path of destruction. Each game so far en route to its 8-0 start has been won by at least 15 points. Rick Barnes’ team is side-swiping teams and barely breaking a sweat.

Maryland, the No. 2 team in scoring margin ahead of Tennessee, also gets a big bump up to No. 2 in this week’s Power Rankings after being unranked a week ago. A loss in mid-November to Marquette at home cost it some early-season style points, but the Terrapins have rallied the last few weeks culminating with a stunning 83-59 smackdown of Ohio State on Wednesday night. At one point in the second half they led by 40 points before Kevin Willard’s club called off the dogs and cruised to a 24-point win.

So let’s dive in here. This week’s power rankings are listed below. As I intend to do each week to make it crystal clear, my own personal operating guidelines for how I rank the teams are also listed below. I promise to abide by these as closely as I can throughout the season. 

Power Rankings definition: Ranking teams with an emphasis on recent performance based on their level of competition. These are heavily unscientific in nature and can be distilled down to a “vibes” ranking — with things like margin of victory, injuries, performance vs. top competition, momentum and other sometimes subjective factors weighing into the equation. The power rankings can be thought of in a weekly setting as a reaction — or sometimes even an overreaction — to the small sample of the week that was. 

Let’s get to it.