ClutchPoints’ Men’s College Basketball Power Rankings: St. John’s continues to crumble

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ClutchPoints’ Men’s College Basketball Power Rankings: St. John’s continues to crumble

Bailey Bassett, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Tue, Dec 2, 2025 ·

10 min read

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The post ClutchPoints' Men's College Basketball Power Rankings: St. John's continues to crumble appeared first on ClutchPoints .

Feast Week has come and gone in college basketball , and with it came plenty of change in ClutchPoints' power rankings .

With a number of big in-season tournaments having come to a conclusion, how does the top-25 stack up?

25. St. John's

Georgetown and NC State both fall out of the top 25, and St. John's just narrowly holds onto a spot here. The Red Storm came into the season with a hyped up transfer portal class and huge expectations. The projected talent has not panned out, as they've lost all three of their matchups against ranked opponents.

Rick Pitino's team has a great offense with six players who score in double figures. This unit includes Bryce Hopkins , Zuby Ejiofor , Ian Jackson , Oziyah Sellers, Dillon Mitchell , and Joson Sanon . The depth falls off significantly after that core, which is still figuring out how to play together. The defense has been a disaster, too. If they don't start to live up to their potential and win in dominant fashion going forward, they could fall outside of the top 25 come next week. Vanderbilt was the first team on the outside looking in of these rankings. Iowa , Nebraska , and Saint Mary's got consideration, too.

24. Auburn

Last week, Auburn was blown out by Michigan before they bested St. John's. Tahaad Pettiford and Keyshawn Hall are the team's two best players. Neither player surpassed the 20-point mark against the Wolverines, but they both had success putting the ball in the basket against St. John's.

23. Texas Tech

Texas Tech's lone game during Feast Week was a win over New Orleans , so they don't move down much in these power rankings, as their embarrassing loss to Purdue still looms large. JT Toppin was chosen as the best player in college basketball coming into the year. His statistics have backed this up, but Texas Tech will need some big wins for Toppin to put his name in the Naismith Player of the Year running.

22. Seton Hall

Seton Hall played in back-to-back-to-back games. They collected victories over NC State and Washington State , and they were only three points away from beating USC and winning the Maui Invitational , arguably the most prestigious early-season tournament in college basketball.

There is nothing flashy about the Pirates. They don't have much size, nor is there a star who scores a lot of points on a nightly basis. Shaheen Holloway has his team playing a team-oriented, unselfish brand of basketball, which has allowed Seton Hall to become one of the biggest surprises of the season so far.

21. USC

Their win over Seton Hall in the Maui Invitational allows USC to crack the top 25. Chad Baker-Mazara thrives in the tournament, as before winning it all as a Trojan, he'd won the year prior with Auburn. Both Baker-Mazara and Rodney Rice are scoring 20.3 points per game for the team.

20. Kansas

Kansas jumps back into the top 25 after winning three games over Feast Week. Notre Dame, Syracuse, and most notably, Tennessee , all fell victim to the Jayhawks. This came despite the fact that Darryn Peterson is still out with a hamstring issue.

When the potential number one pick returns to the fold, Kansas' potential will reach a whole different level. A number of players have stepped up in Peterson's absence, including Melvin Council, Flory Bidunga , and Tre White .

19. North Carolina

UNC looked like their normal blue blood selves before an embarrassing loss to Michigan State , but everybody is struggling to play against the grit and grind of the Spartans. Duke's Cameron Boozer has gotten a lot of recognition for his double-double prowess as a freshman, but Caleb Wilson is right there with him in terms of points and rebounding production at such a young age.

18. Arkansas

Arkansas' two losses, which come against Michigan State and Duke, don't look all that bad in hindsight. What's more worrisome were the closely contested wins over Winthrop and Samford . Karter Knox and D.J. Wagner have disappointed this year, but luckily, freshman Maleek Thomas and Darius Acuff have been pretty good.

17. Kentucky

Kentucky has had a different player lead the way in scoring in each of their first seven games. That displays both the team's depth and a lack of a true top option.

Kentucky has lost to Louisville and Michigan State this year. Those were tough matchups, so how they fare against UNC and Gonzaga this week will say a lot about the state of the team. Victories over either of those teams may take somebody like Otega Oweh or Denzel Aberdeen stepping up and proving that they are superstars.

16. Indiana

Tucker DeVries has been predictably fantastic during Indiana's 7-0 start. The supporting cast around him has been better than expected, though, which is part of the reason why Indiana is one of the big jumpers in this power ranking.

15. Tennessee

Tennessee's undefeated start ended with a loss to Kansas. Even so, they beat Houston the night before in what was one of the biggest upset wins of the season across the nation.

14. Florida

Florida had seemingly gotten past an opening game loss to Arizona, but then the defending champions suffered an inexcusable loss to TCU. The team's biggest weakness is the 3-point shot, as they are shooting just 27.7% from deep. Florida is still really good, but a championship repeat is looking more and more unlikely.

13. Alabama

Powered by Aden Holloway , Alabama's always potent offense was at full force over the last week. The team scored 220 points in back-to-back wins against UNLV and Maryland . Holloway is hitting 3.5 3-pointers per game, but he doesn't lead the team in scoring. That honor belongs to Labaron Philon , who is scoring 20.6 points per game. Alabama's offense as a whole scores 95.6 points per game.

12. Illinois

Illinois is good, but it is becoming evident that they aren't great. They've now lost eight of their last nine matchups against top-five teams, including such a matchup in their most recent game against UConn .

Illinois has tons of size and depth, which is why they've dominated inferior competition. As of now, though, it appears that they are a player shy of being viewed as true contenders.

11. Iowa State

At full health, the Iowa State trio of Joshua Jefferson, Milan Momcilovic , and Tamin Lipsey is arguably the best in college basketball. Lipsey is currently out with an injury , but the other two stars should be able to weather the storm. They did so in dominant wins against Creighton and Syracuse.

10. Michigan State

Michigan State already has three wins against opponents ranked inside the AP Poll's top 25. Everybody plays defense in East Lansing, and Jeremy Fears is the engine that makes the offense go. The guard is averaging 9.9 assists per game. The team can break inside of the top five if they manage to beat Iowa and Duke over the next week.

9. Louisville

Louisville has yet to really be tested. Only one of their seven wins was within single digits.

Most recently, the team beat NJIT by a score of 104-47. The Cardinals had 20 3-point makes in that game. Long bomb barrages have been a common theme for Louisville, as their 13.3 3-pointers per game are the second most in the nation. Louisville isn't that big, so they play fast and launch deep balls. So far, it is working like a charm.

8. Gonzaga

Gonzaga's first loss of the season came to Michigan. Although the Wolverines leapfrog the Bulldogs because of that outcome, Gonzaga doesn't fall too far down the rankings because they also beat Alabama and Maryland in the days leading up to the Michigan game.

Playing three games in a row on consecutive days isn't easy, but Gonzaga put up next to no fight against Michigan. They lost that game by a score of 101-61. Graham Ike was exposed in that game, as he scored just one point and was brought to the bench much quicker than normal.

7. BYU

AJ Dybantsa has brought newfound hype to BYU's program. The athletic specimen and potential future number one overall pick has played impressively for the Cougars, but Richie Saunders actually leads the team in scoring.

With 15-plus points in all seven of BYU's games, Dybantsa, ties Kevin Durant in Big 12 history for the second-longest such streak. The team's only loss of the year was by two points to UConn.

6. Houston

Houston narrowly escaped an overtime thriller against Syracuse before they suffered a loss to Tennessee. The defense is still elite, but the Cougars are struggling to put the ball in the basket. Houston's 74.9 points per game rank 234th in the nation.

5. UConn

UConn has faced ranked opponents in three of their last four matchups, and they won two of them. A loss to Arizona holds them out of the prestigious top four, but UConn has the talent to be crowned NCAA Tournament champions for the third time in four years. The shooting is evident, but it is UConn's defense that has most impressed.

4. Arizona

Arizona finally had a slow week, as their two wins ahead of Thanksgiving came against Denver and Norfolk State. That doesn't change the fact that the Wildcats have arguably the best resume thus far, with wins over Florida, UCLA , and UConn. The team will be tested yet again, as their next two games are against ranked opponents in Auburn and Alabama.

3. Purdue

Purdue is still number one in the AP Poll, but they fall to number three in ClutchPoints' power rankings. Purdue's most recent win was their most dominant of the year. The team again didn't need much scoring from Braden Smith , who has struggled with inefficiency all season so far, but it was somewhat disappointing to see him score just five points in a game in which the Boilermakers won 109-62.

Smith is the best playmaker in college basketball, but he has underwhelmed as a scorer thus far. There are plenty of scorers on this team, though, as five different players have led the team in scoring through seven games.

2. Michigan

Michigan surpassed the 100-point threshold in back-to-back wins over ranked opponents. They dominated both Auburn and Gonzaga in consecutive games directly succeeding a blowout win over SDSU . Yaxel Lendeborg has been unstoppable. The AUB transfer is hitting 86.2% of his 2-point shots.

1. Duke

Duke extended their undefeated streak to eight games with a victory over Arkansas. While AJ Dynantsa and Darryn Peterson get more hype as the projected number one NBA Draft pick, it is Cameron Boozer who has arguably been the best freshman in the college scene thus far.

Boozer is averaging 22.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game thus far. Cooper Flagg , a Duke freshman last year, was named the Player of the Year, and Boozer is the odds-on favorite to accomplish that feat again.

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