College basketball rankings: Arizona State beats Kansas, jumps in the Top 25 (and 1)
A handful of teams are off to surprisingly good starts -- among them Florida State, Texas Tech and Tennessee. But nobody has come basically out of nowhere to be nationally relevant quite like Arizona State.
The Sun Devils are a great story.
They went 15-17 two seasons ago, 15-18 last season and were picked to finish sixth in the Pac-12 in the league's preseason media poll. Regardless, they're 9-0 with four top-50 KenPom victories. They beat Xavier 102-86 last month, which opened some eyes. But Sunday's 95-85 win at Kansas was even more surprising and impressive. And now it's very reasonable, based on the resume, for anybody to rank Arizona State No. 1 in the entire country.
Am I doing it?
No.
But it's not because I don't think ASU deserves it. It's just that I don't like dropping No. 1 teams without a loss. And I already have Villanova No. 1. And Villanova's resume featuring victories over Gonzaga and Tennessee isn't devoid of quality, which is why I'm keeping the Wildcats No. 1 in the CBS Sports Top 25 (and one).
But Arizona State is No. 2.
As you can see, the Sun Devils' jump from No. 13 to No. 2 pushed Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State, Kentucky, Miami, Texas A&M, West Virginia, Virginia and Duke down one spot each, no fault of their own. Arizona State's next game is Sunday against Vanderbilt. Looking further ahead, barring an upset, Bobby Hurley's team should be 12-0 heading into the Pac-12 opener at Arizona on Dec. 30. Arizona is 20th in the Top 25 (and one).
The complete Top 25 (and one) is below.