Tennessee’s Last-Second Shot Shakes Up NCAA Men’s Basketball Rankings

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — March has arrived, and with it, excitement is building in college basketball as Selection Sunday approaches. Last Saturday, the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers celebrated a thrilling last-second victory over the No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide, catapulting the team into the spotlight.

In a heart-pounding finish, Tennessee guard Jahmai Mashack sank a three-pointer just before the buzzer, sealing a 67-64 win in front of a packed Thompson-Boling Arena. This defeat caused Alabama to drop from No. 6 to No. 7 in the national rankings.

The implications of the game reverberated through the entire NCAA landscape. “We knew it would be a tough matchup, but we focused on executing our game plan,” Mashack said after the game. “To hit that shot in such a crucial moment feels incredible.”

Meanwhile, the Big Ten witnessed significant shifts as teams jockeyed for position. The No. 17 Michigan Wolverines and No. 12 Wisconsin Badgers saw their rankings dip slightly after disappointing performances. Michigan suffered a narrow 84-82 win against Rutgers and then was handed a crushing defeat by Illinois, which outperformed them by 20 points.

As the season wraps up, Michigan’s upcoming matchups against No. 13 Maryland and Michigan State hold more significance, as the Wolverines seek to reclaim their footing in the conference standings.

Despite the shake-ups, the top spots in the AP Top 25 remained largely unchanged. Both No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Duke continue their unbeaten streaks since February 8, while No. 3 Houston solidified its elite status with a 69-61 victory over No. 9 Texas Tech.

The biggest mover of the week, however, was the No. 22 Texas A&M Aggies, who plummeted ten spots from No. 12, while the Louisville Cardinals climbed five places to secure the No. 14 slot.

Notably, the previously No. 3 Florida Gators stumbled against unranked Georgia, dropping them to No. 5 in the poll. Florida will need to recover quickly if they want to maintain any hope of climbing back into the top tier.

As the regular season winds down, several teams, including the Oregon Ducks, VCU, and Vanderbilt, received votes, indicating their potential return to the rankings. Oregon was the only team among them to secure victories in both of their games last week, bucking the trend faced by previously ranked teams like Creighton, Kansas, and Ole Miss, who all suffered losses.

In another noticeable shift, Arizona slid from No. 22 to No. 24 after losing to No. 10 Iowa State, marking their fourth setback in the last six games. Furthermore, the No. 25 Mississippi State Bulldogs barely clung to their ranking following a 38-point debacle against Alabama, highlighting their 8-8 conference record after a promising 14-1 start.

The full AP Top 25 poll will be updated again following the release of new rankings on Monday, ensuring that teams will be on high alert as they seek better positioning heading into the final stretches of the season.