College basketball power rankings: St. John’s joins top five, Michigan State vaults into top 10

The cream of the crop in college basketball is bubbling at the top with Auburn and Duke — in that exact order — holding steady at No. 1 and No. 2 in the latest CBS Sports college basketball power rankings.

Auburn (26-2) defeated Georgia and Ole Miss by 12 and 40 (!) points, respectively, in the last week while improving to 14-1 in SEC play. With three regular-season games remaining, it is a full two games up in the SEC race and tracking toward its second conference title in the last four seasons.

Duke (25-3) is hot on the Tigers’ heels after its week consisted of a primetime power slam of Illinois and a road smashing of Miami — by 43 and 37 points, respectively. Duke, responsible for one of Auburn’s two losses, leads the sport in scoring margin and in net rating at KenPom.

Beyond the top two, things get less clear, and that gives us a bit of a shakeup this week as Houston moves to No. 3, Florida falls back one spot and St. John’s moves into the top five. Houston clinched a share of the Big 12 for a second consecutive season this week, and St. John’s did the same in the Big East after a win over Butler on Wednesday. Florida, meanwhile, suffered a tough road loss Tuesday but has a 24-4 record that consists of two wins this season over No. 1-ranked teams. 

Let’s get to this week’s rankings. As always, the caveat: this is not a ranking the best tourney résumés, nor the ranking of the best teams like Gary Parrish’s Top 25 and 1. The power rankings are compiled emphasizing recent results and the quantification of the eye test and vibes based on the evaluation of yours truly.