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College Basketball midseason report

Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

The first half of the college basketball regular season has come and passed, as teams now gear up for the stretch drive leading into conference tournaments and then the Big Dance - March Madness.

With teams having finished half their schedules, it's time to look back and see who maintained their preseason hype, who came out of nowhere, and who were exposed as complete frauds.

Current Rank Team Preseason Rank Difference
1 Villanova 4 3
2 Kansas 3 1
3 UCLA 16 13
4 Gonzaga 14 10
5 Kentucky 2 -3
6 Baylor NR 24
7 Creighton 22 15
8 West Virginia 20 12
9 North Carolina 6 -3
10 Florida State NR 20
11 Oregon 5 -6
12 Louisville 13 1
13 Butler NR 17
14 Arizona 10 -4
15 Notre Dame NR 10
16 Virginia 8 -8
17 Wisconsin 9 -8
18 Duke 1 -17
19 Florida NR 11
20 Cincinnati NR 10
21 Purdue 15 -6
22 Xavier 7 -15
23 Saint Mary's 17 -6
24 South Carolina NR 6
25 Maryland 25 0

Duke and Kentucky both entered the 2016-17 season with great hype, after both boasted highly touted recruiting classes mixed in with some veteran leadership. However, both have hit some road bumps thus far, including Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski undergoing back surgery and Grayson Allen's tripping incidents.

Baylor has been the biggest surprise this season, going from a team that did not receive a single vote in the preseason, to reaching No. 1 on Jan. 9, only to lose the following day.

It seems no matter the year, Gonzaga is always on the heels of bigger programs and remains the country's only remaining undefeated team.

While Baylor has received a lot of media attention for taking down the likes of Oregon, Xavier, Louisville, and Michigan State, another team that started outside of the top 25 could make a claim as the best team right now.

Florida State has lost just twice this season: a three-point loss to Temple back in November, and a defeat against No. 9 North Carolina earlier this month.

Still, the Seminoles also defeated what was then a 21st-ranked Florida squad in December before defeating then-No. 12 Virginia, current No. 21 Virginia Tech, and No. 7 Duke all in a row before bouncing back from their loss to the Tar Heels to beat No. 15 Notre Dame and No. 12 Louisville.

Now just past the halfway mark of the regular season, no team arguably has as good a resume as the Seminoles, and based on that, they should be ranked No. 1.

Preseason polls can be popularity contests that primarily include big-name schools that have traditionally fared well. But every year, there are teams who fall flat and make one wonder how they were even ranked in the first place.

Team Preseason Rank
Indiana (14-6) 11
Michigan State (12-8) 12
UConn (7-11) 18
Syracuse (11-9) 19
Texas (7-12) 21
Rhode Island (12-6) 23
Iowa State (12-6) 24

Big Ten blue-bloods Indiana and Michigan State have looked like shells of their former selves.

The Spartans started off with back-to-back losses to fellow blue-blood programs in Arizona and Kentucky, which is nothing to scoff at, but added losses to Northeastern (not to be confused with Northwestern), Penn State, and a down Ohio State team.

Meanwhile, Indiana has lost to Fort Wayne and Nebraska, while also falling to Butler in a quasi-state-championship game.

UConn's national championship back in 2014 seems like decades ago, and Kevin Ollie still seems to be riding on those coattails, as outside of a magical AAC tournament victory last year, the Huskies have not regained their historic form and have dragged their way to a 7-11 record this season.

This year's squad at Syracuse does not look like a typical Jim Boeheim-led team, while Texas is 1-6 in conference play and not playing inspiring basketball for second-year head coach Shaka Smart.

Of all the teams to be ranked in the preseason poll who have now fallen out, only Iowa State is still receiving any votes.

Based on all of this, there should still be a lot of movement from now until tournament time.

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