Our weekly college basketball report card is often a space to shine a light on some of the best and worst team performances from the week that was. However, today I'm feeling like a ray of sunshine, so I'm calling an audible and pulling some strings to skew our report card heavily in favor of the former with less of the latter. You're welcome.
For starters, that means lousy Louisville -- an easy target to earn an "F" every week -- is not given air in this space this week. (Another you're welcome is due here, I'd argue.) That also means USC gets no attention today. Yes, both teams unquestionably deserve an "F" after their respective weeks, but you know what? I won't insult your intelligence. If you're reading this column, then I can assume I'm talking to a well-informed fan, so you already knew all this.
As such, in our report card this week we are going to focus on teams who earned "B" marks and better. There were just too many sparkling performances at the top to not highlight some of the many better showings in the sport. As always, the grades are handed out based on the week that was, running from Monday-Sunday.
College basketball grades: This week's report card
| Team | Grade | Analysis | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Richmond | A+ | The Atlantic 10 officially runs through Richmond. Chris Mooney's Spiders ensured that on Saturday with a spectacular home win over No. 16 Dayton to remain unbeaten (7-0) in conference play. |
 | UConn | A+ | If there were any doubts about which team is the best right now in college hoops ... well, then you've just admitted you haven't watched UConn. Dan Hurley's team smashed Xavier over the head with a sledgehammer Sunday by 43 points at home. Huskies are hashtag #good. |
 | Houston | A+ | Houston has the best defense in college hoops and is playing like one of the four of five teams no one wants to face in March. They stole a massive road win at BYU this week before running Kansas State out of the gym four days later like it was a Division III opponent. |
 | Wisconsin | A | The Big Ten-leading Badgers retained their lead in the standings with a perfect 2-0 week replete with wins over Minnesota on the road and Michigan State at home. Wisconsin has weapons aplenty with AJ Storr, Tyler Wahl, Max Klesmit and Chucky Hepburn capable of stealing the show any given night. Time to put some respect on their names! |
 | Purdue | A | Purdue dominated both home and away this week with comfortable wins over Michigan and Rutgers. This team was a punchline last March for its early exit but has rounded into shape as one of the most formidable top-to-bottom rosters in college basketball -- led by Player of the Year frontrunner Zach Edey. |
 | North Carolina | A | The ACC is UNC's to lose after improving to 9-0 (!) in league play this week. Carolina dominated a good Wake Forest team at home then staged a road comeback to take down Florida State on Saturday. |
 | Texas Tech | B+ | It's quickly looking like Grant McCasland was *the* best coaching hire of last offseason. He has Texas Tech atop the Big 12 standings after leading his team to a huge road win at Oklahoma on Saturday. |
 | Utah State | A | In a strong year for the Mountain West, Utah State continues to keep its heads just above the rest of the league thanks to a crucial road win in overtime over a formidable Boise State team this weekend. The experience and backcourt play of this Aggies team screams March Madness bracket-buster. |
 | Alabama | B+ | A wild week in the SEC that saw Auburn lose twice now has rival Alabama 0.5 games up in the league standings. One of Bama's two wins this week came against the aforementioned Tigers, and its big week was capped by a cushy road win over LSU. Once again: Nate Oats has a potent offense that can take this team far. |
 | Cornell | B | The first Ivy League love in this space this season! Cornell gets deserved shine after winning by 15 at home over Princeton this weekend, helping narrow the undefeated teams in Ivy League action to just Cornell and Yale. |
 | Duke | B- | Duke probably should have lost Saturday if not for some iffy calls going its way late inside Cameron Indoor vs. Clemson. But those calls *did* go Duke's way, and Duke *did* win. Some credit is due there. It hasn't always been pretty, but this Blue Devils team has won nine of its last 10 games. |
