FSU basketball: Noles ranked No. 16 after routing Clemson

FSU basketball (9-2, 5-1 ACC) has been unranked the past couple of weeks, but that has changed after winning their fourth consecutive ACC conference game.

FSU was previously ranked No. 25 about three weeks ago and was dropped from the rankings after losing to Clemson in late December and not playing for two weeks.

The Noles defeated No. 16 Louisville and No. 20 Clemson last week by double-digits and re-entered the AP Poll at No. 16.

FSU basketball fans were clamoring for respect after beating NC State and North Carolina the week before:

I was of the notion to keep them unranked if that would help them keep playing at the level they were playing. The new ranking is a bit too low, but Clemson isn’t ranked anymore after three blowout losses and Louisville is now ranked No. 25.

How is the world is a five loss Kansas team still ranked ahead of FSU? They have some wins over highly-ranked teams, but they have two losses to Oklahoma, TCU, and Oklahoma State.

I think FSU basketball should be ranked ahead of four-loss teams like Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Texas Tech.

Louisville was the highest-ranked team the Noles have faced, and they won’t face another ranked opponent until No. 20 Virginia Tech in a couple of weeks.

The challenge for FSU is to keep the same edge they have had the last couple of weeks. They will need to avoid playing to their level of competition and keep their foot on the gas if they want to continue to earn respect.

These next few games against Miami, Georgia Tech, and Boston College will tell us a lot about this team and if they are real contenders to go deep in the tournament in March. It begins with hosting Miami Wednesday at 6 p.m. on the ACC Network.