Iowa State basketball slides in latest NCAA NET Ranking

Iowa State still remains behind Big 12 rival Houston in NCAA NET Ranking

The Iowa State men are sixth in the latest NCAA NET Rankings. / Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Iowa State men are currently third in both the latest AP Poll and Coaches Poll Top 25 rankings. However, the Cyclones are a few spots lower in the NCAA NET Ranking.

After sitting fifth last week in the rankings, Iowa State fell a spot in the newest ones to sixth despite blasting Baylor. They are the second-highest Big 12 Conference team, two spots behind Houston. 

Auburn, No. 2 in the AP and Coaches Polls, leads the NET with Duke second and Tennessee third. Gonzaga jumped ahead of Iowa State to fifth with Illinois, Florida, Alabama and a third Big 12 team, Kansas, rounding out the Top 10.

The Cyclones (12-1) have two road wins, are 2-1 in neutral games and own three Quad 1 victories this year to go along with three Quad 2 wins. They are also a perfect 6-0 in Quad 4 games, as the lone loss came to Auburn at the Maui Invitational in November.

What makes the NET Ranking so important? 

The NET Rankings, which stand for NCAA Evaluation Tool, are used as a primary sorting measure for the selection and seeding of the NCAA Tournament. 

Quad 1 wins are given more strength, as they come against Top 30 NET teams in home games and Top 50 in road victories. With a No. 6 ranking in the latest NET, Iowa State would likely slot into a No. 2 seed if the tournament started today. 

As a whole, the Big 12 features seven teams ranked inside the Top 30 of the NET. Joining Houston, Iowa State and Kansas are Arizona (No. 16), Texas Tech (21), Baylor (24), West Virginia (25), Cincinnati (32) and BYU (47).