There was a huge shakeup in the AP Top 25 college basketball rankings after brutal weeks for top-two teams Duke and Kansas and superb weeks for Arizona State and Villanova, among others.
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What teams' stock rose and declined after good and bad weeks? Who may jump or tumble in the Week 7 rankings? And what are the biggest AP Top 25 matchups this week?
Let's break it down, but first, here is the Week 6 AP Top 25:
Rank | Team | Record | Last Week |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Villanova | 10-0 | 3 |
2 | Michigan State | 9-1 | 3 |
3 | Wichita State | 8-1 | 6 |
4 | Duke | 11-1 | 1 |
5 | Arizona State | 9-0 | 16 |
6 | Miami (FL) | 8-0 | 10 |
7 | North Carolina | 9-1 | 11 |
8 | Kentucky | 8-1 | 8 |
9 | Texas A&M | 8-1 | 7 |
10 | Xavier | 9-1 | 13 |
11 | West Virginia | 9-1 | 18 |
12 | Gonzaga | 8-2 | 12 |
13 | Kansas | 7-2 | 2 |
14 | TCU | 10-0 | 20 |
15 | Seton Hall | 8-1 | 19 |
16 | Virginia | 8-1 | 15 |
17 | Purdue | 10-2 | 21 |
18 | Notre Dame | 8-2 | 9 |
19 | Florida State | 9-0 | Unranked |
20 | Tennessee | 7-1 | 24 |
21 | Baylor | 7-2 | 23 |
22 | Florida | 6-3 | 5 |
23 | Arizona | 7-3 | Unranked |
24 | Texas Tech | 7-1 | Unranked |
25 | Cincinnati | 7-2 | 17 |
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Good Weeks
Villanova is ranked No. 1 for the third straight season thanks to a 2-0 week that included a 16-point win over No. 12 Gonzaga. The Wildcats had never been ranked atop the AP Top 25 in program history until the 2015-16 season.
Wichita State beat South Dakota State and Oklahoma State to earn their highest ranking since 1981-82 (No. 3) and Arizona State is No. 5 — their highest ranking since 1980-81 — after the impressive road win at Kansas.
Elsewhere, TCU is 10-0 and ranked 14th, Florida State jumped from unranked to No. 19 and Arizona is back in the Top 25 (No. 23) after beating Texas A&M.
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Bad Weeks
No. 1 Duke and No. 2 Kansas combined for three losses and tumbled a combined 14 spots, though the Jayhawks accounted for most of the misery, dropping 11 spots from No. 2 to No. 13 after losses to Arizona State and Washington.
Notre Dame and Florida were kicked in the groin with losses to Ball State and Loyola-Chicago, respectively. The Irish were also smacked around by Florida State.
Minnesota suffered their third straight loss and second straight blowout, losing by 16 at Arkansas.
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Opportunities to Enter Top 25
Oklahoma narrowly missed the Top 25 despite a win over previously ranked USC and though the Sooners only play one game this week, it's a big one. They visit Wichita State on Saturday.
Creighton and Texas are the only two other teams to earn at least 50 votes and while both don't have daunting schedules (Longhorns do host Michigan on Tuesday), they can move up with clean weeks.
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Opportunities to Fall From Top 25
It's a light week for the Top 25 — and across college basketball as final exams and weak late-non-conference schedules take over — but there are some opportunities for lower-ranked teams to stumble.
Cincinnati hosts Mississippi State on Tuesday and visits UCLA on Saturday. Florida plays a decent Clemson team in Sunrise, Fla., on Saturday and Tennessee hosts North Carolina on Sunday.