College Basketball Rankings 2014-15: Bleacher Report's Week 3 Top 25

After a week in which they destroyed Kansas and held Montana State to just 28 points in an entire 40-minute game, the Kentucky Wildcats are the unanimous No. 1 team in Bleacher Report's College Basketball Top 25 for Week 3.

We elected not to do a poll after the first weekend of the season, so this is our first installment since the preseason poll.

Suffice it to say, a lot has changed.

Six teams dropped out of our Top 25—including reigning national champs Connecticut—while teams like West Virginia and Miami are suddenly ranked after failing to sniff anyone's preseason ballot.

Voting in this poll is conducted by myself, Jason King and C.J. Moore, and not a single one of us had the Huskies in our ballots after their loss to the Mountaineers on Sunday night. It was more than just that one game, though. Connecticut has struggled in every game it has played this season. It might be a while before the Huskies regain our trust.

Teams Dropped from Preseason Rankings: Nebraska (17), Kansas State (18), SMU (21), Connecticut (22), Harvard (24), Iowa (25)

Others Considered: Utah, Providence, Indiana, Baylor, Syracuse, Illinois, Georgetown, Texas A&M

No. 25-21: West Virginia-UCLA

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25. West Virginia 5-0 (Previous Rank: NR. 10 votes)

Was Sunday night's win over Connecticut in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off championship game more about West Virginia being good or Connecticut struggling? We'll have to wait to find out. Before you get too amped up over one early-season tournament, though, keep in mind that Charlotte beat Michigan in last year's P.R. Tip-Off.

Still, it's been an excellent showing from a team that most of us expected to finish seventh or eighth in the Big 12.

24. Arkansas 3-0 (Previous Rank: NR. 12 votes)

We're not entirely sure if Arkansas is good just yet, but the Razorbacks look pretty good compared to other SEC teams not named Kentucky. They struggled in the first half of the season opener against Alabama State, but it's been smooth sailing since then. Nice test (for both teams) coming up on Tuesday at SMU.

23. Florida 2-1 (Previous Rank: 7. 13 votes)

We're still believing…just not as much. Chris Walker missed the first two games. Dorian Finney-Smith missed the second and third games. Eli Carter missed the most recent game against Louisiana-Monroe. This Gators team is far from whole, but it's also far from good at the moment.

22. Stanford 3-1 (Previous Rank: NR. 14 votes)

Yes, the Cardinal jump into the rankings despite suffering a loss. Not an easy thing to do, but neither is making UNLV look terrible. Stanford lost to Duke in the Coaches vs. Cancer championship game but fought hard and defended well. Get ready to hear a lot about Chasson Randle for the next five months.

21. UCLA 4-0 (Previous Rank: NR. 14 votes)

For a team that lost all sorts of scorers from last season, the Bruins have really shown an ability to score. Bryce Alford has been "Why wasn't he on the preseason Wooden Watch?" good, and freshman Kevon Looney has been incredible. The competition gets stiff in a hurry, though, as UCLA goes to war in the Battle 4 Atlantis this week.

No. 20-16: Miami-Michigan

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20. Miami 5-0 (Previous Rank: NR. 14 votes)

Not only did the Hurricanes pull off one of the most surprising upsets of the season with a road win over Florida, they've simply eviscerated every other team that they've played. The Charleston Classic wasn't exactly loaded with quality competition, but they won three games in four days by a total of 67 points. Miami will make some serious noise in the ACC this year.

19. Michigan State 2-1 (Previous Rank: NR. 14 votes)

We're not entirely sure how Michigan State missed the preseason cut, but the Spartans were able to make their debut in the poll at No. 19 despite suffering a 10-point loss to Duke. With so many fringe Top 25 teams losing in the past 10 days, we're putting faith in Tom Izzo to quickly turn things rather than putting faith in a team like Rhode Island or Indiana truly being this good this early.

18. Ohio State 3-0 (Previous Rank: NR. 16 votes)

The Buckeyes are in good hands with Shannon Scott. The senior point guard has 41 assists through three games. That's not a misprint. They won't really be tested until traveling to Louisville on Dec. 2, but they're looking pretty darn good so far.

17. Oklahoma 2-1  (Previous Rank: 15. 25 votes)

The Sooners inexplicably blew a 17-point second-half lead to Creighton on Wednesday night, but we're still buying stock in a team that finally learned right before the start of its season that TaShawn Thomas is eligible to play. He hasn't had a huge game yet, but he will. Thomas could be the difference between another early exit from the NCAA tournament and a trip to the Final Four.

16. Michigan 3-0 (Previous Rank: 20. 31 votes)

The Wolverines are shooting 45.9 percent from three-point range through three games. That's a great start, but it masks the deeper concern that they still don't have their interior game figured out. We'll see if Max Bielfeldt, Mark Donnal or Ricky Doyle can emerge as a reliable big man this week in the Legends Classic.

No. 15-11: San Diego State-Virginia

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15. San Diego State 3-0 (Previous Rank: 19. 31 votes)

The Aztecs still need to figure out who their go-to scorers are, but that defense is absolutely ridiculous. They are averaging 11.7 steals per game while holding their opponents to 44.7 points per game. It should be a fun contrast in styles when they play BYU on Monday night.

14. Kansas 1-1 (Previous Rank: 4. 38 votes)

Not the start we were expecting from the Jayhawks, and they don't exactly have much time to nurse the wounds of that blowout loss to Kentucky in the Champions Classic. After playing Rider, they get Rhode Island in the Orlando Classic opener, then go immediately from that tournament to games against Florida, Georgetown and Utah. We're going to learn a lot about this young team in a hurry.

13. VCU 3-0 (Previous Rank: 16. 41 votes)

We don't divulge our individual ballots. I don't know why. But I have VCU at No. 8 this week.

If Melvin Johnson continues to average anything close to 18.3 PPG, there's simply no beating the Rams. Briante Weber is up to his old defensive wizard tricks on the perimeter. Treveon Graham is playing very well in the post and Terry Larrier has been a nice freshman addition. Throw in Jordan Burgess not shooting 30.7 percent from the field in the future, and VCU is going to have a tremendous season.

12. Villanova 3-0 (Previous Rank: 13. 43 votes)

We're not getting any of that VCU excitement from Villanova. The Wildcats just barely won games against Lehigh and Bucknell. Those are quality minor-conference programs in most seasons, but not a promising start from the team everyone expected to win the Big East in the preseason.

Monday night's game between VCU and Villanova in the Legends Classic is going to be a blast.

11. Virginia 4-0 (Previous Rank: 14. 46 votes)

Virginia's defense has been just as good as ever. It would be nice if another scorer emerged for the Cavaliers, but holding opponents to 46.8 points per game allows some flexibility on the offensive end of things.

10. Wichita State Shockers

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Record: 3-0 (48 votes)

Previous rank: 11

Results since last poll: vs. New Mexico State (71-54), at Memphis (71-56), vs. Newman (105-57)

Games this week: vs. Tulsa

The Shockers are well on their way to another undefeated season!

Maybe not so much, but they have looked pretty good—particularly on the defensive end of the court.

New Mexico State and Memphis are still finding their footing this season, but Wichita State held each of those teams under 60 points, forcing a combined total of 44 turnovers and holding them to 23.1 percent shooting from three-point range.

The margins were a bit closer than they should have been, as Wichita State horrendously shot 4-of-27 (14.8 percent) from three-point range between the two games. However, they found their stroke a bit on Sunday against D-II Newman, hitting 10-of-23 triples in a blowout win.

The Shockers shouldn't have much trouble this week in a home game against Tulsa, but they'd better not get caught looking ahead to the road game against Utah next week.

8 (tie). Iowa State Cyclones

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Record: 2-0 (50 votes)

Previous rank: 10

Results since last poll: vs. Oakland (93-82), vs. Georgia State (81-58)

Games this week: CBE HOF Classic

What a fantastic addition Bryce Dejean-Jones has been after transferring from UNLV. Fred Hoiberg always seems to strike it rich with those transfers.

Through two games, BDJ is averaging 17.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.5 steals. He was simply all over the court in the statement win over Georgia State.

Now for the scary part: Iowa State is just now approaching full strength.

Abdel Nader and Matt Thomas were both suspended for the first two games of the season due to some poor decisions in the offseason, but they'll be back this week in the CBE HOF Classic to help take some of the load off the starters' shoulders.

Then, in less than a month, big man Jameel McKay will be eligible to play, adding a whole new dynamic to the Cyclones offense.

They'll play Alabama in the opening round of the CBE HOF Classic before drawing either Maryland or Arizona State in (presumably) the championship game. Nothing is a guarantee in college basketball, but it'd be a pretty big upset if Iowa State didn't win that tournament.

8 (tie). Texas Longhorns

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Record: 4-0 (50 votes)

Previous rank: 12

Results since last poll: vs. North Dakota State (85-50), vs. Alcorn State (85-53), vs. Iowa (71-57), vs. California (71-55)

Games this week: vs. St. Francis (PA), at Connecticut

Texas passed a couple of big tests this week in the 2K Classic.

First, the Longhorns beat a quality Iowa team, holding the Hawkeyes to just 57 points. Shutting down North Dakota State and Alcorn State didn't prove much, but that come-from-behind win over Iowa solidified their ranking.

Then, they had to play less than 24 hours later without their starting point guard, as Isaiah Taylor may be out for several weeks because of a reported broken bone in his wrist. Despite the setback, they took care of a good California team in a game that was never really in doubt.

We'll see how well Texas does in the immediate future with Javan Felix at point guard, but this is a deep team that plays strong defense. Guys like Cameron Ridley and Kendal Yancy will need to be at their best to make up for Taylor's absence, but they're more than capable of doing just that.

7. Louisville Cardinals

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Record: 3-0 (54 votes)

Previous rank: 9

Results since last poll: vs. Minnesota (81-68), vs. Jacksonville State (88-39), vs. Marshall (85-67)

Games this week: vs. Savannah State, vs. Cleveland State

After opening the season with a bang against Minnesota in the Armed Forces Classic, Louisville is now firmly entrenched in one of the weakest nonconference schedules in the country.

The home game against Kentucky on Dec. 27 is anything other than weak, but those two teams have been playing each other every season for decades. It barely even counts as a nonconference game anymore.

The Cardinals will get a nice test at home against Ohio State in the ACC/B1G Challenge next week. For now, though, it's a few more home games against teams going nowhere that will tell us little to nothing about Louisville's outlook for the season.

Perhaps those games will give guys like Mangok Mathiang, Chinanu Onuaku and Anton Gill a chance to separate from the crowd and really become a part of the main rotation that Rick Pitino uses in ACC play. We know Montrezl Harrell, Terry Rozier, Chris Jones and Wayne Blackshear are the primary guys, but who else steps up?

6. North Carolina Tar Heels

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Record: 3-0 (61 votes)

Previous rank: 6

Results since last poll: vs. North Carolina Central (76-60), vs. Robert Morris (103-59), at Davidson (90-72)

Games this week: Battle 4 Atlantis

As expected, Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson have been incredible in the paint.

Their combined stat line through three games: 39.7 MPG, 31.4 PPG, 18.7 RPG, 3.0 BPG.

Super frosh Justin Jackson has also been every bit as good as advertised, averaging 13.3 PPG and shooting 63.0 percent from the field.

The real question with the Tar Heels is: When does the real Marcus Paige show up, and can anyone beat him when he does?

Paige hasn't been bad by any means, and he has served as the team's only reliable three-point threat (7-of-14). However, we were expecting much more than 12.0 PPG and 3.0 APG when he was unanimously placed on the preseason All-America lists. Either the points or assists are bound to rise considerably, but there's no reason they can't both increase.

Say goodbye to the warm-up games, though. North Carolina gets Butler in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis before facing either UCLA or Oklahoma in the semifinals and potentially Wisconsin in the championship game.

5. Arizona Wildcats

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Record: 3-0 (63 votes)

Previous rank: 3

Results since last poll: vs. Mount St. Mary's (78-55), vs. Cal-State Northridge (86-68), vs. UC Irvine (71-54)

Games this week: Maui Invitational

Arizona dropped a couple of spots this week.

Much of that is due to the fact that Duke and Gonzaga were so incredible that we had no choice but to allow those teams to leapfrog the Wildcats.

Part of it, though, is because that 17-point win over UC Irvine looked like a possible loss for a solid 35 minutes.

They persevered and won in convincing fashion—not unlike Kentucky's eventually convincing win over Buffalo last Sunday. The big difference, though, is that we didn't get to see Arizona beat Kansas by 32 points two days later. That game against the Anteaters is still the freshest thing in our collective memory.

However, the individual stats are strong. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is a scoring machine off the bench. T.J. McConnell is a stat-stuffing point guard. Brandon Ashley is playing extremely well after returning from injury. Stanley Johnson is committing a lot of turnovers, but he's playing much better than a lot of the highly rated freshmen from around the country.

If the Wildcats show up in a big way in the Maui Invitational—likely going through Missouri, Kansas State and San Diego State for the title—we probably go back to thinking they're a huge favorite to make the Final Four. For now, though, they've got some work to do to get back into our top four.

4. Gonzaga Bulldogs

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Record: 4-0 (66 votes)

Previous rank: 8

Results since last poll: vs. Sacramento State (104-58), vs. SMU (72-56), vs. Saint Joseph's (94-42), vs. St. Thomas Aquinas (109-55)

Games this week: NIT Tip-Off

Any self-respecting team should be 4-0 against Gonzaga's schedule.

But it took one heck of a good team to win those games as convincingly as the Bulldogs did.

The win over SMU was the first clue that we were looking at a truly dominant team. Even though they shot 40.0 percent from the free-throw line and won the rebounding battle by just a 42-40 margin, the game was never really in doubt. Kevin Pangos had an out-of-this-world 17 points, seven assists, five rebounds, three steals and zero turnovers.

Seeing Pangos play at full health with an improved surrounding cast has been one of the biggest delights of the first 10 days of the season.

It was the complete rout of Saint Joseph's, however, that got everyone tweeting about how ridiculously good-looking the Bulldogs are.

Granted, Saint Joseph's opened its season with a dreadful home loss to Fairleigh Dickinson. To be up on a D-I team by a halftime score of 48-10, though, is just insane.

Gonzaga had 54 rebounds to Saint Joseph's 26. The Bulldogs had 21 assists and the Hawks had four. Pangos played less than 20 minutes. By the time Kyle Wiltjer scored his first points of the game, Gonzaga was already up 75-28.

If we're having trouble forgetting Arizona's near loss to UC Irvine, we're definitely having trouble forgetting the way Gonzaga surgically destroyed Saint Joseph's.

This week, the Zags play Georgia in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Tuesday before drawing either Minnesota or St. John's on Thursday. Should they win those games by 50 points apiece, too, we may have to consider putting them at No. 1 next Sunday. 

3. Duke Blue Devils

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Record: 5-0 (69 votes)

Previous rank: 5

Results since last poll: vs. Presbyterian (113-44), vs. Fairfield (109-59), vs. Michigan State (81-71), vs. Temple (74-54), vs. Stanford (70-59)

Games this week: vs. Furman, vs. Army

Disappointing a lot of the haters out there, Duke looks phenomenal.

Tyus Jones has 25 assists and 10 steals against just five turnovers. Jahlil Okafor is averaging 15.8 PPG, 8.0 RPG and 1.6 BPG in the paint. "Is Justise Winslow the best freshman in the country?" is a debate that has gathered way more traction than we could have possibly anticipated.

While those three freshmen are setting the world on fire, it's the senior who's leading the team in scoring. Quinn Cook is averaging 17.0 PPG and has incredibly made 48.6 percent of his 35 three-point attempts.

Amile Jefferson has filled his role to a tee, and Matt Jones and Rasheed Sulaimon have been great off the bench.

It's tough to find a weakness on this team without resorting to whining that they'll end up losing to Mercer or Lehigh in the tournament anyway.

The Blue Devils get a little lull in the action this week before the massive game at Wisconsin on Dec. 3.

2. Wisconsin Badgers

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Record: 4-0 (71 votes)

Previous rank: 2

Results since last poll: vs. Northern Kentucky (62-31), vs. Chattanooga (89-45), vs. Green Bay (84-60), vs. Boise State (78-54)

Games this week: Battle 4 Atlantis

It's a shame Kentucky did what it did to Kansas, because it puts the Wildcats at No. 1 without even giving Wisconsin a chance.

What the Badgers have done thus far is incredible, as they've won all four games by at least 24 points—even though their two most recent games were against teams that entered the season with realistic dreams of an at-large bid.

Frank Kaminsky has somehow elevated his game to another level, averaging 19.3 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 2.8 APG and 2.8 BPG. The long-range tank is also shooting 44.4 percent from three-point range.

Most surprising, though, has been the development of Nigel Hayes into a double-double machine who can shoot three-pointers.

Sam Dekker hasn't even found his outside stroke yet, and already Wisconsin is slaughtering everyone it plays. We'll see if the Badgers can keep that up this week in the Battle 4 Atlantis. They open with UAB before potentially having to go through Florida and North Carolina less than 24 hours apart.

1. Kentucky Wildcats

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Record: 5-0 (75 votes)

Previous rank: 1

Results since last poll: vs. Grand Canyon (85-45), vs. Buffalo (71-52), vs. Kansas (72-40), vs. Boston (89-65), vs. Montana State (86-28)

Games this week: vs. Texas-Arlington, vs. Providence

What can we possibly say about Kentucky that hasn't already been said?

The Wildcats have been every bit as good as advertised already this season, and the offense hasn't even started firing on all cylinders yet.

By sheer athleticism and a constant advantage in fatigue, Kentucky is beating opponents into submission on the defensive end of the court on a nightly basis. Even in the game against Boston in which the Wildcats allowed an opponent to score more than 52 points for the first time, they had nine blocks and forced 22 turnovers.

Eventually, one or two guys are going to step up and become the alpha dog(s) on offense—probably Aaron Harrison if he ever rediscovers his three-point stroke (23.8 percent to date)—and the Wildcats are going to start winning games against legitimate D-I opponents by scores like 103-59.

Five down, 35 to go?

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.