AP College Basketball Poll 2014: Complete Week 7 Rankings Released

Another week in college basketball, another strikingly similar Associated Press Top 25 poll. For a second straight week, the entire Top 10 in the AP rankings remained intact, with the biggest changes coming outside of the best teams.

Kentucky throttled its way to a win over UCLA and looked every bit the part of a unanimous No. 1 choice. While the Wildcats came away with the most decisive win of the week—possibly the year—Duke, Arizona and Louisville remained unblemished and inside the Top Five.

Meanwhile, Ohio State's loss to North Carolina sent both teams heading in opposite directions in the poll. Similarly, Oklahoma falling to Washington led to a swap in the standings and the Huskies creeping into the Top 15.

Here's a look at the full AP poll for Week 7 of the 2014 college basketball season. The only change in the Top 10 was Virginia and Wisconsin switching places.

Ranking	Team (First-place votes)	Record
1	Kentucky (65)	12-0
2	Duke	10-0
3	Arizona	12-0
4	Louisville	10-0
5	Virginia	11-0
6	Wisconsin	10-1
7	Villanova	11-0
8	Gonzaga	11-1
9	Texas	10-1
10	Kansas	9-1
11	Wichita State	8-1
12	Iowa State	9-1
13	Washington	10-0
14	Utah	8-2
15	Maryland	11-1
16	Notre Dame	11-1
17	St. John's	9-1
18	West Virginia	10-1
19	Oklahoma	7-3
20	North Carolina	8-3
21	Ohio State	9-2
22	Baylor	9-1
23	Northern Iowa	10-1
24	Colorado State	11-0
25	TCU	11-0

Any discussion about college basketball this year begins with Kentucky, and rightfully so. The Wildcats have dismantled several notable programs already, but the beatdown they put on the Bruins was a statement win.

Offensively and defensively, Kentucky proved it can still be a dominant team without Alex Poythress in the fold. One statistic from the first half of the game embodied exactly how decisive the win was for UK, via Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio:

Putting it simply, the Wildcats have a repertoire good enough to take down any team. That will be tested this Saturday against Louisville, which will likely be 11-0 heading into the massive showdown.

At this point in the season, the Wildcats look like the class of the sport, and a win against Louisville would make that statement even more convincing. Still, despite wins over the likes of Kansas and Texas already, Kentucky guard Devin Booker noted the Wildcats aren't measuring themselves against other teams.

"We have to keep playing against ourselves," Booker said, via Brian Hamilton of Sports Illustrated. "Coach always stresses to us that we're not playing against the other team. We're playing against ourselves."

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

Kentucky wasn't going anywhere following its huge win, but several other teams moved around outside of the Top 10. The Buckeyes and Sooners were two of those notable programs, with both suffering losses to ranked teams.

Both Washington and UNC got the job done with strong games from Nigel Williams-Goss and Marcus Paige, respectively. The guard play for both teams has helped get them into the Top 25, but they will need more consistency to remain there.

Paige has been lackluster at times this year but is still the leader for the Tar Heels. Jeff Goodman of ESPN offered his take on how Paige can find more success in UNC's offense:

With most of the teams at the top heading into conference play, the AP poll will no doubt have a completely different look once the new year rolls around. Conferences like the ACC and Big 12 have multiple teams in the Top 15, but those squads will have to face each other very soon.

Kentucky and Louisville also have a chance to make a statement this weekend in the Battle for the Bluegrass. With the Wildcats winning the last two meetings, moving to three straight will be enough for another week at the top.

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