AP College Basketball Poll 2015: Complete Week 10 Rankings Released

And then there were two. Barely. Kentucky and Virginia, thanks in large part to clutch performances in down-to-the-wire nail-biters, established themselves as the nation's two best teams last week by avoiding the upset bug that was prevalent throughout college basketball as conference play ramped up.

The Wildcats squeaked through a double-overtime thriller at Texas A&M while the Cavaliers ascended to their No. 2 ranking on the back of a six-point win at Notre Dame. As for the remainder of the Top Five, let's just say things could have gone better.

Losses from Duke, Wisconsin and Louisville opened up the top of the poll for a significant shakeup, as Villanova and Gonzaga worked their way back into the Top Five. The Zags leapfrogged the No. 4 Blue Devils to take the third spot, and No. 5 Villanova rounds out the elite of the elite.

Here is a look at how the remainder of The Associated Press' rankings for Week 10 shook out:

Ranking	Team
1	Kentucky
2	Virginia
3	Gonzaga
4	Duke
5	Villanova
6	Louisville
7	Wisconsin
8	Utah
9	Kansas
10	Arizona
11	Iowa State
12	Notre Dame
13	Wichita State
14	Maryland
15	North Carolina
16	West Virginia
17	Virginia Commonwealth
18	Oklahoma
19	Arkansas
20	Texas
21	Seton Hall
22	Baylor
23	Northern Iowa
24	Oklahoma State
25	Wyoming

Following the reveal of the latest rankings, Kyle Tucker of The Courier-Journal questioned the importance of Kentucky no longer being the unanimous No. 1 team in the country: 

A majority of the excitement happened over the weekend, with a number of high-profile games going down to the final minute and a few upsets looming over everything.

Duke dropped its first contest of 2014-15 with an 87-75 loss to North Carolina State, as the Blue Devils continued their bout with defensive miscues. The Wolfpack shot a sizzling 55 percent from the floor, including a 10-of-16 mark from beyond the arc. Duke's Matt Jones and Tyus Jones combined to make two of their 14 shot attempts, overshadowing another breakout performance from Jahlil Okafor.

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Head coach Mike Krzyzewski discussed his team's performance following the game, per the AP (h/t ESPN.com):

"

Were we as tough as we needed to be? No. Does that mean we're soft? No. We're a good team. We need to learn to play at that level. You've got to be in these things to learn it.

"

Duke will look to get back on the winning track Saturday when it travels to Louisville, which itself will be trying to pick up the pieces after a loss. Marcus Paige's layup with 8.5 seconds remaining gave North Carolina its biggest win of the season and handed Rick Pitino's team its second defeat against a Top 25 opponent this season. The 72-71 thriller saw Terry Rozier and Chris Jones combine for 44 points, but the Louisville bench went scoreless while North Carolina got production from everywhere on the roster.

Duke and Louisville should get tune-up wins against Miami and Virginia Tech, respectively, before meeting at the KFC Yum! Center. It'll be the storied programs' first meeting with Louisville as an ACC member.

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The ACC wasn't the only conference where the elite were dropping like flies. Wisconsin's 67-62 defeat to lowly Rutgers may play a factor come March if the Badgers are battling for a top tournament seed. The Scarlet Knights shot 54.3 percent from the floor and got a combined 41 points from Myles Mack and Kadeem Jack.

The loss' effect is somewhat mitigated by the absence of Frank Kaminsky. Ruled out with concussion-like symptoms, Kaminsky's absence was especially felt in the second half, where Rutgers put up 44 points amid a flurry of good shots near the basket. Head coach Bo Ryan also lost guard Traevon Jackson to a foot injury, per the team on Twitter.

"Of course we missed [Traevon], him being our leader at the point guard position," forward Nigel Hayes said, according to Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "But what happened out there is not the [result] of Trae's absence or Frank not being able to play. That is on the guys that played. We have to take accountability for what we let happen."

Regardless of March seeding, no team lost more national clout this week than Texas. The Longhorns, who entered the week No. 10 in the country, were throttled by Oklahoma in Austin and fell in a road game to Oklahoma State. The Sooners' 70-49 win featured a first half in which Texas managed a paltry 14 points. Neither contest saw Rick Barnes' squad eclipse 35 percent shooting, and senior forward Jonathan Holmes shot a frustrating 2-of-19 from the field combined in the losses.

Oft-maligned for his struggles in big games, Barnes has now watched his team lose twice to unranked opponents already. With four of their next five contests against solid Big 12 outfits, it's possible the Longhorns drop from the Top 10 to playing for their tournament lives come February.

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Overall, 15 ranked teams went down over the last seven days. Arizona, which dropped a 58-56 thriller against Oregon State, rounds out the five Top 10 outfits that fell. Maryland, Seton Hall and West Virginia were also among the notable losses this week, with each losing winnable contests that would've helped their ranking.

The Mountaineers are very quietly two made baskets away from being the nation's third unbeaten. They've dropped home games to LSU and Iowa State by a combined three points. The Cyclones were able to earn a 74-72 victory in Morgantown this week by holding the home side to 32.4 percent shooting and making half of their field-goal attempts.

Guard Juwan Staten spoke on how his team must bounce back from the loss, according to Connor Murray of The Daily Athenaeum:

"

Where do we go from here? We have another big game Tuesday. We want to come out and impose our will on Oklahoma. We don't want to let this game have a carry-over effect. It happened to us last year, so we really want to fight against that and come out ready to play Tuesday.

"

Even close losses against Top 25 teams like West Virginia's created a ripple effect in this week's standings. Texas' 10-spot drop to No. 20 was the biggest among teams still ranked, with most other changes relatively minor. Iowa State's six-spot leap was the best among risers.

Ohio State, St. John's and Old Dominion were the three teams jettisoned from the rankings this week. Taking their place are Northern Iowa, Oklahoma State and Wyoming. 

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.