AP College Basketball Poll 2015: Complete Week 3 Rankings Released

While college football dominates the headlines going into the conference title games, the college basketball season has already offered a number of storylines, surprises and amazing matchups to kick off the year.

Let's break down the latest Associated Press rankings and take a look back at an intriguing Week 2.

Poll

Rank	Team (1st-Place Votes)	Record
1	Kentucky (59)	6-0
2	Maryland (4)	6-0
3	Michigan State (2)	7-0
4	Kansas	4-1
5	Iowa State	5-0
6	Oklahoma	4-0
7	Duke	6-1
8	Villanova	6-0
9	North Carolina	5-1
10	Virginia	5-1
11	Purdue	6-0
12	Xavier	7-0
13	Gonzaga	4-1
14	Syracuse	6-0
15	Oregon	5-0
16	Vanderbilt	5-1
17	Cincinnati	7-0
18	Texas A&M	6-1
19	Arizona	6-1
20	West Virginia	6-0
21	Miami	5-1
22	SMU	4-0
23	Providence	6-1
24	Louisville	5-0
25	Baylor	4-1

Analysis

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Schools like Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan State, Iowa State, Duke, Kansas and Villanova were always likely to stay near the top of the rankings after going undefeated last week.

Duke and Kansas recovered nicely from losses two weeks ago to Kentucky and Michigan State, respectively. The Blue Devils hammered Yale and Utah State, as expected, while the Jayhawks learned that Cheick Diallo would be eligible to play—a major boon for the program—and earned solid wins over Chaminade, UCLA and Vanderbilt.

They weren't the only top contender that received good news. North Carolina—which lost its top spot in the rankings after losing to Northern Iowa, only to recover with wins over Northwestern and Kansas State this week—got back star point guard Marcus Paige when it was announced he would play against Maryland on Tuesday, per Andy Katz of ESPN.com, making that game the top matchup of the week.

But perhaps no top team impressed more this past week than Oklahoma, whose basketball program is being overshadowed slightly by the football team at the moment. Nonetheless, the Sooners hammered a suddenly reeling Wisconsin team 65-48, despite an off night from top scorer Buddy Hield.

That's not a great sign for the rest of the Big 12, as the Sooners are proving to be a well-rounded team led by an explosive offense. The fact that they could beat a Wisconsin team that slowed the tempo and featured solid defense, preventing Oklahoma from playing its normal style, was impressive.

Wisconsin, on the other hand, appears to be in trouble. Coach Bo Ryan addressed some of the team's deficiencies after the loss, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com):

"

They played off of some of our guys who they didn't feel could shoot. Actually, that would have referred to everybody on our team in the long run. When we had the opportunities in the paint, we didn't finish. I'm really disappointed in that. ...

You get spoiled when you have five guys who can shoot threes on the court at one time. We haven't had that this year. I'm waiting for some of our guys that are pretty good shooters to show that they can commit to defense.

"

Despite veterans from last year's team that reached the NCAA championship game, led by Nigel Hayes, the Badgers look lost right now. Things won't get any easier, as up next is a surging Syracuse team.

The Orange, meanwhile, are hot after wins over UConn and Texas A&M. They are certainly surprising folks around the country, including ESPN's Dick Vitale:

Upcoming matchups against Wisconsin and Georgetown won't be easy, but it's tough to bet against Syracuse at the moment.

It's fairly easy to bet against Indiana, however. Losses to Wake Forest and UNLV unsurprisingly dropped the Hoosiers from the rankings, and with Duke looming Wednesday, things may go from bad to worse.