AP College Basketball Poll 2016: Complete Week 10 Rankings Released

Kansas stood tall when pushed to three overtimes by Oklahoma in perhaps the best game of the 2015-16 college basketball season. The Associated Press responded Monday by pushing the Jayhawks even further ahead of the field in its latest poll.    

Kansas remains the nation's top-ranked team after receiving 63 of a possible 65 first-place votes. No. 2 Oklahoma follows behind with one first-place vote, and Maryland, Michigan State and North Carolina round out the Top Five. Here is a look at how the entire poll played out:

Ranking	Team
1	Kansas
2	Oklahoma
3	Maryland
4	Michigan State
5	North Carolina
6	Villanova
7	Xavier
8	Miami
9	Duke
10	SMU
11	West Virginia
12	Providence
13	Virginia
14	Kentucky
15	Texas A&M
16	Iowa
17	Iowa State
18	Arizona
19	South Carolina
20	Pittsburgh
21	Louisville
22	Baylor
T-23	Connecticut
T-23	Butler
25	Purdue

While it didn't have much of an impact on the rankings, the biggest result of the last seven days was the Jayhawks' 109-106 triple-overtime triumph over the Sooners on Jan. 4. Perry Ellis, Wayne Selden Jr. and Devonte' Graham each scored 20-plus points, overcoming an all-time performance from Oklahoma's Buddy Hield. The sweet-shooting guard knocked down eight three-pointers on his way to 46 points, adding eight rebounds and seven assists. However, a critical turnover from Hield late helped Kansas seal the game and left a sour taste in his mouth.

“I just hate losing, man,” Hield said, per Matt Tait of KUSports.com. “It doesn't matter how I do, I still believe I could've done better. I hate the fact that we came out with the loss. This is my last time playing in this building and it just sucks going out of here 0-4.”

Speaking of hating to lose, it was an awful week to be a Virginia fan. Ranked fourth in the AP poll a week ago, the Cavaliers dropped consecutive road games against Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. The Hokies scored 44 second-half points on the back of Zach LeDay for a 70-68 upset, and Georgia Tech held Virginia to 24 first-half points in a 68-64 victory.

“I don’t feel like we’re playing as hard as we need to to win the game,” forward Isaiah Wilkins said after the loss to the Yellow Jackets, per Whitelaw Reid of the News Virginian. “We start slow, and it’s really hard to climb back in the game when you’re in a hole.”

The losses dropped Virginia down to No. 13. Things won't get any easier for the Cavaliers, either, as No. 8 Miami visits Tuesday night. The Hurricanes have won eight straight games since their upset loss to Northeastern earlier this season.

Also facing a similar dilemma is Arizona, which saw its defense fall apart in consecutive losses to USC and UCLA. The Wildcats allowed 190 points on their Los Angeles road trip, though that number was aided by a four-overtime game against the Trojans. The win was a crowning achievement for USC, which looks like a legit tournament team, and a third win for UCLA over a ranked opponent despite its inconsistent play.

“My biggest concern is, our team is terrible on defense,” Miller told reporters after the loss against UCLA. “This is the worst defensive team that I’ve coached at Arizona since my first year. We have too many people on the team right now who pick and choose how they are supposed to do things. We have one way we do things on defense."

Making matters worse, guard Allonzo Trier suffered a broken hand against USC and will miss the next four to six weeks, per the Arizona Daily Star, citing the school. The freshman is leading Arizona in scoring at 14.8 points per game. Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com highlighted the difficulty of this loss:

It was a bit of a bloodbath overall for last week's Top 10, with half of the teams dropping at least one game. Providence dropped from No. 8 to No. 12 after a 65-64 loss to Marquette at home. Ben Bentil and Kris Dunn combined for 48 points, but the Friars got no more than eight points from any other player as their non-stars struggled.

Kentucky suffered its third loss of the season at LSU, taking an 85-67 beating despite Ben Simmons being limited by foul trouble. Tim Quarterman had 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists while Simmons made all five of his shots on his way to a 14-point, 10-rebound effort. The Tigers promptly regressed with a road loss against Florida, but beating Kentucky will go a long way toward helping their effort on the bubble.

Perhaps now more than ever, it's clear the national championship race is wide open. None of the teams at the top feel unbeatable, and conference play has only served to expose the flaws of ranked teams. It wouldn't remotely be a surprise if we were discussing the likes of Kansas and Maryland next week the same way we are talking about Kentucky or Providence now.

All of this uncertainty should serve as a thrilling prelude to March.