AP College Basketball Poll 2016: Complete Week 18 Rankings Released

After a topsy-turvy year full of upsets, the top of the Associated Press poll appears to have finally settled in the final week of the regular season. 

None of the nation's six best teams lost over the last seven days, so a state of inertia has fallen over the rankings. Kansas remains the No. 1 team for the second straight week, and it's followed by Michigan State, Villanova, Virginia and Xavier to round out the Top Five.

Here's a look at how the entire poll played out:

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

With a majority of teams closing out their regular seasons strong, Miami's road loss to Virginia Tech looks all the more glaring. The Hurricanes were held to 4-of-24 shooting from three-point range while allowing the unranked Hokies to knock down 52.9 percent of their shots. Star guards Angel Rodriguez and Sheldon McClellan went a combined 9-of-27 from the field in the loss, which dropped Miami from a potential share of the ACC to the No. 3 seed.

Miami coach Jim Larranaga spoke about the team's performance after the loss, per ESPN.com:

"

They defended us really well in the first half and I think we were a little too focused on what was at stake. We wanted it so badly -- to win and to solidify that we would get at least a share of the conference regular-season championship.

I told the team afterwards, 'It's not about focusing on the result. It's focusing on the process.' The process is playing good defense, rebounding, and executing the offensive game plan. We just didn't do that."

"

Miami was the only Top 10 team with a loss this week. Louisville, ranked 11th before dropping to No. 14, closed its season with a loss to Virginia. The Cardinals played listless basketball in a 68-46 beatdown, which was understandable given their disappointment about being banned from the postseason. 

Among teams making the trip to the Big Dance, perhaps Big Ten outfits Maryland and Iowa have the most to worry about. The Terrapins finished their season with four losses in their last six games. Their 80-62 drubbing at the hands of Indiana pushed them back to the No. 3 seed in the conference just a couple of weeks after it looked like their championship to lose.

Jim Weber had a GIF ready to describe the last month:

Iowa's dispiriting downturn also continued, as the Hawkeyes ran their losing streak to four straight games before getting it together against Michigan in their season finale. They have dropped five of seven games overall and look radically different from the team that once peaked inside the Top Five. That the Hawkeyes would drop all the way to the Big Ten's fifth seed seemed unfathomable a month ago.

“I’m mad that we didn’t accomplish what we set out to do. But that’s the way it goes,” forward Jarrod Uthoff said, per Scott Dochterman of The Gazette. “We’ve got bigger things at stake. We’ve got a national championship to think about, the Big Ten Tournament to think about.”

Also among the big losers this week was Baylor, which failed in attempts to get big wins over Oklahoma and West Virginia. The Bears closed with three losses in their last four games.

Overall, though, not all that much has changed. No team moved out of the rankings, and Kentucky's six-spot leap was by far the biggest. The Wildcats closed with wins over Florida and LSU, and they've won seven of their last nine games.

With conference tournaments getting underway across the nation, odds are these polls will look different a week from now. Then again, the real focus a week from now won't be the Top 25 but instead will shift to the 68 teams that truly matter in 2016.