AP College Basketball Poll 2016: Complete Week 6 Rankings Released

Reigning national champions Villanova picked up two more victories this past week to remain atop the Associated Press' Top 25 college basketball poll for Week 6. On Saturday, the Wildcats escaped a serious test from previously undefeated Notre Dame to solidify their status at No. 1. 

Most of the changes within the poll were minor. That's mainly because every team inside last week's Top 10 made it through the week without a loss. The highest-ranked team in the Week 5 poll to suffer a defeat was No. 12 Saint Mary's, which dropped a game to UT-Arlington on Thursday.

Here's a look at the updated rankings the AP released Monday:

Rank	Team	Points	First-Place Votes
1	Villanova	1,613	56
2	UCLA	1,505	3
3	Kansas	1,455	0
4	Baylor	1,439	6
5	Duke	1,391	0
6	Kentucky	1,277	0
7	North Carolina	1,222	0
8	Gonzaga	1,195	0
9	Indiana	1,124	0
10	Creighton	1,043	0
11	Louisville	981	0
12	West Virginia	864	0
13	Virginia	848	0
14	Wisconsin	779	0
15	Purdue	652	0
16	South Carolina	598	0
17	Xavier	526	0
18	Butler	492	0
19	Arizona	436	0
20	Saint Mary's	391	0
21	Notre Dame	310	0
22	Oregon	251	0
23	Florida State	227	0
24	USC	158	0
25	Cincinnati	155	0

Villanova has picked up right where it left off last season by racking up 10 consecutive victories to begin its title defense. It's a run that's included high-profile wins over Purdue, Wake Forest and the Fighting Irish and just two games decided by less than 10 points.

Although things are operating smoothly on the surface, the Wildcats are being forced to adapt behind the scenes to keep everybody fresh thanks to a small rotation. An injury to guard Phil Booth has left the squad with a rotation that only goes seven players deep.

Joe Juliano of the Philadelphia Inquirer passed along comments about the situation from head coach Jay Wright, who stated before the Notre Dame game that practices have been cut short.

"I feel like we've got to practice that way, and we've got to prepare for games that way, and we've got to play that way," he said. "I think we're versatile enough. We can keep people fresh. But we've got to play that way. We've got to play with versatility not always having the guys on the floor that we want."

The Wildcats are in a stretch where they have just one game—Tuesday against Temple—in a 10-day span. That should provide them with a chance to catch their collective breath before turning their focus to Big East play in the coming weeks.

Duke is emerging as perhaps the biggest threat to Nova's title reign. The Blue Devils have rattled off eight straight wins after an early loss to Kansas, including a 10-point win over Florida on Tuesday.

In turn, they sit atop the KenPom.com rankings and still have the potential to get even better should Marques Bolden and Harry Giles return from injury and play up to their potential as the team runs the ACC gauntlet.

Gary Parrish of CBS Sports came away from Duke's blowout victory over UNLV on Saturday convinced the talented group has the highest ceiling of any team in the nation:

"

And Mike Krzyzewski's team might end up actually being better than most ever even anticipated, if only because [Luke] Kennard and [Amile] Jefferson are each better than anybody could've reasonably anticipated. On that note, I'll take it a step further and say this: I'd pick Duke to win the national championship right now, at this point, even if you told me Giles will never play a minute. That's how talented and deep the Blue Devils seem to be, and they're experienced in enough of the right places so that they'll never rely as heavily on freshmen as often as Kentucky.

"

While a couple of powerhouses, headlined by Villanova and Duke, are starting to stand out from the crowd, the underlying theme in the early stages of the campaign is the amount of depth around the country. A lot of teams have legitimate hope of making deep runs come March.

Jeff Goodman of ESPN noted all of the squads that are still unbeaten with the season's quarter mark now in the rearview mirror:

The overall level of competitiveness should make for highly entertaining league play in conferences big and small, and all signs point toward March Madness living up to its moniker when the time arrives.

Looking ahead in the short term, all of this week's top games will take place Saturday. The main event will see North Carolina and Kentucky travel to Las Vegas to face off in the CBS Sports Classic, a game that could end up having lasting implications on the race for a No. 1 seed.

Other marquee matchups taking place Saturday include a couple of in-state rivalry clashes in Indiana as Purdue looks for a statement win against Notre Dame and Butler takes on Indiana. Ohio State and UCLA will face off in the day's other notable contest.