Winners and Losers of AP College Basketball Top 25 Poll in Week 13
When all the dust settled from a week in which the AP Top 10 suffered a combined nine losses, the Gonzaga Bulldogs had risen to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25.
Being ranked in the AP Top 25 is usually an honor. For the past seven days, however, it was a curse. There were only five games played between ranked teams, but there were a total of 18 losses suffered by ranked teams, including three Top 15 teams losing multiple games.
Excluding the head-to-head games, 25 of the 40 games played by ranked teams this week were road games. Couple that with the fact we've reached the point in the season where even the eventual national champion usually struggles—Villanova lost a home game to Providence during this week last year; Louisville went on a three-game losing streak in late January 2013—and it was pure chaos.
The weird thing is the back third of the AP poll fared well. Excluding the game played between No. 19 Cincinnati and No. 24 Xavier that was required to produce a loss, teams that were ranked Nos. 18-25 went a combined 13-1. As a result, there was only one in-out change to the group of 25: Northwestern replaced Xavier.
Read on for the rest of this week's biggest winners and losers of the AP poll.
Winner: Gonzaga Bulldogs
1 of 8
It wasn't unanimous, but it was almost inevitable: Gonzaga climbed to No. 1 in the AP poll for just the second time in school history.
While the vast majority of teams in last week's AP Top 15 either suffered a loss or looked mortal against inferior competition, the Zags continued to dominate against Portland, San Diego and Pepperdine, outscoring those three WCC foes by a 102-point margin.
They have now won 11 consecutive games by at least 15 points. The average score during that six-week stretch has been 87.4 to 58.5.
A lot of AP voters are still hesitant to accept that this is the best team in the country, but why? It would be one thing if Gonzaga were staying undefeated by eking out wins against bad teams, but it has won 19 of its 22 games by a double-digit margin, including 14 straight. The Bulldogs have yet to allow an opponent to shoot 47.0 percent or better from the field and have made at least 50 percent of their own shots on 15 occasions.
Pray tell, what is Gonzaga's biggest weakness? Aside from what the team has done in the NCAA tournament over the past 15 years, what possible reservations could you have about saying this team is most deserving of being No. 1 in the nation right now?
Also, did you know Gonzaga has as many RPI top-50 wins as Kansas has, and that the Bulldogs actually have one more RPI top-25 win (three) than the Jayhawks have (two)?
Here's a PSA for the AP voters who didn't have Gonzaga at No. 1 on their ballots today: Both Baylor and Kansas have been smashed by West Virginia in the past few weeks. Gonzaga hasn't even been challenged since early December.
Let the bracketologists worry about whether Gonzaga deserves to be the No. 1 overall seed. Wait until March to start worrying about whether you're willing to pick the Bulldogs to win it all. But do the right thing, and put Gonzaga at No. 1 until it loses a game.
This team has earned at least that much respect.
Loser: ACC's Final Unbeatens
2 of 8
A little over two weeks ago, Florida State and Notre Dame were the teams to beat in the ACC. Presumed title contenders Duke, Louisville and Virginia were each floundering with multiple conference losses, but not the Seminoles and Fighting Irish. They were a combined 8-0 heading into the third weekend of ACC play and showed no signs of stopping.
That upward momentum feels like a lifetime ago, though, as they went a combined 0-4 this week during their downward spiral.
Florida State was stomped by a pair of teams that entered the week with minimal hopes of securing an at-large bid. The Seminoles trailed by as many as 29 points in a 78-56 loss to Georgia Tech and doubled down with an 18-point halftime deficit in an 82-72 loss to Syracuse.
Through the first 20 games of the season, Florida State had allowed a grand total of three double-doubles, according to Sports-Reference.com. Georgia Tech and Syracuse had two each this week, accentuating the fall from grace for the Seminoles. They dropped nine spots from No. 6 to No. 15.
While Florida State's defensive intensity disappeared, Notre Dame's usually efficient offense was nowhere to be found, either.
The Fighting Irish had averaged at least one point per possession in each of their first seven ACC games and had an overall scoring average of 111.4 points per 100 possessions in conference play. Despite Bonzie Colson's best efforts (33 points on 21 field-goal attempts), they failed to average one point per possession against both Virginia and Georgia Tech, putting up just 90.5 points per 100 possessions for the week.
Granted, Virginia and Georgia Tech have two of the three most efficient defenses in the ACC, but Notre Dame had minimal difficulty scoring against Louisville, Florida State and Miami earlier this month. The Fighting Irish just didn't have it this week, shooting 3-of-18 from three against the Cavaliers and 40.0 percent from inside the arc against the Yellow Jackets. They fell six spots to No. 20 in the AP poll.
Winner: The Big 12's Top Tier
3 of 8
As a whole, it wasn't a great week for the Big 12. Conference challenges might be the worst possible way to gauge how well two conferences stack up against each other, but going 5-5 in the Big 12-SEC challenge was an unexpected development—particularly with South Carolina not even participating for the SEC. Iowa State, Kansas State and TCU all suffered losses over the weekend, hurting their at-large cases and ensuring the Big 12 gets no more than three teams in this week's AP poll.
The top three teams, though, had about as good of a week as they could have hoped for.
West Virginia was the week's biggest mover, climbing 11 spots to No. 7 after wins over No. 2 Kansas and Texas A&M. It was a little strange that the Mountaineers were only about to beat the Aggies by a four-point margin while forcing 23 turnovers and shooting 11-of-26 from three-point range, but it was a crucial win after last week's pair of losses to Oklahoma and Kansas State.
One of the teams that West Virginia defeated, Kansas rebounded with a road win over Kentucky to remain in the conversation for first-place votes despite taking that 16-point loss. Josh Jackson had a remarkable week, scoring 22 against the Mountaineers and 20 against the Wildcats. And after struggling to contain Esa Ahmad, Landen Lucas was the unheralded star against Kentucky, helping hold Bam Adebayo in check. As a result, Kansas only dropped one spot to No. 3.
And amid all the chaos of the week, Baylor was able to maintain its one-loss record with a pair of wins over Texas Tech and Ole Miss. They weren't impressive-looking wins, nor did they come against impressive opponents, but it was a "survive and advance in the polls" type of seven-day stretch. For doing so, the Bears moved up three spots to No. 2 in advance of Wednesday's showdown with the Jayhawks.
Loser: Kentucky Wildcats
4 of 8
Tennessee has been a thorn in John Calipari's side for the past decade.
Including his final three seasons at Memphis, Kentucky's head coach is 4-5 on the road against the Volunteers since 2007—and he also suffered a home loss to Tennessee in 2008 in what served as the only regular-season loss for the Tigers.
Those struggles continued this week as Kentucky lost 82-80 in Knoxville. Malik Monk shot 3-of-13 from three-point range and committed five turnovers in one of his worst games of the season. Though the Vols only played one guy taller than 6'5" for more than three minutes, they kept pace with Kentucky on the glass, blocked four shots and made 25 two-point field goals.
The Wildcats had no answer for freshmen Grant Williams and Lamonte Turner, who posted a combined 23 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists, four blocks and four steals with no turnovers.
And in Saturday's marquee showdown with Kansas, they again had no answer for a first-year player, as Josh Jackson had 20 points and 10 rebounds in anchoring what was supposed to be a depleted Jayhawks frontcourt. Despite jumping out to an early 12-point lead, Kentucky fell to Kansas by a 79-73 margin.
It was just the second time since March 2014 that the Wildcats suffered consecutive losses. Oddly enough, Kansas and Tennessee were responsible for the other pair around this time last season.
But the Cats bounced back from that bad week, winning 11 of their next 13 games and resurfacing as one of the top candidates to reach the Final Four. Though they dropped four spots to No. 8 in this week's AP poll, good luck finding anyone who thinks they're in danger of finishing anywhere other than first place in the SEC.
Winner: Louisville Cardinals
5 of 8
Here's a breakdown of what happened to the 17 teams that were at the top of last Monday's AP poll:
- Three (Florida State, Kentucky and Notre Dame) suffered multiple losses.
- Seven (Villanova, UCLA, North Carolina, Oregon, Butler, Creighton and Duke) lost to team that entered the week on the bubble, at best.
- Two (Kansas and Virginia) picked up an impressive road win but also lost a tough road game, effectively breaking even for the week.
- Three (Baylor, Arizona and Wisconsin) went 2-0 but got at least one scare from an opponent that doesn't belong anywhere near the NCAA tournament conversation.
- And two (Gonzaga and Louisville) obliterated their "competition."
We already covered Gonzaga as the top winner of the week, but how about the week the Cardinals had?
On the same night that No. 1 Villanova, No. 2 Kansas and No. 4 Kentucky lost on the road, No. 13 Louisville went to Pittsburgh and more than doubled up the Panthers, winning 106-51. It was so ugly that Pitt head coach Kevin Stallings got a double technical with 14:27 to play, just so he wouldn't have to watch any longer.
The Cardinals carried some of that momentum back home for an 85-60 win over North Carolina State.
Three-point shooting had been an issue for Louisville for most of the season, but it was 24-of-46 (52.2 percent) from downtown this week. In particular, Donovan Mitchell was unstoppable, scoring 57 points while shooting 12-of-18 from beyond the arc.
Louisville didn't have starting point guard Quentin Snider for either game because of injury, but it still assisted on better than 60 percent of made field goals in each win. Reserves Ryan McMahon and David Levitch stepped up in a big way for a squad that is hitting its stride and still has room to grow.
Thanks in part to losses suffered by each of the five teams previously ranked directly ahead of the Cardinals, they jumped seven spots to No. 6.
Loser: Theory That Any Team Is Elite
6 of 8
When the blue-blood programs were avoiding losses to inferior teams and giving us incredible head-to-head battles back in the first five weeks of the season, it felt like we might have been headed for the greatest Elite Eight ever assembled. Through December 15, Baylor, Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, UCLA and Villanova were a combined 73-1 in games not played against each other, with Creighton and Gonzaga lurking as quality teams that might be able to crash the party.
Of the bunch, Baylor and Gonzaga were the only ones that didn't suffer at least one loss this week—and the Bears didn't exactly assert their dominance in close wins over Texas Tech and Ole Miss.
Duke lost a home game to NC State and needed a late run for a comeback win over Wake Forest. North Carolina got smashed by Miami just two nights after Indiana fell to Michigan by a 30-point margin. Villanova shot 6-of-34 from downtown in a loss to Marquette, UCLA couldn't buy a defensive stop against USC, and Kentucky was simply outworked in a loss to Tennessee.
Each of the opponents on that list was, at best, a No. 8 seed in projected brackets entering the week. Several of them were barely even in the conversation for the bubble. Yet, one after the other, they knocked off teams that—at some point in the past two months—were projected for No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament.
Maybe it was just one of those weird weeks in conference play where middling teams finally capitalize on opportunities. Save for Duke's game against the Wolfpack, each of the aforementioned losses came on the road.
Regardless of the reason/excuse, it doesn't feel like any of the blue bloods are destined to reach the Final Four anymore. We're not quite at last year's unmemorable and nearly unwatchable level of parity, but it's hard to argue that anyone is elite after the week the nation's top teams just endured.
Winner: Cincinnati Bearcats
7 of 8
For Cincinnati, this week couldn't have gone much better.
First, the Bearcats finally got the chance to play in a game that people were looking forward to seeing. Thanks to the brawl from a few years ago, the Crosstown Classic between Cincinnati and Xavier has become a top-five annual rivalry. And with everyone watching, the game delivered. Cincinnati won 86-78 despite 40 points from Xavier's Trevon Bluiett.
Second, teams ranked Nos. 8-17 suffered a combined nine losses, opening the door for No. 19 Cincinnati to make a leap. The Bearcats could have won games against two of the worst teams in the country and still probably would have moved up at least two spots by default. To have also beaten a ranked opponent during this topsy-turvy week was an added bonus.
And, third, while AP voters were starting to figure out what in the world to do with their ballots, the Bearcats made a statement with a 94-53 win over South Florida. Granted, the Bulls are now 0-9 in AAC play and haven't even been competitive in most of those games, but voters were grasping at straws after the Top 10, if not beforehand. In a week where so many teams around them grew warts, the Bearcats' 41-point victory looked pretty.
Cincinnati has now won 12 consecutive games and was rewarded for that long-term success with a five-spot bump to No. 14 in the AP Top 25.
Loser: The Big East
8 of 8
Just three weeks ago, there was a case to be made that the Big East was the best conference in the nation. It had four teams ranked in the Top 15 (No. 3 Villanova, No. 8 Creighton, No. 12 Butler and No. 15 Xavier) and had a fifth team just outside the poll, as Seton Hall was tops among others receiving votes.
Heck, just seven days ago, the conference was in excellent shape, as those five teams and Marquette were each projected to reach the NCAA tournament.
But those six teams had a brutal week, and the entire conference suffered in the AP poll.
Though No. 1 Villanova finished the week on a high note with a buzzer-beating win over No. 12 Virginia, it lost its grip on the top spot in the poll with a two-point loss to Marquette. The Wildcats slipped three spots to No. 4.
Had Marquette followed up that win with a home win over Providence, the Golden Eagles almost certainly would have been in this week's AP Top 25—given they also won a road game against Creighton last weekend. However, they lost by one to the Friars and remain unranked—though, they did at least pick up some votes for the first time since Week 2.
Elsewhere, Georgetown entered the week 10-10 overall with a 1-6 conference record, only to beat No. 16 Creighton by 20 and win a road game against No. 11 Butler by a four-point margin. Thanks to the Hoyas, Creighton fell six spots to No. 22, and Butler slipped five spots to No. 16. Before losing to Georgetown, the Bulldogs went to Seton Hall and beat the Pirates in their only game of the week, possibly knocking them out of the projected field.
Worst of all in the Big East, former No. 24 Xavier lost to Cincinnati and may have lost Edmond Sumner for an extended period of time because of a nasty-looking knee injury in the subsequent win over St. John's. The Musketeers are no longer ranked, and Gary Parrish of CBS Sports is already speculating that Sumner may be done for the season.
During a radio interview a few weeks ago, I said the Big East could send as many as four teams to the Elite Eight this year. Villanova will probably still get there, but I wouldn't bet on multiple Big East teams reaching the Sweet 16 at this point. It just goes to show you how quickly things can change in this sport.
Stats are courtesy of WarrenNolan.com, KenPom.com and Sports-Reference.com.
Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.
.png?w=600 "New NBA Mock Draft 📝")
.jpg?w=600 "Offseason Moves for Every Team 👉")
