AP College Basketball Poll 2017: Complete Week 16 Rankings Released

The cream of the crop continued to rise to the top in college basketball this past week, while a few teams previously thought to be in that conversation took steps back.

Below, we'll break down the latest Associated Press poll and analyze how we got here.

Rank	Team
1	Gonzaga
2	Villanova
3	Kansas
4	Arizona
5	UCLA
6	Oregon
7	Louisville
8	North Carolina
9	Baylor
10	Duke
11	Kentucky
12	West Virginia
13	Florida
14	Purdue
15	Cincinnati
16	Wisconsin
17	SMU
18	Virginia
19	Florida State
20	Saint Mary's (Calif.)
21	Notre Dame
22	Butler
23	Creighton
24	Maryland
25	Wichita State

Analysis

Gonzaga keeps on cruising. The top-ranked Bulldogs handled San Francisco and Pacific this past week, earning at least a share of the WCC regular-season title and leaving them two games away from completing a perfect regular season.

"It's one of those things that I take a lot of pride in, the staff does, and you try to get the players to, and I think they do," coach Mark Few said of winning the title, per Jim Meehan of the Spokesman-Review. "Over the years, we've really done a nice job of getting our players to understand how important that is. It's just tough sometimes educating everybody else because it's always about Final Fours and NCAA championships and things like that."

Indeed, the focus on Gonzaga from a national perspective has been how this team will fare come the NCAA tournament. But the Bulldogs have also won an astonishing 16 conference titles in 17 seasons. No matter what they accomplish the rest of the season, there's no denying that run of excellence.

Still, their season will be defined by whether they make a tournament run. Their amazing form this season doesn't guarantee future success, per ESPN Stats & Information:

Gonzaga has had to be perfect this year to hold on to the top spot in the rankings as teams like Kansas and Villanova nip at their heels. No team had a better week than Kansas, as the Jayhawks knocked off very talented West Virginia and Baylor teams to all but clinch their 13th straight Big 12 title.

Few teams will be more battle-tested come tournament time than the Jayhawks, who boast wins over Duke, Kentucky, Baylor (twice) and West Virginia. From a pure talent standpoint, few teams are better than Kansas. Frank Mason III, Josh Jackson and company will be a tough out in March.

But don't sleep on the defending champions. Villanova keeps on cruising, clinching a share of the Big East title this past week. However, the team is undersized and isn't deep, and it relies on a seven-man rotation.

That was essentially the case for the Wildcats last season, though, and they ended up cutting down the nets. So no, don't sleep on Villanova.

Finally, it was a wild week in the ACC. Duke has turned it on, winning seven straight games. Virginia has gone cold, losing three in a row and five of its last seven. North Carolina has been the conference's best team this season but lost guard Kenny Williams for the rest of the campaign. Florida State has lost two straight, while Notre Dame has won four in a row.

America's best conference this year hasn't failed to entertain.

Some good matchups are on board for this week across the sport. South Carolina and Florida will meet in SEC play Tuesday, while Louisville faces North Carolina and Butler battles Villanova to highlight Wednesday's schedule.

Come Saturday, the Wildcats will take on Creighton while Florida's tough week continues against Kentucky. The top game of the week, Arizona vs. UCLA, tips off that night.

The matchups only get more intense and more important as we race toward March. As seeding for both the conference tournaments and March Madness hangs in the balance, we'll learn a lot about the college basketball landscape this week.