AP College Basketball Poll 2021: Complete Week 12 Rankings Released

Extended winning streaks are not easy in college basketball, which every team except Gonzaga and Baylor demonstrated going into Week 12 of the 2020-21 season.

Villanova entered the week with just one loss—in overtime in November—but suffered its second this week at the hands of St. John's. Houston had its eight-game win streak snapped, while Drake lost its undefeated season after an 18-0 start.

The latest Associated Press poll reflects those results, although Gonzaga and Baylor continue to cruise as No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, with a combined 35-0 record.

Here is how voters saw the rest of the Top 25.

AP Poll

1. Gonzaga

2. Baylor

3. Michigan

4. Ohio State

5. Villanova

6. Illinois

7. Texas Tech

8. Houston

9. Virginia

10. Missouri

11. Alabama

12. Oklahoma

13. Texas

14. West Virginia

15. Iowa

16. Tennessee

17. Florida State

18. Virginia Tech

19. Creighton

20. USC

21. Wisconsin

22. Loyola-Chicago

23. Oklahoma State

24. Purdue

25. Rutgers

Baylor had one of its toughest tests of the season this week with a game at Texas, but the Bears had little resistance on the way to an 83-69 win as Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell combined for 48 points.

It was part of a rough week for Texas, which also suffered a double-overtime loss to Cade Cunningham and Oklahoma State.

The Longhorns have now lost three in a row and dropped from No. 6 to No. 13.

Iowa is another team trending in the wrong direction, falling to No. 15 after peaking at No. 3 earlier in the season.

The Hawkeyes have lost four of their last five games, including two this week to Ohio State and Indiana. Defense is usually the problem in losses for Iowa, but the offense never got going in a 67-65 loss to Indiana, and Luka Garza has slowed down after his incredible start to the year.

Villanova, Oklahoma, Alabama and Houston also dropped games this week, with the last one of the more surprising results of the season. The Cougars had been red-hot until losing Wednesday to East Carolina, a team that had lost five straight.

Some considered Houston a potential No. 1 seed, but a bad loss like that could ruin the resume.

Kansas fell out of the rankings after a loss to West Virginia, creating some rare history:

While these teams are coming off poor showings, several squads are surging after impressive play.

Ohio State and Illinois continue to rise in the Big Ten standings and the polls, moving to No. 4 and No. 6, respectively.

The Buckeyes' only game was a good one as they won in Iowa for the squad's fourth road victory over a ranked opponent this season. The Illini were just as impressive with an overtime win at Indiana before cruising to victory over Wisconsin.

Missouri climbed to 10th in the poll after beating Alabama and Kentucky, and the Tigers sit second in the SEC standings.

Each game becomes more important as we enter the stretch run of the regular season and teams finalize their resumes ahead of the NCAA tournament.