AP Top 25 - Week 10

After a full week of major conferences getting into league play, there have been some shifts in the AP Top 25. Most notably, for the first time ever, the Baylor Bears are atop the AP Top 25. The Bears received all but 10 first place votes this week.

Here is the full poll from Week 10:

1. Baylor (55) 15-0
2. Kansas (8) 14-1
3. Villanova (1) 15-1
4. UCLA (1) 16-1
5. Gonzaga 15-0
6. Kentucky 13-2
7. Duke 14-2
8. Creighton 15-1
9. Florida State 15-1
10. West Virginia 13-2
11. North Carolina 14-3
12. Butler 14-2
13. Oregon 15-2
14. Louisville 13-3
15. Xavier 13-2
16. Arizona 15-2
17. Purdue 14-3
18. Wisconsin 13-3
19. Virginia 12-3
20. Notre Dame 14-2
21. Saint Mary's 14-1
22. Cincinnati 13-2
23. Florida 12-3
24. Minnesota 15-2
25. USC 15-2 and Kansas State 13-2

Where is UNC?

After Carolina’s OT win at Clemson and the absolute demolishing of NC State in the home conference opener, the North Carolina Tar Heels rebounded slightly from their drop in the polls after the bad loss at Georgia Tech. The Heels are sitting at #11 in the AP Poll and #12 in the Coaches Poll.

Biggest Losers

• Virginia Tech and Indiana both dropped from the AP Poll this week. After beating the Blue Devils to open conference play, the Hokies dropped the next two on the road against NC State and Florida State. The Hoosiers were 1-1 in conference home games last week, losing to Wisconsin and beating Illinois.
• Virginia lost by 12 on the road to an unranked Pitt team last week. That was the second conference loss in a row by the Hoos. The Cavaliers slid eight spots to #19.
• Louisville fell five spots to #14. The Cardinals went on the road and lost to Notre Dame in South Bend.

Biggest Winners

• Kansas State had a heartbreaking loss against Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse on a wild final sequence and an impressive win over Oklahoma to move into a tie for the final spot in the poll. Minnesota rode three straight Big Ten wins into the #24 spot.
• Butler moved up six spots to #12 after knocking off then-top ranked Villanova. The Bulldogs are in sole possession of first place in the Big East.
• Florida State has won 11 straight and is tied for first place in the ACC with Notre Dame. Six days after beating then #12 Virginia, the Noles beat #21 Virginia Tech handily in Tallahassee. FSU moved into the top ten this week, coming in at #9.

On the Outside Looking In

• Seton Hall is just outside the Top 25. With several strong teams in the Big East, the Pirates will need to sweep games this week and beat Villanova next Monday to make the jump into the Top 25.
• Old ACC foe Maryland is sitting at 14-2, but a bad loss on New Year’s Day against Nebraska and a relatively weak non-conference schedule has kept them on the outside of the Top 25 after starting the year ranked #25 in the preseason poll.

Top 25 Conference Breakdown

• ACC: 6 teams
• American: 1 team
• Big East: 4 teams
• Big Ten: 3 teams
• Big 12: 4 teams
• Pac-12: 4 teams
• SEC: 2 teams
• West Coast: 2 teams

Best Top 25 Games this Week

• Tonight at 7:00 PM ET, #1 Baylor takes on #10 West Virginia in Morgantown. Also at 7, #15 Xavier goes on the road against #3 Villanova. At 8:00 PM ET, #7 Duke travels to Tallahassee to play #9 Florida State.
• Wednesday at 9:00 PM ET, #12 Butler travels to Omaha to take on #8 Creighton.
• There are several good games on Saturday. Most importantly, the Tar Heels host Florida State in the Smith Center. Tip is scheduled for 2:00 PM ET. At noon, Duke takes on #14 Louisville in the KFC Yum! Center. At 2, Xavier goes to Indy to take on Butler. Top-ranked Baylor takes on #25 Kansas State at 4:30 PM ET. At 10:30 PM ET, #21 Saint Mary's takes on #5 Gonzaga in Spokane.

Upset Alert

• On Wednesday, #24 Minnesota travels to East Lansing to take on Michigan State. The Spartans have struggled this year, but they have already beat the Gophers once this season.
• SMU will take on #22 Cincinnati on the road on Thursday. The Mustangs have won 10 straight, and the winner of this game will sit atop the American conference standings.
• As seen last week, the Clemson Tigers are no pushover. UVA might have some trouble on Saturday down in renovated Littlejohn Coliseum.