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AP Top 25 Poll - Week 14: Hanging on

At least we didn’t lose to St. John’s.

By Tanya Anderson
NCAA Basketball: Pittsburgh at North Carolina Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Last week was a half-bad, half-good week for UNC. They lost to Clemson on the road after losing Theo Pinson to injury early in the game before bouncing back to put a beating on Pitt at home. The road has been incredibly tough for the Heels.

While there has been quite a bit of parity in college basketball this season, the top three teams have largely remained dominant. Villanova keeps the top spot as they, Virginia, and Purdue seem to be clearly in the top echelon of the sport this season.

Here’s the top 25 for this week:

  1. Villanova: 22-1 (48)
  2. Virginia: 22-1 (16)
  3. Purdue: 23-2 (1)
  4. Michigan State: 22-3
  5. Xavier: 21-3
  6. Cincinnati: 21-2
  7. Texas Tech: 19-4
  8. Auburn: 21-2
  9. Duke: 19-4
  10. Kansas: 18-5
  11. Saint Mary’s: 23-2
  12. Gonzaga: 21-4
  13. Arizona: 19-5
  14. Ohio State: 20-5
  15. Tennessee: 17-5
  16. Clemson: 19-4
  17. Oklahoma: 16-6
  18. Rhode Island: 19-3
  19. West Virginia: 17-6
  20. Michigan: 19-6
  21. North Carolina: 17-7
  22. Wichita State: 17-5
  23. Nevada: 20-4
  24. Kentucky: 17-6
  25. Miami: 17-5

Where is UNC?

After losing to Clemson before putting a beatdown on Pitt, the Tar Heels fell a few more spots to #21 after coming in at #19 last week. Beating the Panthers so handily probably kept the seven-loss Heels from dropping out of the top 25 entirely. They are the lone ranked team with seven losses. Beating Duke would go a long way toward improving their standing.

Biggest Winners

Only the Duke Blue Devils can lose to a team that has gone winless in their conference and hadn’t won a game since before everyone opened Christmas presents that are now collecting dust and still not fall out of the top 10. That level of juju makes them a big winner this week.

Rhode Island climbed from #22 to #18 in this week’s poll. The Rams basically stole their entire shtick from UNC and I definitely hold that against them. They have won 14 straight since dropping a game to Alabama on December 6.

Ohio State beat Indiana and Illinois last week to earn themselves a bump up to #14.

Biggest Losers

The Oklahoma Trae Youngs dropped to #17 after a loss this week. They took another loss Monday night to West Virginia after this poll was released, so that’s not going to help them climb back up the rankings.

Kentucky very nearly dropped back out of the poll entirely one week after getting back in. It has been a very un-Kentucky-like season for them so far. Talent can only get you so far, I guess.

Kansas got upset in Lawrence by Oklahoma State. They fell three spots as a result.

Top Games this Week

  • Tuesday, February 6:
  • 7:00 pm ET - #15 Tennessee vs. #24 Kentucky
  • Wednesday, February 7:
  • 8:30 pm ET - #14 Ohio State vs. #3 Purdue
  • Thursday, February 8
  • 8:00 pm ET - #9 Duke vs. #21 North Carolina
  • Saturday, February 10
  • 4:00 pm ET - #3 Purdue vs. #4 Michigan State
  • 10:00 pm ET - #12 Gonzaga vs. #11 Saint Mary’s

Conference Breakdown

  • ACC: 5
  • American: 2
  • Atlantic 10: 1
  • Big East: 2
  • Big Ten: 4
  • Big 12: 4
  • Mountain West: 1
  • Pac-12: 1
  • SEC: 3
  • West Coast: 2

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