After Duke eked past Rhode Island Nov. 16, the Blue Devils dropped two spots in the rankings when the Associated Press' poll was released the next day.
But in the first poll since Duke's 81-73 loss to Michigan Saturday, the then-No. 4 Blue Devils dropped just three spots to No. 7—in large part, we presume, because of their win earlier in the week over then-No. 9 Purdue.
And even though the Boilermakers fell to No. 14, the media must have thought so much of Duke's win over a top-10 team in a truly hostile environment that it couldn't move the Blue Devils out of the top 10. (Last season, after the Blue Devils' first loss, they slipped from No. 6 to No. 10.) Indeed, Duke is still ranked above several undefeated teams, including No. 11 Wake Forest, No. 13 Syracuse and No. 15 Villanova. Also unbeaten is No. 10 Xavier, slotted to face Duke Dec. 20 in the Meadowlands.
As expected, North Carolina remained a unanimous No. 1 after its thrashing of Michigan State Wednesday. The Demon Deacons are the only other ACC team in the poll, while Davidson jumped to No. 23. The Wildcats come to Cameron Indoor Stadium Jan. 7. Oh, and in case you didn't make it past the top 25 teams: Michigan earned 119 votes, just 87 short of No. 25 Kansas.
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