Thoughts on the AP Poll: Week 14

Orange on Top

Syracuse's 91-89 overtime triumph against Duke Saturday night at the Carrier Dome was an instant classic. But the big night for the Orange was just beginning at the final buzzer —a few hours later, California stunned previously unbeaten Arizona on a last-second shot by Justin Cobbs, lofting Jim Boeheim's club to the No. 1 ranking, amassing all 65 first-place votes. Syracuse is the first unanimous No. 1 since the 2010-2011 season, when Duke held that honor for six weeks. Powered by C.J. Fair, Jerami Grant and Tyler Ennis, Jim Boeheim's squad is looking like a true title threat at 21-0, while the Wildcats, now ranked second, got bad news on the injury front, losing forward Brandon Ashley for the season. Florida and Wichita State—which also remains undefeated—are third and fourth this week, with San Diego State rounding out the top five.

Playing Scramble

Last week wreaked havoc up and down the AP poll, thanks to a number of ranked conference matchups and some surprising upsets. Only nine teams escaped last week unscathed. Duke, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Wisconsin all lost tight games to ranked conference foes, while Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, Arizona and Kentucky were just a sampling of highly-ranked teams who fell to teams well off the pace in their respective conferences. Given the hectic week, Duke moved up six spots to No. 11 despite the loss to Syracuse, and the Wolverines stayed pat at No. 10. The biggest beneficiaries of the chaos were Texas, Creighton, St. Louis and Virginia, all of which moved up at least six spots, while Oklahoma State was hit hardest, falling 11 spots after an 0-2 week. Wisconsin fell out of the rankings altogether after being No. 14 a week ago. If we take anything from this weekend, it's that parity reigns supreme this season in college basketball.

Texas Trending

The Longhorns are reeling off arguably the most impressive stretch of basketball in the country this season, passing a daunting Big 12 slate with flying colors. Texas, which entered last week ranked 25th but climbed 10 spots to No. 15 thanks to the aforementioned chaos, has defeated four straight ranked opponents: Iowa State, Kansas State, Baylor and Kansas. Although just one of those wins came on the road, Rick Barnes' team has looked awfully good lately—in their 81-69 win against Kansas, the Longhorns held freshmen phenoms Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid to a combined 15 points on 5-for-21 shooting.