Another tumultuous week in college basketball left change in the AP poll, sending West Virginia to No. 15 and UNC to No. 19.
Duke, Virginia stay put
After a gut-wrenching home loss to Virginia, Duke picked up its third loss in conference play but remained at No. 4. The Blue Devils will look to rebound and get more production from their backcourt against Notre Dame on Monday—Grayson Allen, Gary Trent Jr. and Trevon Duval shot 8-of-26 from the floor against the Cavaliers. With the win, fueled by a smothering defensive effort against one of the best offenses in the nation, Virginia picked up 17 first place votes but remained at No. 2 behind Villanova.
North Carolina tanks after recent skid
ACC play has not been very kind to the Tar Heels, whose defense is in tatters. After opening conference play with losses to Florida State and Virginia, North Carolina won four straight before falling to unranked Virginia Tech and N.C. State this week, sending them falling out to No. 19 in the latest poll.
On the season, the Tar Heels rank No. 22 in the country in basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy's efficiency rankings, but gave up 95 points at home to the Wolfpack in an overtime game and 80 to the Hokies on the road.
Michigan State rises, but future uncertain
After a couple of early slipups in Big Ten play, Michigan State has won four straight to move up to No. 5, but faces serious questions going forward in light of a recent ESPN investigation. An Outside the Lines investigation found a "pattern of widespread denial, inaction and information suppression" about sexual assault allegations at Michigan State—including in Tom Izzo's program. Izzo said Friday that he has no plans to leave the program despite rumors that he would step down.
Florida, Arizona State continue nosedive, West Virginia tanks
Despite being ranked highly early in the season, both Arizona State and Florida have tanked. This week, the Sun Devils fell to unranked Utah to drop to 4-5 in Pac-12 play and to No. 25 and the Gators fell at home to unranked South Carolina, sending them to the No. 23 spot.
Big-12 teams had another rough week, with West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kansas all falling. The Sooners stayed at No. 12 after beating Kansas at home, but losing to unranked Alabama on the road. Kansas fell to No. 7, while West Virginia dropped to No. 15 after falling to two unranked teams, TCU and Kentucky. The Wildcats jumped back in the rankings at No. 21.
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COMPLETE RANKINGS:
1. Villanova
2. Virginia
3. Purdue
4. Duke
5. Michigan State
6. Xavier
7. Kansas
8. Cincinnati
9. Arizona
10. Texas Tech
11. Auburn
12. Oklahoma
13. Saint Mary's
14. Gonzaga
15. West Virginia
16. Wichita State
17. Ohio State
18. Tennessee
19. North Carolina
20. Clemson
21. Kentucky
22. Rhode Island
23. Florida
24. Michigan
25. Arizona State
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Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor
A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks.