Thoughts on the AP Poll: Duke men's basketball falls to No. 24 following loss to N.C. State

Freshman Dariq Whitehead scored a season-high 18 points against Boston College Saturday.
Freshman Dariq Whitehead scored a season-high 18 points against Boston College Saturday.

After a pivotal week for the Blue Devils, a new AP Poll dropped Monday afternoon. With Duke now at No. 24, the Blue Zone takes a look:

Growing pains continue for the young team

After scoring no baskets in its first seven minutes against N.C. State, Duke struggled to catch up in the all-around sloppy performance and fell 84-60. Later in the week, Duke redeemed itself with a nail-biting win at Boston College. The freshmen led the day, and Dariq Whitehead led with 18 points. Two clutch free throws from Kyle Filipowski with less than a minute on the clock helped seal the one-point win. The Blue Devils were favored in each of their games last week, and now, confidence in the team by basketball analysts is dwindling. Duke’s recent performance brings it eight spots down from last week to No. 24 in the latest AP Poll. This upcoming week, the Blue Devils will face Pittsburgh at home before traveling to play Clemson, and they are favored to win each game. 

Back-to-back upsets

Kansas State is doing the unthinkable. After starting the season predicted to finish last in the Big 12 by the coaches poll, the Wildcats have risen to the top of the conference. Following a big win against then-No. 6 Texas, Kansas State beat then-No. 19 Baylor in an exciting overtime victory. Keyontae Johnson produced 24 points and nine rebounds to help the Wildcats to a 14-1 record. Continued success has brought the Manhattan, Kan., squad up the rankings to No. 11 while Baylor fell out and Texas slipped to No. 10. 

A new No. 5

Arizona, which was ranked No. 5 in the Week 9 AP Poll, has fallen to No. 9 after a rough week on the road. First, the Wildcats barely fended off Washington in a game where they only made 36% of their field goal attempts. Then, the Wildcats followed up the performance with a loss against Washington State in which they missed 21-of-25 attempted threes. Arizona's rocky shooting has made way for Alabama to enter the top five at No. 4, rising from No. 7. After strong wins against Ole Miss and Kentucky last week, the Crimson Tide now holds a 13-2 record and is the SEC team to beat.

Complete rankings:

1. Houston

2. Kansas

3. Purdue

4. Alabama

5. Tennessee

6. UConn

7. UCLA

8. Gonzaga

9. Arizona

10. Texas

11. Kansas State

12. Xavier

13. Virginia

14. Iowa State

15. Arkansas

16. Miami (FL)

17. TCU

18. Wisconsin

19. Providence

20. Missouri

21. Auburn

22. Charleston

23. San Diego State

24. Duke

25. Marquette

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