After a wild week, Gonzaga is the new No. 1 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday.
Seven of the top 10 teams in last week's poll suffered losses and, the team that benefited the most from the madness is the Zags, who remained unbeaten with another perfect run this week over Portland, San Diego and Pepperdine. With eight games left on the regular season schedule, KenPom favors Gonzaga to win in each game. There's a solid chance Mark Few's team will go into Selection Sunday undefeated and No. 1.
Looking back on the week's action, the ACC may have been the most affected by the week's results. The conference essentially cannibalized itself with Saturday's games alone, with three of its five results coming in upset fashion.
Even after North Carolina's baffling loss to Miami, the Tar Heels are still a half-game up on the rest of the league going into Monday's action with a Duke-Notre Dame matchup on tap. It's Notre Dame -- not Duke -- who is just a game back from the ACC leader before the big Monday duel with the Blue Devils.
Across the country, the Big 12-SEC Challenge over the weekend yielded some intriguing results that played a huge impact in the rankings. For the first time since the challenge began, the Big 12 didn't take the crown. It was a straight up tie. Going into Saturday night with the SEC holding a 5-4 lead, Kentucky, considered a favorite over Kansas, fell 79-73 behind Josh Jackson's 20-point night in Rupp Arena. Now on a two-game skid, the Wildcats drop four spots to No. 8.
Illinois State received two votes to join the top-25 in the AP Poll.
There were 14 ranked teams that took on a total of 17 losses in the previous seven days.
Yet the newest coaches poll doesn't have one team from last week's rankings outside the top 25 this week. We've got a lot of shifting, but no new teams to the fold. Northwestern -- which is one of the best stories in college hoops right now -- along with SMU, USC and Miami, they're all on the outside looking in.
We do have Gonzaga at No. 1, as the Bulldogs move up after Villanova and Kansas took losses last week. The Bulldogs are now the top team on both polls.
Kentucky only drops two spots despite losing two games. Louisville, which has a better record than Kentucky and defeated the Wildcats in December, is a spot behind. Wisconsin nearly lost to Rutgers, yet jumps from 15th to ninth. It's a weird week in the polls. Florida State's slip from No. 8 to No. 16 is the biggest drop this week.
