NCAA Top 25: Louisville takes over as No. 1

It only took one week… A week ago there were just three unbeaten teams in the ranks of NCAA basketball. Three powerhouse clubs, Duke, Michigan and Arizona came into the week with perfect records and one-by-one they fell until there were no more.

First it was Arizona, who has had a number of close calls over the last month with a one point win over Florida, a one point win over San Diego State, and a three point win over Utah. Their loss to Oregon in Eugene came as no surprise, but it was the first of a string of upsets the weekend had in store for college hoops fans. More surprisingly, the loss dropped Arizona only three places in the AP Poll, from No. 4 to No. 7.

Next came the huge loss by No. 1 Duke on Saturday at the hands of ACC rivals North Carolina State. The schools are less than a 30 minutes drive apart and have a long and passionate rivalry, along with the University of North Carolina, also a stone’s throw from the other two schools. Duke’s loss dropped them from the No. 1 spot to No. 3, still earning 14 first place votes with the AP voters.

The final unbeaten squad came from the University of Michigan, who’s 16-game unbeaten streak to start the season tied the U of M school record for the best start to a season. When the Maize and Blue made the short trip down to Columbus, Ohio to take on No. 15, Ohio State. It was a key game in the early Big Ten season and Ohio State is tough to beat at home. After Michigan tallied the first three points of the contest, the Buckeyes reeled off 16 unanswered to firmly plant the Wolverines in a hole down 16:3. Michigan didn’t close that gap until they tied it at 46 with just over 6 minutes to play. Michigan had their opportunities, but Ohio State held them off and handed their guests their first loss on the season, but more importantly, their first Big Ten loss and with six conference schools in the Top 25, no one is going to care that Michigan was 16-0 to start the season, it’s how they finish that will obviously matter most.

The three big losses shook up the rest of the Top 10, with No. 3 Louisville climbing to the No. 1 spot after they clipped off two Big East rivals, Seton Hall (away – 58:73), and South Florida (home – 64:38). They’ve also added a win against Conneticut as of Monday.

Indiana made a run to return to the No. 1 spot with Big Ten wins over Penn State (away – 51:74) and No. 8 Minnesota (home – 88:81). The Minnesota game showed just how talented the Hoosiers are burning the cords from behind the arc in the first half to build a 23-point margin. The Gophers countered in the second half and got to within three with just over a minute to play, but couldn’t close the deal.

Big movers of the week include Ohio State, moving up four notches on the heels of the Michigan game; North Carolina State, jumping six places after upsetting Duke; New Mexico moved up six places after wins over UNLV and Fresno State; UCLA got a five place bump with wins over Utah and Colorado; Marquette picked up four places win a win over Pittsburgh; Oregon ran up the Poll with their win over Arizona to the tune of 13 places. Illinois dropped 11 places with losses to Minnesota and Wisconsin; Georgetown went from 441 votes and 19th place to 56 votes and dropped nine places.

The Associated Press Top 25 Poll

Division I Coaches’ Top 25 Poll

Comparison Poll