Thoughts on the AP Poll: Duke men's basketball falls from top spot despite win over Virginia

With a few weeks of conference play in the books, things are starting to shape up across college basketball, as seen in the latest AP poll:  

Shakeup at the top

Playing without Tre Jones and beating the last undefeated team in the country is quite impressive, but it wasn’t impressive enough for AP Poll voters to look past the embarrassing loss to unranked Syracuse earlier in the week, and Duke dropped from the top spot to No. 2 in the latest rankings. After the last two undefeated teams, Michigan and Virginia, were dethroned and a total of five of last week’s top nine teams lost, Tennessee claimed the top spot, with 48 of 64 first place votes. The Blue Devils secured just 11 first place votes.

Florida State drops out

Earlier this season, it looked like head coach Leonard Hamilton might finally have a roster fit to bring him to his first Final Four, but the start of conference play has sent the Seminoles to a stunning reality, dropping all the way from No. 11 to out of the poll. Florida State wasn’t penalized too much in the last polls after losses to Duke and Virginia, but barely escaping Miami and then losing twice this week to Pittsburgh and Boston College were too much to overlook. The Seminoles now sit at 1-4 in the ACC, good enough for last in the conference.

Louisville jumps into the rankings

Louisville's demolition of North Carolina last week helped them get to the verge of the Top 25, and they showed no signs of stopping this week, taking care of business against Boston College and Georgia Tech to rise to No. 23. Head coach Chris Mack has done a terrific job in his first season with a Cardinals team that many cast aside in the ACC race, but wins over the Tar Heels and Michigan State have proven that Louisville can compete at the top of the conference. Louisville also became the ninth different ACC school to appear in the poll this season.

Complete Rankings: