Duke men’s basketball fell to No.12 in the AP poll after losing to Pittsburgh Saturday. The Blue Zone is here to recap the rest of the movement in the new top 25:
Slight tumble
After entering this past week on an eight-game win streak, Duke suffered its first loss of the new year, falling at home to Pittsburgh to drop to 13-4 on the season. Blake Hinson’s heroics were the story of the contest, as the senior forward was an unbelievable 7-for-7 from beyond the arc to help propel the Panthers to a victory, their first at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1979. The Blue Devils were without starters Jeremy Roach and Mark Mitchell for Saturday’s matchup, and head coach Jon Scheyer will hope to have the pair back for matchups against Louisville and Clemson this week. As a result of the loss, Duke slides to No. 12 in this week’s poll.
Big struggles for the Big 12
Every year, the Big 12 has a reputation as one of the toughest leagues to play in, as the conference usually has solid teams from top to bottom. This proved true once again this week, as six of the eight ranked teams from the league suffered a loss this week. Kansas, the favorite to win the league, dropped one to lowly West Virginia in Morgantown, resulting in a court storming by the Mountaineer fans and a slide to No. 7 this week. Baylor likely had the worst week of any Big 12 squad, as the Bears dropped both of their games last week. Head coach Scott Drew’s unit falls to No. 15 in this iteration of the poll. TCU, BYU, Iowa State and Texas Tech also all suffered at least one loss this week, with the Red Raiders, Cougars and Cyclones falling to No. 20, No. 21 and No. 23, respectively, while the Horned Frogs slipped out of the poll.
Tough week for mid-majors
This year, the top 25 has mostly been dominated by high-major programs, with elite mid-majors largely failing to establish themselves up to this point in the season. This week fully illustrated this phenomenon, as the two highest mid-majors in the poll suffered at least one loss. Memphis entered the week in the top 10, but Penny Hardaway’s squad had an abysmal week, losing to both South Florida and Tulane to slide all the way to No. 19. Utah State entered Week 11 at 16-1 and the clear top dog in the Mountain West, but the Aggies also slipped up, giving up 99 points against New Mexico to give the Aggies their first conference loss and a drop to No. 25 in the poll.
Full rankings:
1. UConn
2. Purdue
3. North Carolina
4. Houston
5. Tennessee
6. Kentucky
7. Kansas
8. Auburn
9. Arizona
10. Illinois
11. Oklahoma
12. Duke
13. Wisconsin
14. Marquette
15. Baylor
16. Dayton
17. Creighton
18. Utah State
19. Memphis
20. Texas Tech
21. BYU
22. Florida Atlantic
23. Iowa State
24. Colorado State
25. New Mexico
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