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To think, a matter of 2.8 seconds on the shot clock inside Florida State’s Donald L. Tucker Center can change the trajectory of a single season. Cam Reddish squared up his hips coming off of a cross-screen as he flashed to the right crevice of the arc, pointed his elbow to the cup, and released the rock confidently leaving his right hand up, curling his fingers into the basket as if he reached into an upper cabin’s cookie jar. Wide open as he was, you’d be remiss to think he’d drop such a graced opportunity.
News flash: Reddish didn’t.
No. 1 Duke escaped with a tantalizingly scintillating game-winner against ACC rival, No. 13 Florida State to maintain top dog status among the college basketball stratosphere. In what folks FSU faithful prophesized as the biggest, most monumental upset on their home floor prior to the ticking 2.8 seconds, aghast facial expressions spread across Tallahassee, and for that matter, the entire country.
See, the thing about College Basketball this time of the year, we get to see who’s not apprehensive to show their teeth in the most hostile of predicaments, and who falters under expectations, especially when in-conference play begins. Where there wasn’t much change amongst the top 10, the real refinements to each college basketball poll occurred in the latter. Who would’ve seen the UNC Tar Heels suffering a 21-point scalping at the hands of Chris Mack’s Louisville Cardinals, their worst home loss in the entire Roy Williams era? Or Ohio State’s close-but-no-cigar defeat to unranked Rutgers?
Answer: Not a bunch of people. That’s what makes College Basketball so much fun. So here’s the new and abridged version of the Associated Press Top 25 for Week 11. See where your favorite team is ranked below. Or not.
AP Top 25 Rankings – Week 11
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- Duke
- Michigan
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Gonzaga
- Michigan State
- Kansas
- Texas Tech
- Virginia Tech
- Nevada
- Florida State
- Kentucky
- North Carolina
- Auburn
- Marquette
- Buffalo
- North Carolina State
- Ole Miss
- Maryland
- Oklahoma
- Houston
- Villanova
- Iowa
- Mississippi State
- Indiana
Others receiving votes: Louisville (112), Nebraska (36), Ohio State (34), Wisconsin (31), Iowa State (20), UCF (17), Purdue (16), Kansas St. (14), St. Johns (12), TCU (12), Murray St. (9), Washington (8), Arizona (8), LSU (7), Seton Hall (6), South Carolina (6), Temple (5), Minnesota (3), Wofford (2), Cincinnati (2), Florida (1), and Hofstra (1).
Analysis
As the top 10 stays intact, some things have changed underneath them.
- FSU moves up to No. 11, and while suffering their second loss of the year against Duke, have the third-best record in the ACC. Auburn moves down three spots at 12-3.
- Kentucky goes north in the rankings by 6 spots after beating Texas A&M to No. 12, replacing UNC who lost by 21 at home to Louisville.
- The striking rise of scoring protege’ Markus Howard and the Marquette Golden Eagles earn their place in the top 25, filling in for NC State, who lost at home to in-state rival North Carolina this past Wednesday.
- No. 16 Buffalo went up three spots this week with a 22-point victory against Eastern Michigan, replacing Ohio State who lost a close one to Rutgers, 64-61.
- No. 18 Ole Miss enters their name into the top 25 hat with a 13-2 record, and a 3-0 record to start out the year in the SEC. With considerably significant wins against Auburn and Mississippi State, they filled the vacant No. 18 spot, previously held by Kentucky.
- No. 19 Maryland, sitting at 14-3, are starting to make a little noise. With a win against Indiana, they take the vacant No. 19 spot for their first ranking of the year, replacing now-No. 16 Buffalo.
- No. 20 Oklahoma jumps up three spots from their No. 23 spot last week, bouncing back from a tight 7-point loss to Texas Tech and winning a thriller against TCU by 2 to stay inside the top 25. They take the place of Iowa State, who lost to unranked Kansas State by 1 on Saturday.
- No. 21 Houston, while at 16-1, obtained their first L against Temple just a week ago. Now at 3-1 in their division, they go down 4 spots from their previous No. 17 spot.
- No. 22 Villanova, who has had a rough go of it to start their title defense, win a heavily-contested matchup against Creighton to get back into top 25 conversations and bump down No. 25 Indiana in the process.
- No. 23 Iowa is gaining some momentum with consecutive wins against Big Ten opponents. At 14-3, they get the 23rd ranking that belonged to No. 20 Oklahoma.
- No. 24 Mississippi State, who dropped a nail-biter to Ole Miss, dropped down 10 spots to 24th.
Poll Methodology
The top 25 teams in the Associated Press’ College Basketball poll are determined on a point-based system. First place votes are noted in parentheses. A team receives 25 points for a first-place vote, 24 for a second-place vote and so on through one point for the 25th-place vote and prior ranking.
