After wild week of big losses in AP Top 25 poll, a new No. 1. Also, did Duke survive?

Last week was one of the most unstable in the Associated Press Top 25 in some time. Forget for a second that No. 1 Purdue was upset at home by an unranked Rutgers squad.

This was a week that saw 15 teams, a whopping 60 percent of the poll, suffer at least one loss. What’s more bizarre is that only five of the 19 total losses suffered by ranked teams were to another ranked team: No. 24 Ohio State lost to No. 1 Purdue; No. 17 TCU lost to No. 25 Iowa State; No. 13 Arkansas lost to No. 22 Auburn; No. 20 Missouri lost to No. 13 Arkansas.

The rest were head-scratchers like Washington State, which has a 7-10 record that includes a loss to Prairie View A&M, snapping Arizona’s 26-game home win streak under second-year coach Tommy Lloyd with a 74-61 victory.

Duke nearly lost its way out of the poll after being smacked at N.C. State 84-60 and needing a stop in the final seconds to escape Boston College with a 65-64 win.

With North Carolina currently unranked, two blue bloods of college basketball nearly achieved a dubious mark. The last time both teams were not ranked in the AP poll was in January of the 2020-21 season. (That stretch was also the first time the AP poll didn’t have Kentucky, UNC or Duke ranked since 1961.)

Highest rise

Kansas State shot up from unranked to No. 11. The Wildcats followed a risky formula that is common for first-year coaches like Jerome Tang. Their non-conference schedule wasn’t very challenging, but the games allowed the team to get used to a new style and build confidence along the way.

Now that Big 12 play is in full swing, K-State has established that this is not a rebuilding year where it has to be relegated to the cellar. The Wildcats won on the road at Texas and at Baylor, which, arguably, might be the best two road wins of any team right now.

Iowa State jumped 11 spots from No. 24 up to No. 13 after posting road wins at Oklahoma and TCU.

Biggest drop

Duke fell from No. 16 down to No. 24. The Blue Devils didn’t crack 70 points in consecutive games (in the same season) for the first time since Feb. 2018 when they beat Syracuse 60-44 and lost at Virginia Tech 64-63. They better figure out something quickly to generate more offense or they’ll see themselves out of the polls.

Welcome to the ballot

Providence has won nine straight and sits atop the Big East standings with a 6-0 record. I bumped the Friars all the way to No. 17 in their debut on my ballot. They came in officially at No. 19. Forward Bryce Hopkins, who could barely get minutes at Kentucky last season, has transformed into their leading scorer and rebounder, and is an early frontrunner for Big East Player of the Year.

Outta here

Baylor dropped out from No. 19 after losing by a combined three points to TCU and Kansas State. But factoring in their loss to Iowa State on Dec. 31, they’re trending in the wrong direction with three straight defeats.

Indiana went from No. 15 right out of the poll after losses to Iowa and Northwestern this week. Injuries have caused the huge set back for IU with a pair of starters (guard Xavier Johnson and forward Race Thompson) both out indefinitely.

No. 21 New Mexico’s feel good 14-0 start quickly came crashing to earth with losses to Fresno State and UNLV last week. The rest of the Lobos resume wasn’t strong enough to withstand that and stay ranked.

AP Top 25 Poll

C.L. Brown’s ballot