5 biggest winners and losers in college basketball this week

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5 biggest winners and losers in college basketball this week

Zion Williamson

AP Photo/Gerry Broome

The top two teams in the country remain the same as last week, but the rest of the AP Top 25 Poll looks pretty different than it did last week.

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  • After a big weekend of marquee college basketball matchups, the AP Top 25 Poll had quite a shakeup in Week 15.
  • The ACC and Big Ten lead all conferences with six teams in the rankings apiece, followed by the Big 12 with four and the SEC with three. The Pac-12, meanwhile, has no representation in the AP Top 25 Poll for the seventh consecutive week.
  • Here are the five biggest winners and losers for Week 15 of the college basketball season.
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▲ No. 2 Duke Blue Devils — Same spot in AP Top 25 Poll as last week

▲ No. 2 Duke Blue Devils — Same spot in AP Top 25 Poll as last week

Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils are sitting pretty this week. After romping the Boston College Eagles by 25 points at Cameron Indoor Stadium Tuesday night, No. 2 Duke traveled to Charlottesville to take on the then-No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena. The Blue Devils racked up 81 points against the notoriously stalwart Virginia defense to deal the Cavaliers a 10-point loss and sweep them on the season. Duke will take on the No. 16 Louisville Cardinals and unranked N.C. State Wolfpack this week before gearing up for a monster rivalry matchup against the No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels Wednesday, Feb. 20.

▲ No. 17 Florida State Seminoles — Up 5 spots in AP Top 25 Poll

▲ No. 17 Florida State Seminoles — Up 5 spots in AP Top 25 Poll

The No. 17 Florida State Seminoles has themselves a week. First, they traveled to Syracuse and delivered an 18-point loss to the Orange at the Carrier Dome. Then, four days later, Florida State welcomed the No. 16 Louisville Cardinals to Tallahassee and dealt them a five-point overtime loss. The Seminoles have a light week coming up as they'll face ACC bottom dwellers Wake Forest and Georgia Tech Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.

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▲ No. 6 Michigan Wolverines — Up 1 spot in AP Top 25 Poll

▲ No. 6 Michigan Wolverines — Up 1 spot in AP Top 25 Poll

After losing to the Iowa Hawkeyes and falling two spots in the AP Top 25 Poll last week, the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines felt some pressure to right the ship this week. They did just that, routing the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on the road before exacting revenge against the then-No. 19 Wisconsin Badgers, who beat Michigan in Ann Arbor last month. The Wolverines will face a ranked opponent every week for the remainder of the season, and next they'll travel to State College to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions before hosting the No. 24 Maryland Terrapins.

▲ No. 3 Gonzaga Bulldogs — Up 1 spot in AP Top 25 Poll

▲ No. 3 Gonzaga Bulldogs — Up 1 spot in AP Top 25 Poll

Gonzaga hasn't made too many headlines recently, but while we weren't looking the Bulldogs amassed 14 consecutive wins and rose back up into the top three of the AP Top 25 Poll. This week, Gonzaga dealt the San Francisco Dons a 30-point loss before beating the St. Mary's Gaels by 48. Sheesh. The Bulldogs will face the Loyola Marymount Lions and San Diego Toreros this week. Don't expect Rui Hachimura and the Zags to lose any time soon.

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No. 21 Iowa Hawkeyes — Down 1 spot in AP Top 25 Poll

No. 21 Iowa Hawkeyes — Down 1 spot in AP Top 25 Poll

Yeah, you read that right. The No. 21 Iowa Hawkeyes dropped a spot in this week's AP Top 25 Poll even though they haven't lost since taking down the Michigan Wolverines to start the month. Iowa notched a big win against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall Thursday before hosting the Northwestern Wildcats at home. The Hawkeyes fell behind early and trailed by as much as 15 in the second half before mounting a ridiculous comeback capped by a last-second, game-winning three from Iowa's Jordan Bohannon. That makes them winners in my book. The Hawkeyes will look to carry that momentum into matchups with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights this week.

▼ No. 4 Virginia Cavaliers — Dropped 1 spot in the AP Top 25 Poll

▼ No. 4 Virginia Cavaliers — Dropped 1 spot in the AP Top 25 Poll

The Virginia Cavaliers have been dominant this season — that is when they aren't playing the Duke Blue Devils. Coach K's squad dealt the Cavaliers their first and only loss of the season back in January, but Saturday Virginia welcomed No. 2 Duke to Charlottesville looking for redemption. Instead, Zion Williamson and the young Blue Devils took care of business at John Paul Jones Arena and walked away with a 10-point win. To make matters worse, the Cavaliers will face the red-hot North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill Monday night.

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▼ No. 22 Virginia Tech Hokies — Dropped 11 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll

▼ No. 22 Virginia Tech Hokies — Dropped 11 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll

The Virginia Tech Hokies owned the biggest AP Top 25 Poll drop of the week, falling 11 spots after losing to both the No. 16 Louisville Cardinals and unranked Clemson Tigers this week. Luckily for Buzz Williams and co., the Hokies will face two ACC underachievers — the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Pittsburgh Panthers — this week before hosting the No. 4 Virginia Cavaliers next Monday.

▼ No. 11 Michigan State Spartans — Dropped 2 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll

▼ No. 11 Michigan State Spartans — Dropped 2 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Michigan State Spartans were widely regarded as one of the top teams in the country for the bulk of the season, but they lost three consecutive contests heading into this week. Instead of righting the ship, the Spartans embarrassed themselves and lost on the road against Big 10 bottom-dweller Illinois Tuesday night. Tom Izzo's squad picked up a much-needed win against the Minnesota Golden Gophers Saturday, but they'll now have to face the No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers and Ohio State Buckeyes in succession.

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▼ No. 23 Iowa State Cyclones — Dropped 6 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll

▼ No. 23 Iowa State Cyclones — Dropped 6 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll

Ever since they beat the Kansas Jayhawks at the start of the year, the Iowa State Cyclones have been surging up the polls and taking down big-name opponents. This week, however, the Cyclones dropped back-to-back contests against two unranked opponents — the Oklahoma Sooners and TCU Horned Frogs — and slid six spots in the AP Top 25 Poll. The Iowa State players have a whole week of rest ahead of them before traveling to Manhattan to take on the No. 18 Kansas State Wildcats.

▼ No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks — Dropped 1 spot in the AP Top 25 Poll

▼ No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks — Dropped 1 spot in the AP Top 25 Poll

The No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks lost to in-state rival Kansas State — an unranked but pesky squad — before finding their footing against the Oklahoma State Cowboys Saturday. Even though the Jayhawks' loss to the Wildcats was enough to drop a spot in the AP Top 25 Poll, it wasn't their worst loss of the week. Thursday night, Kansas announced that its lone senior and star guard Lagerald Vick would be taking an indefinite leave of absence to attend to some "personal matters." The Jayhawks' bid for their 15th straight Big 12 championship was already in jeopardy, so losing Vick is a devastating blow for Bill Self and company. Kansas will take on the TCU Horned Frogs and West Virginia Mountaineers this week before facing back-to-back ranked opponents the week after.

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