5 biggest winners and losers in college basketball this week
▲ No. 3 Maryland Terrapins — Up 2 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll
Despite suffering a bit of a scare against the unranked Harvard Crimson during the second round of the Orlando Invitational Tournament on Friday, the Maryland Terrapins went on to sweep the field and remain undefeated on the season. Their 84-63 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles in the championship was particularly impressive, especially considering Maryland held Marquette sharpshooter Markus Howard — who had dropped a whopping 51 points on the USC Trojans two days prior — to just six points on the afternoon. Now No. 3 Maryland will face two unranked teams in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Illinois Fighting Illini this week and, barring a disaster, should remain in the top five for the foreseeable future.
▲ No. 4 Michigan Wolverines — Enter the AP Top 25 Poll
Aside from the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks squad that toppled the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium Tuesday night, no team is having a better week than the Michigan Wolverines. After traveling to the Bahamas unranked and under the radar, Juwan Howard's squad took down the Iowa State Cyclones, the then-No. 6 North Carolina Tar Heels, and then-No. 8 Gonzaga Bulldogs in rapid succession to win the Battle 4 Atlantis and catapult to the No. 4 spot in the Week 5 AP Poll. The Wolverines won't have much time to celebrate, though, as they have a date with the newly top-ranked Louisville Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center Tuesday evening.
▲ No. 17 Florida State Seminoles — Enter the AP Top 25 Poll
Florida State has been on the cusp of entering the rankings for a few weeks, and the tumult of Week 4 was enough for the Seminoles to finally break through. That, and Leonard Hamilton's squad's three-point upset of the then-No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers on Friday. That noteworthy victory came on the back of Florida State's 57-point win against the Chicago State Cougars Monday. It preceeded its three-point overtime victory against the Purdue Boilermakers to win the Emerald Coast Classic Saturday night. The Seminoles will face two unranked Power-5 opponents in the Indiana Hoosiers and Clemson Tigers this week and likely find themselves firmly planted in the top 25.
▲ No. 19 Dayton Flyers — Enter the AP Top 25 Poll
The Dayton Flyers, like Michigan, entered their Feast Week tournament unranked and underrated. They went on to topple top-ranked freshman Anthony Edwards and the Georgia Bulldogs before dealing the Virginia Tech Hokies a damning 27-point loss. Dayton went on to lose a narrow decision to the Kansas Jayhawks in the Maui Invitational Tournament championships. Now the Flyers are flying high (sorry) in the top 20 with contests against the Houston Baptist Huskies and Saint Mary's Gaels — who just upset the Utah State Aggies — coming up this week.
▲ No. 14 Auburn Tigers — Up 4 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll
Bruce Pearl's Auburn Tigers enjoyed one of the bigger leaps of the week after taking down two unranked squads — the Colgate Raiders and New Mexico Lobos — by an average of 27 points. Auburn remains undefeated on the season and, given that the Tigers only face the unranked Furman Paladins this week, will likely stay amongst the top 15 heading deeper into December.
▼ No. 10 Duke Blue Devils — Down 9 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll
Less than a month after the then No. 1-ranked Kentucky Wildcats suffered a brutal loss to the Evansville Purple Aces at Rupp Arena, the Duke Blue Devils said: "hold my beer." Mike Krzyzewski's top-ranked squad lost to the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks in overtime at Cameron Indoor Stadium Tuesday night, shattering its record 150-game home winning streak against nonconference opponents and bringing an end to its perfect record on the season. Duke bounced back to beat the Winthrop Eagles by 13 on Friday, but the now-No. 10 Blue Devils will face a stiff test in the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans on Tuesday night.
▼ No. 25 Utah State Aggies — Down 10 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll
Even considering Duke's massive loss, the Utah State Aggies suffered the biggest slide of the week in the AP Top 25 Poll. The Aggies traveled to California to take on the Saint Mary's Gaels on Friday and left with their perfect record tarnished. Now, Utah State is teetering on the back edge of the rankings and does not face a ranked opponent again until 2020.
▼ No. 11 Michigan State Spartans — Down 8 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll
Even though the Michigan State Spartans took down the Georgia Bulldogs and UCLA Bruins by eight and 13 points, respectively, this week, a five-point loss to the Virginia Tech Hokies was enough to knock Tom Izzo's squad back eight spots in this week's AP Poll. Michigan State will now face a tough test at home against a similarly ailing Duke Blue Devil squad that slid back nine spots since last week.
▼ No. 13 Oregon Ducks — Down 2 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll
The Oregon Ducks got off to a solid start this week after taking down the then-No. 13 Seton Hall Pirates during the opening round of the Maui Invitational Tournament, but things quickly went south from there. Oregon fell to the then-No. 8 Gonzaga Bulldogs by one point on Thursday before losing by four to the then-No. 6 North Carolina Tar Heels the following day. Now, the Ducks will host the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Saturday before traveling to Michigan to take on the No. 4 Wolverines one week later.
▼ Texas Tech Red Raiders — Dropped out of the AP Top 25 Poll
Back-to-back losses to unranked teams — the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Creighton Blue Jays — was enough to knock the Texas Tech Red Raiders out of the rankings this week. A matchup with the unranked but undefeated DePaul Blue Demons will be an interesting test for the Red Raiders before they gear up to face the No. 1 team in the nation — the Louisville Cardinals — at Madison Square Garden the following week.
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