NCAA basketball rankings: Duke, Louisville take over AP Poll

There’s another No. 1 in college basketball as the Duke Blue Devils took over the top spot in this week’s AP Poll. For those keeping track at home, that’s three teams at No. 1 in three weeks as Michigan State and Kentucky held the top spots in the preseason and Week 1, respectively.

The Louisville Cardinals moved up to No. 2, followed by Michigan State, Kansas, and North Carolina to round out the top five. Maryland jumped up one spot to No. 6, and the reigning national champs Virginia moved up two to No. 7 as their defense continues to set the standard this season.

Kentucky dropped to No. 9 after falling to Evansville at Rupp Arena, the worst drop for teams that stayed in the rankings.

This season has been full of upsets and close games already as no team has really established themselves as the team to beat. Three teams fell out of the rankings this week as two SEC teams — Florida and LSU — picked up losses and St. Mary’s fell to Winthrop. LSU picked up a loss on the road at VCU (now ranked No. 21) in a game negotiated as part of Will Wade’s buyout, and Florida followed up its loss to Florida State with one to UConn.

The ACC, Big 12, and Pac-12 all had four teams in this week’s poll, with all four of the ACC squads coming in the top seven.

Here is the full poll: