Projecting the Men's College Basketball AP Top 25: There’s a New No. 1 in Town

After a chaotic week that saw multiple top-10 teams fall, how will the AP Top 25 Men's College Basketball poll play out?

The Wolverines are poised to claim the top spot in the rankings after Arizona's back-to-back losses. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Selection Sunday is a month away, so men's college basketball fittingly decided to provide fans with a week of upsets befitting of March Madness. Down went No. 1 Arizona (twice), No. 4 Duke, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 7 Nebraska, and No. 8 Illinois—and three of these programs lost on the same chaos-filled night.

As such, Week 15’s Associated Press Top 25 rankings will dole out a healthy amount of risers and fallers in the aftermath of the carnage.

Here’s how Monday’s Top 25 poll could shake out after the voters have their say.

Predicting AP Top 25 Men's College Basketball Poll

1. Michigan Wolverines
Previous Ranking: 2
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 at Purdue, Feb. 21. vs. Duke (neutral location)

There’s a new No. 1 in town. After Arizona’s consecutive losses, the Wolverines are poised to claim the top spot in the rankings for the first time since January of 2013, a season in which the maize and blue made a run all the way to the national title game. How long the Wolverines, entering their toughest portion of the schedule, hold onto the top ranking remains to be seen.

2. Arizona Wildcats
Previous Ranking: 1
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 vs. BYU, Feb. 21 at Houston

After a program-record 23 consecutive wins, the top-ranked Wildcats stumbled against a Darryn Peterson–less Kansas squad on Monday, then lost in overtime against Texas Tech on Saturday. Alas, Arizona has a golden opportunity to jump right back into the top spot with big games against ranked Big 12 opponents in BYU and Houston.

3. Houston Cougars
Previous Ranking: 3
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 16 at Iowa State, Feb. 21 vs. Arizona

Backed by its smothering defense, Houston holds serve in the rankings after wins over Utah and Kansas State—and there’s a chance that Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars could soar even higher. The Cougars take on Iowa State before a heavyweight showdown against Arizona this coming week.

4. Duke Blue Devils
Previous Ranking: 4
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 16 vs. Syracuse, Feb. 21 vs. Michigan (neutral location)

The Blue Devils responded to a Feb. 7 last-second loss to bitter rival North Carolina in exactly the way a top team would be expected to. Duke routed Pittsburgh 70–-54, then scored a convincing, 13-point victory over No. 20 Clemson. A potential Final Four preview vs. Michigan on Feb. 21 looms large after a Monday contest against Syracuse.

5. UConn Huskies
Previous Ranking: 6
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 vs. Creighton, Feb. 21 at Villanova

The Huskies played with fire against Georgetown, who pulled within two points with fewer than 15 seconds left in UConn’s eventual 79–-75 win Saturday. Crisis averted. UCon’s rematch with Villanova, which pushed the Huskies to overtime in January, could be interesting.

6. Iowa State Cyclones
Previous Ranking: 5
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 16 vs. Houston, Feb. 21 at BYU

The Cyclones spit up on themselves in a turnover-filled, narrow loss to unranked TCU, which surely would have sent them spiraling further than just one spot down the rankings. But Iowa State righted the ship with a decisive, 74–-56 win over the Kansas Jayhawks, who were brimming with confidence after delivering Arizona its first loss of the season.

7. Kansas Jayhawks
Previous Ranking: 9
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 at Oklahoma State, Feb. 21 vs. Cincinnati

Despite Peterson's last-minute absence, the Jayhawks managed to stun Arizona in the program’s first-ever home win over the nation’s top-ranked team. While its ensuing loss to Iowa State put a damper on the week, there’s no mistaking that this program is on the rise.

8. Purdue Boilermakers
Previous Ranking: 13
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 vs. Michigan, Feb. 20 vs. Indiana

One of the biggest risers of the week, the Boilermakers scored a huge road upset of Nebraska in which they ran the Cornhuskers off the floor in the first half, then showed mettle in holding off the program’s furious second-half comeback. Following that up with a decisive win over a sneaky-good Iowa team is the icing on the cake.

9. Illinois Fighting Illini
Previous Ranking: 8
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 at USC, Feb. 21 at UCLA

Illinois, down starters Kylan Boswell and Andrej Stojaković, competed but fell short to Wisconsin in overtime for its second straight loss. The Fighting Illini righted the ship with a blowout of Indiana, but the program is likely to fall in the rankings this week.

10. Nebraska Cornhuskers
Previous Ranking: 7
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 at Iowa, Feb. 21 vs. Penn State

The Cornhuskers showed incredible fight in a Feb. 10 loss to Purdue in which the Boilermakers ran them off the floor in the first half en route to a 40–-24 lead, as Nebraska clawed back to send the game to overtime, where Purdue slipped—pun unfortunately intended—by. But with three losses in its last five games, the Cornhuskers are destined to slide.

11. Florida Gators
Previous Ranking: 14
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 vs. South Carolina, Feb. 21 at Ole Miss

12. Gonzaga Bulldogs
Previous Ranking: 12
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 at San Francisco, Feb. 21 vs. Pacific

13. Texas Tech Red Raiders
Previous Ranking: 16
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 at Arizona State, Feb. 21 vs. Kansas State

14. Michigan State Spartans
Previous Ranking: 10
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 vs. UCLA, Feb. 22 vs. Ohio State

15. Virginia Cavaliers
Previous Ranking: 15
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 at Georgia Tech, Feb. 21 vs. Miami

16. North Carolina Tar Heels
Previous Ranking: 11
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 at NC State, Feb. 21 at Syracuse

17. St. John's Red Storm
Previous Ranking: 17
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 at Marquette, Feb. 21 vs. Creighton

18. Saint Louis Billikens
Previous Ranking: 18
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 at Rhode Island, Feb. 20 vs. VCU

19. Vanderbilt Commodores
Previous Ranking: 19
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 at Missouri, Feb. 21 vs. Tennessee

20. Arkansas Razorbacks
Previous Ranking: 21
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 at Alabama, Feb. 21 vs. Missouri

21. BYU Cougars
Previous Ranking: 22
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 at Arizona, Feb. 21 vs. Iowa State

22. Louisville Cardinals
Previous Ranking: 24
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 at SMU, Feb. 21 vs. Georgia Tech

23. Miami (Ohio) RedHawks
Previous Ranking: 23
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 at Massachusetts, Feb. 20 vs. Bowling Green

24. Wisconsin Badgers
Previous Ranking: NR
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 17 at Ohio State, Feb. 22 vs. Iowa

25. Alabama Crimson Tide
Previous Ranking: NR
Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 18 vs. Arkansas, Feb. 21 at LSU

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