Pittsburgh’s Lamar Patterson (21) in action against Youngstown State in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Breaking down this week’s Associated Press college basketball poll:
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UNRANKED UNBEATENS: At the start of the week, there were 14 Division I teams that had yet to lose a game, and all but three of them are ranked in the Top 25.
Pittsburgh (10-0), Toledo (9-0) and Saint Mary’s, Calif. (8-0) are unranked.
Six of the unbeatens — Arizona, Syracuse, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Villanova and Connecticut — are ranked in the top 10.
The others are No. 11 Wichita State, No. 13 Oregon, No. 17 Iowa State, No. 22 Massachusetts and No. 23 Missouri.
On the other side of the win-loss ledger, three Division I teams have yet to a win a game: Cornell (0-10), Tennessee State (0-10) and Grambling State (0-4).
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BIG MOVES: Saturday’s Kentucky-North Carolina game accounted for the week’s biggest poll moves.
The Tar Heels’ 82-77 victory moved them from No. 18 to 14th.
Kentucky, the preseason No. 1, dropped from No. 11 to 19th with its third loss of the season — all to teams ranked in the top 14 in this week’s poll.
Kansas, which lost to Florida last week before beating New Mexico, dropped five spots to 18th, the Jayhawks’ lowest ranking since they were 21st in February 2009.
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BEATING RANKEDS: North Carolina’s 82-77 victory over Kentucky on Saturday was the Tar Heels’ third win this season over a ranked team. North Carolina also beat then-No. 3 Louisville and then-No. 1 Michigan State.
The Tar Heels are the only team this season with wins over three ranked opponents.
Iowa State (No. 7 Michigan and No. 23 Iowa); San Diego State (No. 20 Creighton and No. 25 Marquette); and Villanova (No. 2 Kansas and No. 23 Iowa) are the only teams with two wins over ranked opponents.
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DOUBLE-RANKED GAMES: There are two games between ranked teams this week.
On Tuesday, No. 15 Memphis and No. 16 Florida meet in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. On Saturday, No. 7 Oklahoma State and No. 20 Colorado meet at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
There will be as close to a double-ranked game as possible Thursday at Madison Square Garden when No. 8 Duke faces UCLA, which was 26th in this week’s voting.
USA Today Top 25 Poll
The top 25 teams in the USA Today men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 15, points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
| Record | Pts | Pvs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Arizona (30) | 11-0 | 798 | 1 |
| 2. Ohio State (1) | 10-0 | 748 | 2 |
| 2. Syracuse (1) | 10-0 | 748 | 3 |
| 4. Louisville | 9-1 | 676 | 4 |
| 5. Michigan State | 8-1 | 653 | 5 |
| 6. Wisconsin | 12-0 | 645 | 6 |
| 7. Oklahoma State | 9-1 | 555 | 9 |
| 8. Duke | 7-2 | 553 | 7 |
| 9. Wichita State | 10-0 | 545 | 8 |
| 10. UConn | 9-0 | 494 | 12 |
| 11. Oregon | 9-0 | 490 | 11 |
| 12. Villanova | 10-0 | 413 | 14 |
| 13. Iowa State | 8-0 | 351 | 16 |
| 14. Memphis | 7-1 | 349 | 15 |
| 15. Gonzaga | 10-1 | 311 | 16 |
| 15. Baylor | 8-1 | 311 | 18 |
| 17. Florida | 7-2 | 296 | 19 |
| 18. North Carolina | 7-2 | 288 | 21 |
| 19. Kansas | 7-3 | 232 | 13 |
| 20. UMass | 9-0 | 229 | 20 |
| 21. Kentucky | 8-3 | 217 | 10 |
| 22. UCLA | 9-1 | 91 | 23 |
| 23. San Diego State | 7-1 | 90 | 24 |
| 24. Colorado | 10-1 | 88 | – |
| 25. Missouri | 10-0 | 76 | – |
Others receiving votes: Iowa 53, Pittsburgh 48, Saint Mary’s 24, Creighton 9, Michigan 7, George Washington 5, New Mexico 3, Virginia 3, Oklahoma 1.
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