After a quick opening weekend of college basketball, the AP Poll for this week does not feature a ton movement from the preseason poll. However, after Texas A&M dominated West Virginia last week, the Aggies went from being ranked 25th to 16th while the Mountaineers dropped from 11th all the way down to 24th. Undoubtedly, next weeks AP Poll will be much more volatile as ranked vs. ranked matchups become more prevalent while several unranked teams will get a chance to dethrone some of the lower ranked teams in the poll.
Top 25 College Basketball Rankings 2017: Week 2
Despite winning both of their opening matchups against Utah Valley and Vermont, Kentucky dropped two spots from 5th to 7th as they barely beat Vermont by a score of 73-69. With a tough contest against Kansas coming up, the Wildcats will get a grand opportunity to redeem themselves. While the Wildcats are one of youngest teams in the country, coach John Calipari has a glowing reputation for getting his youthful roster ready to take on some of the best teams in college basketball every week.
| Ranking | Team (1st place votes) |
| 1 | Duke (34) |
| 2 | Michigan State (13) |
| 3 | Arizona (16) |
| 4 | Kansas (2) |
| 5 | Villanova |
| 6 | Wichita State |
| 7 | Kentucky |
| 8 | Florida |
| 9 | North Carolina |
| 10 | USC |
| 11 | Miami |
| 12 | Cincinnati |
| 13 | Notre Dame |
| 14 | Minnesota |
| 15 | Xavier |
| 16 | Texas A&M |
| 17 | Gonzaga |
| 18 | Louisville |
| 19 | Purdue |
| 20 | Northwestern |
| 21 | Saint Mary’s (CA) |
| 22 | Seton Hall |
| 23 | UCLA |
| 24 | West Virginia |
| 25 | Baylor |
Being ranked 1st in the country, Duke will have to prove that they are worthy of that lofty pedestal as they take on a physically gifted Michigan State Spartans program. Can the Blue Devils win emphatically and establish themselves as the early favorites to win the National Title this season?
Dropped from rankings: N/A
Others receiving votes that did not make the poll: Alabama 98, Rhode Island 55, Virginia 45, TCU 43, Providence 36, Missouri 32, Virginia Tech 17, Wisconsin 9, Texas 7, Michigan 7, Texas Tech 6, Butler 6, Oklahoma 5, Arkansas 4, Mt. St. Mary’s 4, SMU 4, Middle Tennessee 3, Nevada 2, Oakland 2, Dayton 2, Maryland 2, Harvard 1, Oregon 1, South Carolina 1
