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Aside from the top three teams, no one was safe from being upset last week. While upsets do happen to the best programs in college basketball from time to time, it is almost unheard of when three of the top ten teams in the sport lose twice in one week! Luckily for Oklahoma and Texas Tech, both programs dropped just eight and six spots respectively, which is remarkable considering both teams lost to unranked opponents. However, the program that was demoted the most was the Wichita State Shockers. Dropping from 7th to 17th in the AP Poll, the Shockers were put on notice after losing to both SMU and Houston in the same week. While Wichita State has the dynamic offense to get back on track and overcome this disturbing lapse, they will need to be much more physical defensively if they hope to reclaim the top spot in the American Conference standings.
Top 25 College Basketball Rankings 2018: Week 12
While chaos at the top is disastrous for programs that believe themselves to be elite, it also allows under-the-radar teams to finally get some type of recognition for their consistent performances. With four new teams in the top-25, the competitive landscape of college basketball looks much different than it did just a week ago. Most notably, the St. Mary’s Gaels went from being unranked to 16th in the country after they won a crucial contest against their competitive conference rival in Gonzaga. Although it may be sometime before the Gaels are mentioned in a favorable way as their conference is fairly weak, they could very well force their way into the top ten if they can beat Gonzaga again in just two weeks.
| Ranking | Team (1st place votes) |
| 1 | Villanova (63) |
| 2 | Virginia (1) |
| 3 | Purdue (1) |
| 4 | Duke |
| 5 | Kansas |
| 6 | Michigan State |
| 7 | West Virginia |
| 8 | Xavier |
| 9 | Cincinnati |
| 10 | North Carolina |
| 11 | Arizona |
| 12 | Oklahoma |
| 13 | Ohio State |
| 14 | Texas Tech |
| 15 | Gonzaga |
| 16 | Saint Mary’s |
| 17 | Wichita State |
| 18 | Clemson |
| 19 | Auburn |
| 20 | Florida |
| 21 | Arizona State |
| 22 | Tennessee |
| 23 | Nevada |
| 24 | Rhode Island |
| 25 | Michigan |
Given how prolific and ruthless Villanova’s offense has been this season, it’s not very surprising that the Wildcats are the top-ranked team in the country for the third week in a row. Although their inconsistent defense could pose a problem at some point for them during the season (68.4 PAPG), their fast-paced and unselfish as done more than enough for them to overcome their defensive issues (87.9 PPG, 17.6 APG). Can the Wildcats continue to baffle opposing defenses with their sharpshooting offense en route to being the top-ranked team in the country for the fourth week in a row?
Dropped from rankings: Kentucky 18, Seton Hall 19, TCU 24, Miami 25
Others receiving votes that did not make the poll: Miami 83, Louisville 81, TCU 45, Kentucky 38, Kansas State 35, Seton Hall 25, Creighton 20, Florida State 14, Houston 5, New Mexico State 4, Boise State 2, Providence 2
