UNC still atop college basketball rankings after first week. Duke at No. 7 in AP poll

College basketball season is off and running after the opening week of play, but really looks to pick up some speed this week.

There weren’t many marquee games to speak of — actually No. 2 Gonzaga’s 64-63 win over Michigan State on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was the only one — but this week offers more quality matchups.

The Champions Classic will feature No. 7 Duke against No. 6 Kansas on Tuesday. And although the Spartans aren’t ranked, the way they played against the Bulldogs means their game against No. 4 Kentucky will be fun.

The Zags play the first of four ranked teams on their non-conference schedule when they travel to No. 11 Texas on Wednesday.

Also be on the lookout for No. 5 Baylor against No. 16 Virginia on Friday in Las Vegas.

There were no changes among the top 10 teams from the preseason rankings. North Carolina remained No. 1 — although it lost three first place votes from the preseason — and the Blue Devils held strong at No. 7.

Here are the highlights of the rest:

Highest rise

No. 19 Illinois jumped four spots with a pair of opening wins over Eastern Illinois and Missouri-Kansas City. But the Illini will get a true test on Friday when they take on No. 8 UCLA in Las Vegas.

Biggest drop

Tennessee was the biggest disappointment from the opening week of play. The Volunteers were ranked No. 11 in the preseason poll when they took on Colorado in a quasi-home game in Nashville on Sunday. The Buffaloes were coming off an 83-74 loss Friday at Grambling, a game in which they never led. No matter though, Colorado dominated the second half against the Vols to pull an 78-66 upset. They fell 11 spots back to No. 22 in this week’s poll.

Welcome to the top 25

This week’s newcomers include Texas A&M at No. 24 and Connecticut at No. 25.

Outta here

Villanova’s first-year coach Kyle Neptune got his first introduction to life on the road against a rival and it wasn’t a very hospitable experience. The Wildcats were ranked No. 16, but lost at Temple 68-64. These are the same Owls that lost to Wagner at home 76-73 in overtime in their opener.

Oregon was ranked No. 21, but was handled at home by UC Irvine 69-56 in what was deemed “one of the worst home losses of coach Dana Altman’s era.”

Latest AP poll

C.L. Brown’s latest AP Top 25 ballot

This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 7:45 AM.

C.L. Brown

The News & Observer

C.L. Brown covers the University of North Carolina for The News & Observer. Brown brings more than two decades of reporting experience including stints as the beat writer on Indiana University and the University of Louisville. After a long stay at the Louisville Courier-Journal, where he earned an APSE award, he’s had stops at ESPN.com, The Athletic and even tried his hand at running his own website, clbrownhoops.com.