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AP College Basketball Poll 2021: Complete Week 3 Rankings Released

Rob Goldberg

The Week 3 Associated Press men's college basketball poll saw significant shake-ups after losses from two Top Five teams and a big week from Purdue.

The top two teams remain the same from last week, but Purdue jumped to No. 3 while Michigan fell from No. 4 to No. 20 after two losses in its last three games.

Here is the full Top 25 after the latest results around the country.

AP Poll

1. Gonzaga

2. UCLA

3. Purdue

4. Kansas

5. Duke

6. Baylor

7. Villanova

8. Texas

9. Memphis

10. Kentucky

10. Alabama

12. Houston

13. Arkansas

14. Illinois

15. Tennessee

16. St. Bonaventure

17. Arizona

18. BYU

19. Auburn

20. Michigan

21. Seton Hall

22. Connecticut

23. Florida

24. USC

25. Xavier

Some early-season tournaments are bigger than others, and the Cheez-It Hall of Fame Tip-Off stood out this week.

Purdue and Villanova each took care of business with impressive wins over North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. That set up a memorable final between two teams that could meet again in the Final Four.

The Boilermakers overcame a nine-point deficit with under eight minutes left to earn an 80-74 win over the Wildcats on Sunday:

Zach Edey was near unstoppable for Purdue, which can get production from several different sources. The Boilermakers moved up to third and seem like they will stay high in the rankings all year.

Villanova has two losses but only dropped to No. 7 since both came against current Top Three opponents.

It was a steeper fall for Michigan, which had a rough week to drop 16 spots in the poll.

The Wolverines suffered a surprising 67-65 home loss to Seton Hall on Tuesday, but the 80-62 blowout loss to Arizona was even more shocking. Michigan finished 1-of-14 from three-point range in the loss, although head coach Juwan Howard didn't have a problem with the team's approach.

"When the team shoots open shots, let it fly. Make or miss, we live with the results," Howard told reporters after the game. "... It’s just the nature of the game, but I encourage my guys to keep shooting."

The squad will hope for better results if it wants to climb back up the rankings.

St. Bonaventure showed it's a team to watch this year with a 5-0 start, moving up to No. 16.

The Bonnies had three neutral-court wins this week over Marquette, Clemson and Boise State. Perhaps most impressively, Marquette was coming off an upset win over Illinois earlier in the week.

St. Bonaventure has a pair of top scorers in Jaren Holmes and Kyle Lofton, and this squad could be difficult to beat.

Plenty more teams will get a chance to prove themselves through nonconference battles in the upcoming week, although no game will be as anticipated as Tuesday's matchup between Gonzaga and UCLA.

   

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