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AP College Basketball Poll 2017: Complete Week 8 Rankings Released

Alec Nathan

The Villanova Wildcats, who have won six of their last seven games by double-digits, remained perched atop the Associated Press Top 25 for the third straight week in new rankings released Monday. 

The Michigan State Spartans held steady at No. 2, while the Arizona State Sun Devils, Duke Blue Devils and Texas A&M Aggies rounded out the top five.  

Here's a look at the complete Top 25: 

It was another fruitful week for the Sun Devils, who stayed undefeated and moved to 12-0 with rousing wins over Longwood and Pacific. According to KenPom.com, the Sun Devils now rank fourth in adjusted offensive efficiency (120.6).

Entering the final week of 2017, Arizona State, Villanova and TCU are the only teams left without a loss.

A big reason why: The Miami Hurricanes suffered their first defeat of the season when they were upset by the New Mexico State Aggies 63-54 on Saturday. As a result, Miami dropped from No. 6 to No. 15. 

Looking ahead, the Hurricanes will have to make some tactical adjustments on offense if they want to hang tough in ACC play with big conference matchups against Florida State and Duke looming after the New Year. 

While Miami owns the nation's fifth-ranked defense, according to KenPom, its offense is sitting at 78th in terms of adjusted efficiency. 

The No. 13 North Carolina Tar Heels also suffered a setback during a week that looked like it would be rather uneventful on paper. 

After taking down Tennessee on Dec. 17, the Tar Heels returned home and were stunned by the Wofford Terriers 79-75 at the Dean E. Smith Center. However, they did show some resolve by bouncing back with a resounding 86-72 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday. 

"We went in and watched the tape of the entire game and they listened to the coaches grade it while they were sitting there," head coach Roy Williams said of the Wofford game, per the AP's Aaron Beard. "It was almost 2.5 hours, so hopefully they learned something."

The Kentucky Wildcats joined the Tar Heels and Hurricanes on upset island after they were bested 83-75 by the UCLA Bruins on Saturday to fall to 9-2 on the season. 

"Hopefully we bounce back from this," head coach John Calipari said, per Beard. "I told them, 'The next four games we play, we can lose every one.'"

The Wildcats will return to the floor Friday for an intrastate clash with the Louisville Cardinals before they open SEC play against the Georgia Bulldogs (Dec. 31), LSU Tigers (Jan. 3) and Tennessee Volunteers (Jan. 6). 

   

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