Duke has once again ascended to the nation's No. 1 ranking.
The Blue Devils replaced the Kansas Jayhawks atop the latest Associated Press poll and are followed by the Michigan Wolverines, who leap-frogged the Tennessee Volunteers to take the No. 2 spot. Tennessee sits at No. 3, while Virginia and Kansas round out the Top Five.
Here's how the entire poll played out:
1. Duke
2. Michigan
3. Tennessee
4. Virginia
5. Kansas
6. Nevada
7. Gonzaga
8. Michigan State
9. Florida State
10. Virginia Tech
11. Texas Tech
12. Auburn
13. Ohio State
14. North Carolina
15. Wisconsin
16. Kentucky
17. Arizona State
18. Marquette
19. Mississippi State
20. NC State
21. Buffalo
22. Houston
23. Indiana
24. Iowa
25. Oklahoma
Kansas dropped to No. 5 following an 80-76 loss at Arizona State on Saturday. Dedric Lawson poured in 30 points and had 14 rebounds but got little help from his teammates, whereas the Sun Devils finished with five players in double figures. Rob Edwards led the way with 15 off the bench, and six of the seven Arizona State players who received minutes scored at least seven points.
"It's a very tough one because we had the game and we let it slip right through our hands," Lawson told reporters.
Buffalo was the other unbeaten team to finally get a blemish on its record, dropping seven spots to No. 21 after a 103-85 loss at Marquette on Saturday. Markus Howard dropped 45 points, highlighted by nine three-pointers as the Golden Eagles shot a lights-out 18-of-29 from three-point range.
Howard scored 40 of his 45 points in the second half.
"We knew Markus in the second half was going to play better," Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski told reporters. "Although at the start of the second half, he was still was not necessarily in the flow of things. We had a little talk and I knew he was going to play better. I didn't know it was going to be to the tune of 45 points. That was just a spectacular performance."
There are only four remaining unbeaten teams in college basketball. Michigan continued its run of trouncing the opposition and shouldn't face another test until Jan. 6's matchup with No. 23 Indiana. Virginia's next test comes a day earlier, when the Cavaliers host No. 9 Florida State.
Nevada and Houston are both mid-majors that could realistically go deep into the season without a loss. Neither team has a game remaining against a team that is currently in the Top 25.
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