More than a week into the college basketball season, we've learned that so far, the now formerly top-ranked Duke Blue Devils are snake-bitten by injuries. Kansas took advantage by knocking them off in Madison Square Garden earlier this week, while the new No. 1 Kentucky appears to have an incredibly high upside with their myriad of star freshmen. This week gave us a big shakeup at the top of the poll.
AP Top 25
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 20, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week's ranking.
| Team (First-place votes) | Record | Points | Last week |
| 1. Kentucky (42) | 4-0 | 1592 | 2 |
| 2. Villanova (21) | 5-0 | 1561 | 3 |
| 3. Indiana (2) | 3-0 | 1443 | 6 |
| 4. North Carolina | 4-0 | 1399 | 5 |
| 5. Kansas | 2-1 | 1374 | 7 |
| 6. Duke | 4-1 | 1337 | 1 |
| 7. Virginia | 3-0 | 1198 | 8 |
| 8. Arizona | 3-0 | 1129 | 10 |
| 9. Xavier | 5-0 | 1099 | 11 |
| 10. Louisville | 3-0 | 947 | 12 |
| 11. Gonzaga | 3-0 | 872 | 14 |
| 12. Creighton | 4-0 | 770 | 22 |
| 13. Oregon | 2-1 | 748 | 4 |
| 14. UCLA | 4-0 | 735 | 16 |
| 15. Saint Mary's | 3-0 | 703 | 17 |
| 16. Wisconsin | 2-1 | 666 | 9 |
| 17. Purdue | 2-1 | 613 | 15 |
| 18. Syracuse | 3-0 | 610 | 18 |
| 19. West Virginia | 3-0 | 474 | 19 |
| 20. Baylor | 3-0 | 371 | - |
| 21. Iowa State | 3-0 | 319 | 20 |
| 22. Texas | 3-0 | 251 | 23 |
| 23. Rhode Island | 4-1 | 217 | 21 |
| 24. Michigan State | 2-2 | 183 | 13 |
| 25. Michigan | 4-0 | 89 | - |
| 25. Florida State | 4-0 | 89 | - |
Others receiving votes: California 56, Maryland 55, Miami 44, Cincinnati 39, Wichita St. 36, Florida 34, Seton Hall 15, Butler 14, Dayton 14, Virginia Tech 12, Notre Dame 6, Ohio St. 4, Colorado 4, Ohio 1, Tennessee St. 1, Rutgers 1.
Takeaways from the latest AP Top 25
1. Once healthy, Duke will be the deepest team in the country
Duke pushed a healthy Kansas team to the final seconds in Madison Square Garden, without Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles or Marques Bolden. As it stands now, Duke is extremely hobbled, to say the least, but are still a legitimate top-10 team.
When the trio of freshmen makes its return for the first time this season, and Duke's leader Grayson Allen recovers to full health, the Blue Devils should boast the deepest team in the country.
2. Oregon should rebound now that their best player is returning
The Ducks got ran out of the gym against Baylor in Waco, but they get a pass without one of the country's top players in Dillon Brooks sitting the game due to injury. They fell eight spots to No. 12 this week. Now that Brooks is back and will make his season debut tonight, Oregon should return to form of the contender we expected it to be in the preseason. It has an immediate chance to prove that with a strong field in the Maui Invitational.
3. Rhode Island has the firepower to remain in the Top 25 all season
Sure, Duke's team is decimated by injuries. But Rhode Island still gave the Blue Devils a lot to handle in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Tip-Off, and that's without E.C. Matthews being on the top of his game. Kuran Iverson is emerging as a legitimate scoring option alongside Matthews, and I like the Rams' depth.
