Wisconsin men’s basketball: AP Poll Week 5 rankings

It’s almost Christmas time and we’ve got a big week of college basketball coming up. Let’s check back in on what that good ol’ AP Poll is looking like, and see what we’ll have on the docket this week.

Big Ten

Iowa → No. 4
Wisconsin → No. 9
Rutgers → No. 11
Michigan State → No. 12
Illinois → No. 18
Michigan → No. 19
Ohio State → No. 23

Nationwide View

• LET’S EVERYONE POINT AND LAUGH AT SPARTY! Michigan State had the biggest drop in the rankings after they lost to unranked Northwestern 79-65. It was apparently Northwestern’s first win against a top 5 opponent since 1979. Fun reminder: Northwestern is somehow 4-1 in basketball and their leading player’s name is Boo Buie.
• Gonzaga are definitely the cream of the crop. The Bulldogs remain the No. 1 ranked team after they took down then-No. 3 Iowa 99-88, giving the Hawkeyes their first loss of the season. I think that the fact Iowa only dropped one spot after their loss illustrates just how good the pollsters think Gonzaga is, and I gotta agree with them.

• Rutgers made the biggest move up the standings this week as the Scarlet Knights took down Illinois 91-88 at the RAC. Rutgers — who might I add, I felt could be the surprise team of the season in the Big Ten in our preview roundtable — has two conference wins, and guard Ron Harper, Jr. is averaging 24 points per game. They’ll face the No. 23 ranked Buckeyes in Columbus on Wednesday.
• There will be some big matchups this week as conference play starts to pick up. No. 3 Kansas will host No. 7 West Virginia on Tuesday after the Jayhawks held off Texas Tech in their last game. No. 13 Creighton will play No. 22 Xavier on Wednesday in an early Big East matchup while the No. 9 Badgers play No. 12 Michigan State on Christmas morning. Santa must’ve decided to gift us all some college hoops in our stockings this year.

New Teams

AP Poll → No. 22 Xavier, No. 24 Virginia Tech, No. 25 Oregon

Drop Outs

AP Poll → San Diego State, Louisville, Clemson