Wisconsin men’s basketball: Week 9 AP Poll

Another week of college basketball, another week of topsy-turvy results. Is anyone really surprised at this point? Let’s go to the AP Poll and see where the moving happened.

Big Ten

Iowa → No. 4
Michigan → No. 7
Wisconsin → No. 10
Ohio State → No. 15
Minnesota → No. 17
Illinois → No. 22

Nationwide View

• The top Big Ten teams seem able to eat themselves and have no bad things happen to it in the rankings! After Wisconsin lost to Michigan by a score of [REDACTED], a win on the road against Rutgers meant that the Badgers only dropped one spot.

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Then, Michigan lost 75-57 to Minnesota, and they don’t drop any spots. Minnesota and Ohio State had the biggest upward movement of teams in the polls, with each team moving up six spots after their wins. This weekend, No. 15 Ohio State will clash with the No. 10 Badgers in yet another huge Big Ten game. I think we’ll be saying that a lot as the season moves along.

• This week, there is no UNC, Duke or Kentucky for the first time seemingly since the Big Bang happened. The Blue Devils dropped out after a loss to Virginia Tech, Kentucky has a losing record and UNC is 3-3 in the ACC and hasn’t been in the Top 25 for a while. Not a great time to be a Blue Blood (unless you’re Kansas, I guess).

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• Obviously Gonzaga gets most of the “Mid Major” buzz from everyone — they are undefeated after all — but the No. 8 Houston Cougars are showing out for the American Athletic Conference, and impressing so far in the season. At 11-1 and 6-1 in conference play, the Cougars are riding a four-game win streak and moved up into the Top 10 this week. Maybe they’re not Phi Slamma Jamma, but they’re looking to play their way into a very high seed in the tournament.
• We’ve already mentioned the upcoming Ohio State-Wisconsin showdown this Saturday, but per usual, there’s a lot of other good games to look out for. Monday night, No. 9 Kansas plays the No. 2 Baylor Bears in Waco in a huge Big 12 showdown. Then on Saturday, Creighton and UConn play in a Top 25 clash and No. 24 UCLA travels to play Stanford and one of the top freshmen in the country in Zaire Williams. Should be some good college hoops action this weekend.

New Teams

AP Poll → No. 18 Alabama, No. 24 UCLA

Drop Outs

AP Poll → Louisville, Duke