Bleacher Report
Auburn remains atop the Associated Press Top 25 poll following an eventful week in men’s basketball.
The Tigers improved their record to 17-1 with wins over Mississippi State and Georgia. They were one of three teams in the Top 10 from the Week 11 poll that managed to make it though unscathed.
AP voters had the difficult task of sorting through the mess and trying to make any sense of it.
Week 12 AP Top 25 Poll
3. Iowa State
4. Alabama
5. Florida
6. Tennessee
7. Houston
8. Michigan State
9. Kentucky
10. Marquette
11. Purdue
12. Kansas
13. Texas A&M
14. Mississippi State
15. Oregon
16. Ole Miss
17. Illinois
18. Wisconsin
20. St. John’s
21. Michigan
22. Missouri
23. West Virginia
24. Memphis
25. Louisville
Last week offered a little bit of everything in terms of unexpected upsets and consequential clashes between Top 25 foes.
Tuesday set the tone for what would follow. You had Auburn getting a ranked win. Kentucky beat No. 11 Texas A&M by 12 points. Ole Miss took down fourth-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa. And Florida, a week removed from a dominant performance over Tennessee, came up short at home to Missouri.
Wednesday brought a battle with a potential impact in the Big 12 title race as Iowa State held firm against Kansas and earned a 74-57 win.
On Thursday, all three ranked teams in action (Gonzaga, Memphis and Michigan) lost.
Then came an even more chaotic Saturday that yielded multiple court stormings.
West Virginia’s 64-57 over second-ranked Iowa State was the headliner. Mountaineers guard Javon Small had a game-high 27 points to power his team.
Over in Nashville, Tennessee, going scoreless for the final 3:48 didn’t prevent Vanderbilt from beating its big in-state rival. Volunteers star Chaz Lanier had an opportunity to force overtime from the charity stripe in the final seconds. He hit the first of two free throws before his second rimmed out.
Also on Saturday, Alabama rebounded from the Ole Miss loss by beating Kentucky 102-97. Forward Grant Nelson and guard Mark Sears combined for 49 points, with Nelson adding 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the campaign.
Outside of the SEC, Xavier handed No. 7 Marquette its first Big East defeat of the season, which puts St. John’s alone in first place in the conference for now. Oregon is already up to three losses in the Big Ten thanks to Purdue.
When all of the dust cleared, Houston was a major beneficiary. The Cougars are now the lone unbeaten team in the Big 12, and they climbed up seventh in the newest poll after sitting 10th in Week 11.
Meanwhile, Gonzaga had the biggest fall, going from 16th to out entirely in the newest rankings.
It will be almost impossible for the week ahead to match the chaos of the last seven days, but some titanic battles are on tap.
Auburn hosts Tennessee and the Vols can’t be overlooked even with their reversal of fortunes on the court. Kansas will also be looking to make a strong statement at home to Houston, which is an opportunity to put the Iowa State game firmly in the rear-view mirror.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
