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5 biggest winners and losers in college basketball this week
5 biggest winners and losers in college basketball this week
Meredith Cash,Meredith CashNov 25, 2019, 23:51 IST
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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The third week of the 2019-2020 basketball season has come and gone, and the AP Top 25 Poll doesn't look too different from how it looked the week prior.
The Louisville Cardinals, Michigan State Spartans, Kansas Jayhawks, and Maryland Terrapins round out the top five for the week, with the first of those three maintaining their spots from Week 3.
The ACC, SEC, and Pac-12 lead all conferences with four teams in the AP Top 25 Poll, while the Big 12, Big Ten, and Big East all have three teams apiece in the rankings.
Here are the five biggest winners and losers of Week 4 of the college basketball season.
▲ No. 19 Baylor Bears — Up 5 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll
Baylor had itself a week. The Bears beat up on the Ohio Bobcats and Coastal Carolina Chanticleers before taking down the then-No. 17 Villanova Wildcats in one of the week's best top-25 showdowns. They'll have a shot at another top-20 upset when they take on the No. 14 Arizona Wildcats at home Saturday afternoon.
▲ No. 20 VCU Rams — Up 1 spot in the AP Top 25 Poll
The Rams have been riding the wave from their upset over the LSU Tigers a few weeks back and remain undefeated on the season. In their past two matchups, they took down the Jacksonville State Gamecocks and the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles by 28 and 30 points, respectively. This week, VCU will take on another Power Five conference opponent in the Purdue Boilermakers with a chance to pad its resume even further.
▲ No. 21 Colorado Buffaloes — Up 2 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll
This week was an absolute disaster for the Pac-12, but Colorado has been solid all around. The Buffaloes took down the UC Irvine Anteaters and the Wyoming Cowboys this week to remain undefeated and are en route to a tough road contest against the Clemson Tigers Tuesday night.
► No. 7 Virginia Cavaliers — Same spot as last week in the AP Top 25 Poll
Head coach Tony Bennett has built a juggernaut in Charlottesville. The No. X Cavaliers are undefeated on the season thanks to their stifling defense and notoriously slow tempo. This week, Virginia took down the Vermont Catamounts, UMass Minutemen, and Arizona State Sun Devils in succession, maintaining its streak of holding opponents to fewer than 60 points. The Cavaliers face the Maine Black Bears this week before gearing up to meet the Purdue Boilermakers and No. X North Carolina Tar Heels in back-to-back showings the week after.
► Florida State Seminoles — Not in the AP Top 25 Poll
Florida State was right on the cusp of being ranked last week, and 36 and 15-point wins certainly helped bolster their case to be among the top 25 teams in the nation. This week, the Seminoles had more votes than any other teams outside of the top 25, and their date with the No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers Friday will serve as an opportunity to punch through once and for all.
▼ No. 25 Xavier Musketeers — Down 7 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll
Xavier beat up on the Towson Tigers to start the week, but then barely survived against the unranked UConn Huskies before falling to the unranked Florida Gators on Sunday. The Musketeers have just under a week to regain their composure before hosting the Lipscomb Bisons Saturday afternoon.
▼ Texas Longhorns — Fell out of the AP Top 25 Poll
The Longhorns were looking solid. Still, an unexpected loss to the unranked Georgetown Hoyas in the opening round of the 2K Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden was enough to knock them out of the rankings just a week after entering. A date with in-state rival Texas A&M Sunday afternoon should give head coach Shaka Smart and Texas a chance to right the ship heading into a relatively lax docket the following week.
▼ No. 22 Villanova Wildcats — Down 5 spots in the AP Top 25 Poll
The Wildcats picked up the pieces in dominant fashion after getting blown out by the Ohio State Buckeyes a few weeks back, but a nine-point loss to the then-No. 24 Baylor Bears Sunday is a bit of a setback for Jay Wright's squad. Villanova will take on three Philadelphia-area rivals this week in the La Salle Explorers, Penn Quakers, and Saint Joseph's Hawks before gearing up to face a top-five Kansas squad later this month.
▼ LSU Tigers — Dropped out of the AP Top 25 Poll
Typically, losing to a ranked team by two points wouldn't necessarily make you a loser on this list. Still, LSU's loss to the Utah State Aggies is a tough blow to a team that was making a solid recovery from another two-point loss — that time to the VCU Rams — 11 days prior. The Tigers will once again have to regroup, and, fortunately for them, they have nearly a month before facing their next opponent from a Power Five conference.
► No. 16 Memphis Tigers — Same spot as last week in the AP Top 25 Poll
Star center James Wiseman is sidelined for 12 games thanks to an NCAA violation, and without him, Penny Hardaway's Tigers aren't looking particularly impressive. Memphis beat the Little Rock Trojans by 10 points Wednesday before beating an unranked Ole Miss squad by just one point on Saturday. This week, the Tigers will have to face the unranked NC State Wolfpack in what could be a challenging home game for a team that was widely considered one of the most talented in the country to start the season.
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