Expected AP Top 25 after Tennessee’s first loss

On January 14, 2025By Littum

It only took 10 weeks for the last undefeated team on the men’s side of the college basketball world to win. No. 1 Tennessee’s perfect season is not far behind a 30-point demolition in the hands of no. 8 in Florida on Tuesday night, which means the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers can pop some champagne to celebrate their status as the last perfect national champion extending another year.

How will the results of Week 10 affect the new AP Top 25 poll, which is set to drop Monday afternoon? Read on to see a projection of the latest rankings, including how far the Volunteers will fall after their loss to the Gators.

Auburn Tigers
Iowa State Cyclones
Duke Blue Devils
Alabama Crimson Tide
Florida Gators
Marquette Golden Eagles
Tennessee Volunteers
Kansas Jayhawks
Houston Cougars
Kentucky Wildcats
Oregon ducks
Michigan State Spartans
UConn Huskies
Texas A&M Aggies
Gonzaga Bulldogs
Memphis Tigers
Illinois battles the Illini
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Purdue Boilermakers
Ole Miss Rebels
Michigan Wolverines
Utah State Aggies
Georgia Bulldogs
Baylor bears
West Virginia Mountaineers

Seeing the Volunteers fall on the road against a Top 10 team in Florida isn’t a shock considering how this season has gone. What was overwhelming, though, was watching Tennessee get blown out by 30 points in a game where they looked like they didn’t belong on the same floor as the Gators.

This performance marked the first time a no. 1 ranked team lost by at least 30 points since 1968, which should cost the Volunteers dearly in the rankings. Saturday’s win at Texas completely prevented a slide out of the Top 10, but that kind of failure is a wakeup call for Rick Barnes’ team early in SEC play.

The SEC is a loaded conference this season with the likes of Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Kentucky looking like juggernauts. The league’s depth is impressive, as evidenced by what Georgia did this week, starting with an 82-69 upset of the Wildcats that saw star freshman Asa Newell lead the way with 17 points and 7 rebounds.

Scoring a home win over a Kentucky team that may have been looking forward to Saturday’s trip to Mississippi State is one thing, but the Bulldogs made an impressive statement by beating No. 17 Oklahoma by 10 to avoid a hangover. The pair of wins helped Georgia improve to 14-2 on the season and should result in a number next to their name on Monday.

The Big East has not had a strong year so far with only two teams ranked entering Week 10. It does not bode well for the league that one of its top two players, two-time defending national champion UConn, struggled early and fell at Villanova on Wednesday with Wildcats guard Eric Dixon making it his personal mission to deliver a massive loss to the Huskies.

This was the worst performance for UConn in the lower 48 states and provides another sign that three-peating is very tough, no matter how much talent is on your roster. The more exciting aspect of this game comes down to Villanova, which has a big win over UConn on its resume to go along with really bad losses to Columbia and St. Joseph’s.

No game in the Big 12 is easy, so it was very impressive to see Iowa State pull off an overtime win at Texas Tech on Saturday. This spot screamed trap for the Cyclones, who have a big home date with Kansas coming up on Wednesday, so the fact that they maintained their focus against a big game from the Red Raiders bodes very well for their chances of competing for a regular season title .

This game will sting for Texas Tech, which saw Joshua Jefferson hit the buzzer for a game-tying layup and then put the Cyclones ahead for good with a pair of free throws with 4.1 seconds left in the extra session. Like Villanova before them, the Red Raiders have a loss to St. Joseph’s on their ledger, and blowing a chance to add a win over a Top 3 team at home could hurt their chances for an at-large bid down the road.