The same two teams remained atop the AP poll of the top 25 in men's college basketball amid another week of turmoil, with teams bouncing around like kernels in a popcorn machine.
Reigning national champion UConn remained in the No. 1 spot, receiving 44 first-place votes from a 61-person media panel. No. 2 Purdue earned 17 first-place votes.
A Kansas loss confounded the rest of the top five, with No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 Houston and No. 5 Tennessee moving up one spot by sweeping two games each last week.
The Jayhawks fell four spots to seventh after a 91-85 loss to West Virginia that ended their six-game winning streak in the series.
UConn moved to the top of the poll last week for the first time in 15 years.
The Huskies opened the week with a lopsided victory over No. 17 Creighton in the return of Donovan Clingan from a right foot injury. UConn then topped Villanova 66-65 in a physical game in which coach Dan Hurley talked about jujitsu, muay Thai and UFC fights.
“When you get to the No. 1 spot (coach talked about it all week) it's like a temporary belt,” UConn's Alex Karaban said. “We have to continue protecting the belt, protecting the heavyweight championship.”
The Boilermakers opened their week with an 87-66 rout of rival Indiana and followed that up with a 14-point victory over Iowa. Purdue big man Zach Edey had another dominant week, finishing with 33 points and 14 rebounds against Indiana , and 30 points and 18 rebounds against Iowa.
“It's just different with him,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “When he gets into a deep position, it's difficult [to defend him]”.
North Carolina took a precipitous drop in the poll last season, dropping out a month after being ranked No. 1 in the preseason.
The Tar Heels have moved in the opposite direction this season after missing the NCAA Tournament.
North Carolina opened at No. 19 in the preseason poll and, after bouncing around a bit, has steadily climbed to No. 3. The Tar Heels beat Louisville 86-70 last Wednesday and defeated Boston College 76-66 on Saturday .
North Carolina (15-3) has won eight straight games, including all seven Atlantic Coast Conference games, to lead the conference by two games over NC State.
RISING FALLING
No. 19 Memphis had the biggest drop of the week, dropping nine spots after losing to South Florida and Tulane. Baylor fell six spots to No. 15 after losses to Kansas State and Texas.
No. 12 Duke's 80-76 loss to Pittsburgh dropped the Blue Devils five spots from last week's poll.
Dayton, No. 16, made the biggest upward move, gaining six spots after wins over Saint Louis and Rhode Island. No. 8 Auburn and No. 20 Texas Tech each moved up five spots.
MOVING; MOVE
No. 24 Colorado State returned to the polls after bowing out last week with wins over Air Force and UNLV. No. 25 New Mexico is ranked for the first time since last January after beating No. 18 Utah State and Air Force.
TCU dropped out of No. 19 after narrow losses to No. 23 Iowa State and Cincinnati. Ole Miss also fell from No. 22 after losses to LSU and Auburn.
CONFERENCE MONITORING
The Big 12 still leads the nation with seven ranked teams despite Kansas State dropping out. The Big East, Southeastern, Big Ten and Mountain West conferences had three ranked teams.
The Atlantic Coast and American Athletic conferences had two ranked teams, one for the Pac-12 and one for the Atlantic-10.
