College Basketball AP Poll Week 10: Winners and losers

Jan 7, 2017; Waco, TX, USA; Baylor Bears forward Johnathan Motley (5) shakes the hand of guard Al Freeman (25) after picking up a foul against the Oklahoma State Cowboys during the second half at Ferrell Center. Baylor won 61-57. Mandatory Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports /

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Week 9 of the college basketball season is in the books and here are the biggest winners of the newly-released Week 10 AP Poll.

The Week 10 AP Poll has been released and the college basketball landscape is starting to take shape. There are teams still battling it out for position while others are just scrapping their way into the rankings for the first time.

Week 9 was not void of upsets, however. Teams like Villanova, West Virginia, Virginia, Louisville and Wisconsin all lost after making it into the top 15 and they suffered minor setbacks. How far did they drop this week, though?

On the other hand, teams that took them down, such as Butler, Purdue and Notre Dame saw their stocks rise a bit. Did any of those teams make it into the top 15?

Let’s take a look at the biggest winners and losers from this week’s college basketball AP rankings.

Winner: Butler Bulldogs (No. 18 up to No. 12)

Not many thought Butler would be the team to take down No. 1 Villanova for the first time on the season, but the Bulldogs hosted the nation’s top-ranked team last week and looked solid in the victory.

The Big East is filled with top-tier teams this season and might just be the surprise conference in college basketball. Villanova, Xavier, Butler and Creighton will all be beating each other up for that conference title and it might be the most exciting league to follow.

Butler got the first laugh, although the Bulldogs did lose to St. John’s last week, and jumped six spots in the rankings. Any time you can lose to an 8-9 team and still jump six spots in the polls the next week, it’s a win. The Bulldogs have one of the best defenses in the country, and it showed against Villanova.

As long as Kelan Martin continues to play as well as he is currently and the Bulldogs find a way to stay around the 40 percent mark from three-point land, they will keep moving up in the polls.