College Basketball Watchability Rankings: 5 games to watch in Week 6

Here’s what to watch for in week 5 of the 2017 college basketball regular season.

Week 5 of the college basketball season brought a number of huge upsets that will lead to dramatic changes in the AP Poll and some potential seeding changes come March.

Just when it looked like a few select group of teams were beginning to separate themselves from the rest of the field, three teams ranked in the top five of the AP Poll dropped at least one game this weak. Ultra-talented No. 1 Duke is already off to a poor start in ACC play, as the Blue Devils dropped a 89-84 decision to a Boston College team that won just nine games a year ago.

That wasn’t the most shocking result of the week after No. 5 Florida lost at home to Loyola Maryland on Wednesday for its third consecutive loss. Kansas also dropped two straight home games to Washington and Arizona State over the course of the week, and will plummet from its No. 2 spot in the AP Poll.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for national title contenders, as Villanova is looking like the best team in college basketball after topping Gonzaga 88-72 on Tuesday. Michigan State has also improved since an early-season loss to the Blue Devils, and picked up a pair of easy victories to push its winning streak to nine.

The schedule for week six appears to be fairly light on the surface, but this week showed us that anything can happen in college basketball. Here are five games to keep an eye on in the coming week.

Villanova at Temple, Wednesday 7:00 p.m. Eastern 

A pair of Philadelphia Big 5 rivals will clash on Wednesday night at the Licarious Center in an intriguing road test for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats appear headed for their third straight season of 30 plus wins with a 9-0 record so far, and have a strong argument as the best team in college basketball in the early going this year. Jay Wright’s team was disappointed to not get a shot at Arizona or Purdue after the Battle 4 Atlantis bracket descended into chaos, but earned its best victory of the year last week with the 16-point triumph over Gonzaga.

VIllanova has top 12  efficiency marks nationally on both sides of the ball despite losing a lot of talent since winning the national championship back in 2016. Four Wildcats are averaging double-figures in scoring, with Mikal Bridges leading the way at 19 points per contest.

That’s going to provide major challenge for Temple, but the Owls are capable of pulling off the upset with a solid 6-2 record so far. Temple looks likely to reach the NCAA Tournament after last year’s rare miss with solid wins like Clemson and Wisconsin on its resume already.

Junior guard Levan Shawn Alston provides the offense for the Owls with 17.3 points per game as one of three Owls in double figures. Sophomore guard Quinton Rose has also taken a major leap forward with 17.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and nearly two steals per game across eight contests.

Wednesday’s contest will provide Villanova’s first major road test of the season, and the Owls will be eager to cement their March Madness resume with a victory over the Big East favorite.