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College basketball rankings: AP Top 25 predictions – Duke loses Zion, then No. 1 ranking

By Connor Muldowney

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 20: Luke Maye #32 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts after a play against the Duke Blue Devils during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 20, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 20: Luke Maye #32 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts after a play against the Duke Blue Devils during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 20, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA – FEBRUARY 23: Nassir Little #5 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts after a dunk against the Florida State Seminoles during the first half of their game at the Dean Smith Center on February 23, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA – FEBRUARY 23: Nassir Little #5 of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts after a dunk against the Florida State Seminoles during the first half of their game at the Dean Smith Center on February 23, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

Like Tennessee last week, Duke will take a decent spill in the rankings — four spots, to be exact — after losing as the No. 1 team. The Blue Devils couldn’t take advantage of home court, falling to top rival North Carolina, 88-72. They’ll drop to No. 5 in order to make room for those Tar Heels in the top five even though they beat Syracuse without Zion Williamson as RJ Barrett proved himself to be more than capable of leading the team.

North Carolina had arguably the best week of any team in the AP Top 25, beating Duke by 16 points and then Florida State by 18. Two ranked wins will be tough to overlook for voters and you’ll likely see them place the Tar Heels in the top five. A win over Duke on the road by double digits is extremely difficult to do, even with Zion Williamson sidelined. Roy Williams may have one of his best teams in a while.

Since the first month, or so, of the season, Kentucky has been on an absolute tear. The Wildcats did have a surprising loss last week at home against LSU but they rebounded to take down the No. 1 team in the country at the time (Tennessee) and then followed that up with wins at Missouri and a blowout over Auburn — a team that was on the verge of a Top 25 spot. Kentucky is getting closer to that No. 1 spot.

Yes, the team with the most wins in college basketball is going to find itself staying put at No. 2 even with the No. 1 team in the country going down. Why? The Bulldogs’ strength of schedule in conference play is not nearly as strong as other teams in the top five or even the top 10 and they haven’t quite been tested since losing to Tennessee and North Carolina. The Bulldogs beat Pepperdine and BYU handily in Week 16.

How could Virginia possibly be ranked above Duke after losing to the Blue Devils twice this season? Well, the Cavaliers have only two losses and the Blue Devils just lost as the No. 1 team in the country. Virginia, on the other hand, picked up two big wins over Virginia Tech and Louisville on the road and the Cavaliers are looking like a better option for No. 1 than Gonzaga at this point.