College basketball power rankings: Top 10 shaken up after some big losses

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 08: Alex Fudge #3 of the LSU Tigers rebounds the ball over Santiago Vescovi #25 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half of a NCAA basketball game at Pete Maravich Assembly Center on January 08, 2022 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU Tigers won the game 79-67. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

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Jan 6, 2022; Berkeley, California, USA; Southern California Trojans guard Drew Peterson (13) shoots over California Golden Bears guard Jalen Celestine (32) during the second half at Haas Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports /

Baylor remains on top of this week’s college basketball rankings but a litany of losses have shaken up the rest of the Top 10.

It certainly feels like this year’s college basketball season is more unpredictable than usual. There have been plenty of contenders to win a national title, headlined by unbeaten No. 1 Baylor, but a surge of COVID-19 and some strange losses have added more chaos to the season than we initially anticipated.

Duke, Kansas, Purdue and Iowa State all lost this week, with three of those coming on Saturday, which will obviously lead to a tremendous shakeup in this week’s college basketball rankings. Before we dive into the Top 10 let’s start with a look at the five honorable mentions who just missed the cut.

Week 10 College Basketball Rankings: Honorable Mentions

USC, Providence, Villanova, Houston, Iowa State

The Cyclones fell out of the Top 10 after losing to Oklahoma over the weekend, raising concerns that they may not be as good as their 12-0 start would indicate. It was also good to see USC come off of its COVID pause with a win over Cal as they are the team that would be next in line to enter the Top 10.

The other big story here is the re-emergence of Villanova, which has won four straight games (including three by double digits) to remind everyone why they were a Top 10 team at the start of the season. The Wildcats will have a challenge for Big East supremacy from Providence, which rebounded from a disappointing road loss at Marquette to handle a good St. John’s team at home.