Feast Week is in the books and we learned a lot of new information in the college basketball landscape. While the Player's Era Festival was the talk of CBB entering last week, we did get some intriguing results from other MTEs, like the Maui Invitational and the Battle 4 Atlantis, that could be significant influences on the new AP Top 25 poll set to drop on Monday.
How will the latest results impact the new poll? Read on for a detailed breakdown of the most impactful action from Feast Week after a look at the newest projected Top 25.
Projected AP Top 25 Poll After Feast Week
1. Purdue Boilermakers
2. Arizona Wildcats
3. Michigan Wolverines
4. Duke Blue Devils
5. UCONN Huskies
6. Louisville Cardinals
7. Houston Cougars
8. BYU Cougars
9. Michigan State Spartans
10. Iowa State Cyclones
11. Alabama Crimson Tide
12. Gonzaga Bulldogs
13. Florida Gators
14. Tennessee Volunteers
15. Illinois Fighting Illini
16. North Carolina Tar Heels
17. Kansas Jayhawks
18. Kentucky Wildcats
19. Texas Tech Red Raiders
20. Auburn Tigers
21. Vanderbilt Commodores
22. St. John's Red Storm
23. Indiana Hoosiers
24. Nebraska Cornhuskers
25. Missouri Tigers
Michigan runs away from Gonzaga at the Player's Era festival
Nobody did better work in Las Vegas than Michigan, which cruised to a title at the Player's Era Festival with three days of blowout results. Victories over San Diego State by 40 and No. 21 Auburn by 30 sent the Wolverines to the title game against No. 12 Gonzaga, which had already laid waste to several power conference programs and entered the matchup as KenPom's top team.
Seeing the Wolverines hand Mark Few the worst loss of his career in a 40-point beat down was a shocking result that solidified Michigan as a legitimate national title contender. Expect Dusty May's team to be inside the Top 5 this week with a handful of No. 1 votes after their incredible display in Vegas.
Tennessee upsets Houston in Vegas
Another result that raised eyebrows at the Player's Era Festival was seeing No. 3 Houston finally teeter over the edge in an upset at the hands of No. 17 Tennessee, who went blow for blow with the Cougars in a 76-73 thriller on Day 2. The defeat wasn't entirely shocking for Houston, which has not been playing its best basketball over the past two weeks.
A one-point win over Auburn marked the start of a slump for the Cougars, who only beat Syracuse by four in Las Vegas and Notre Dame by 10. Neither of those ACC schools is expected to contend for the tournament, so Houston needs to figure out what's going wrong if they hope to hold off BYU and Kansas in the Big 12.
Iowa State Wins A Thriller Over St. John's
The best game at the Player's Era Festival came on Day 1, when No. 15 Iowa State outlasted No. 14 St. John's 83-82 in a game where they lost star guard Tamin Lipsey to injury. While the absence of Lipsey would be a big deal for most teams, the Cyclones' depth allowed them to complete a clean sweep in Vegas, blowing out Creighton and Syracuse to improve to 7-0 on the year.
Alarm bells are sounding for Rick Pitino's Red Storm, however, who did earn a win over Baylor before losing their final game to No. 21 Auburn on Wednesday. A lack of perimeter shooting has proven to be problematic for St. John's, who have dropped all three of their games against ranked opponents so far this season.
Michigan State keeps rolling on Thanksgiving
The state of Michigan figures to be a key locale for this college basketball season thanks to the exploits of the Wolverines and Spartans. While Michigan's dominance at the Player's Era Festival has drawn headlines, Michigan State added another ranked win to its ledger with a neutral-site victory against No. 16 North Carolina in Fort Myers, helping the Spartans improve to 7-0 on the year.
That win over the Tar Heels adds nicely to the triumphs the Spartans had against Arkansas and Kentucky earlier in the month, with the latter game coming on a neutral floor. A big week awaits Michigan State, which opens Big Ten play against Iowa on Tuesday before welcoming No. 4 Duke to the Breslin Center in a key non-conference tilt at high noon on Saturday.
Duke takes down Arkansas on Thanksgiving Night
CBS kicked off its college basketball schedule on Thanksgiving night with a standalone showdown between No. 4 Duke and No. 22 Arkansas in Chicago. The matchup served as a coming out party for Cameron Boozer, who poured in 35 points to help the Blue Devils beat the Razorbacks by 9 in the Windy City.
Arkansas started out hot in the second half and held a three-point lead with just over 6:30 to go, but the Blue Devils finished the game on a 19-7 run to close out another signature win. It was another disappointing finish for John Calipari's team, which is 5-0 in buy game but 0-2 against ranked competition.
UCONN cruises past Illinois at Madison Square Garden
After last year's disastrous trip to Maui, UCONN opted to stay on the mainland for Thanksgiving and scheduled a game against a ranked Illinois team at Madison Square Garden. With the disappointment of a home loss to Arizona fresh on their minds, the Huskies grabbed the lead from the opening tip and never relinquished it, winning 74-61 over No. 13 Illinois to improve to 5-1 on the year.
While Illinois' Kylan Boswell led all scorers with 25 points, he didn't get enough help from his teammates, who went just 11-of-44 from the floor against a stingy UCONN defense. The Huskies deserve credit for closing out on the perimeter, limiting a very skilled Fighting Illini side to just 6-of-29 from beyond the arc.