While college sports fans are still in an uproar over the chaos from the College Football Playoff field, the college basketball season keeps chugging along. Lost in the shuffle of CFP madness was another impactful week of hoops, including some falls from grace for blue bloods and an earth-shattering beatdown in West Lafayette.
The Big Ten's top dogs are still going to be a big presence in the AP Top 25, which could see a handful of new teams enter the rankings after a few squads dropped two games this week. Let's break down a new projected Top 25 and how some of Week 5's key games could impact the rankings.
Projected AP Top 25 After Iowa State Smoked Purdue
1. Arizona Wildcats
2. Michigan Wolverines
3. Duke Blue Devils
4. UConn Huskies
5. Iowa State Cyclones
6. Purdue Boilermakers
7. Louisville Cardinals
8. Houston Cougars
9. Michigan State Spartans
10. Gonzaga Bulldogs
11. BYU Cougars
12. Alabama Crimson Tide
13. Illinois Fighting Illini
14. North Carolina Tar Heels
15. Vanderbilt Commodores
16. Florida Gators
17. Texas Tech Red Raiders
18. St. John's Red Storm
19. Arkansas Razorbacks
20. Kansas Jayhawks
21. UCLA Bruins
22. Auburn Tigers
23. Nebraska Cornhuskers
24. Seton Hall Pirates
25. Saint Mary's Gaels
Iowa State hands Purdue a historic beating
No team ranked No. 1 in the polls has ever lost as badly at home in the non-conference season as Purdue did on Saturday. While No. 10 Iowa State was a worthy opponent, the way they dominated the Boilermakers made quite the statement about how good the Cyclones can be.
Purdue had no answers for Iowa State's high-octane offense, which shot 54 percent from the floor and knocked down 11 threes in a hostile Mackey Arena in a nationally televised window at high noon on CBS. Perhaps spurned by being left out of a chance for money at the Player's Era Festival, Iowa State now looks like the Big 12's top team and has one more non-conference test left to ace as they welcome Iowa to town this week.
Duke outlasts Michigan State in a battle of unbeatens
The other big game in the noon window on Saturday was much more compelling, as No. 4 Duke and No. 7 Michigan State engaged in a physical battle at the Breslin Center. Despite having the game go how they wanted and getting Cameron Boozer to foul out, the Spartans lost 66-60 as their inability to knock down perimeter shots came back to haunt them against a more talented team.
The Blue Devils will gain valuable experience from this game, where they found a way to win without playing their preferred style and having their best player plagued by foul trouble throughout the game. With the ACC looking as strong as it has in years, being battle tested by a vintage Spartans' squad will prove quite impactful in January and February.
Kansas hangs with UConn sans Darryn Peterson
The absence of Darryn Peterson continued to loom large for No. 21 Kansas, who showed some impressive guts by hanging tough with No. 5 UConn despite the absence of their best player. The Jayhawks only lost by 5 against the Huskies due to their inability to knock down three's, going just 5-of-18 from beyond the arc in that contest.
The return of Peterson on Sunday was a big deal for Kansas, which rolled by 20 in their border war with Missouri, as he put up 17 points in his first game since early November. The experience the Jayhawks gained without their star will be quite helpful in Big 12 play and Bill Self will likely use the remainder of his non-conference season to re-orient his team into its proper roles with Peterson back in the fold.
Tennessee gets upset by Syracuse in the ACC/SEC Men's Challenge
There are issues emerging for No. 13 Tennessee, which is spiraling with three consecutive losses. Fading in the second half against an inspired Kansas side at the Player's Era Festival is understandable, but letting that performance linger against a Syracuse side not expected to do much in the ACC this season is a bad sign.
The Orange scored a two-point upset and the Volunteers continued to look flat on Saturday against No. 14 Illinois, losing by 13 in Nashville in a result that should drop Rick Barnes' team out of the polls this week. Tennessee doesn't have any games scheduled this week, which makes sense since most schools have final exams for the fall semester at this point, so they will have 10 days to work on things before a critical matchup against Louisville offers them a chance at redemption.
Gonzaga cranks up the hot seat on Mark Pope at Kentucky
The honeymoon for Mark Pope and Kentucky is over and now we are veering quickly into hot seat territory. No team has underachieved more this season than the Wildcats, whose highly paid roster has yet to gel and is 0-4 against ranked opponents this season, with Friday night's 35-point beatdown by No. 11 Gonzaga in Nashville leading to swarms of boos from the Kentucky faithful who made the trip up from Lexington.
Former Wildcats' star Demarcus Cousins also added fuel to the fire by ripping the team's effort, accusing the team of having no heart in a pointed social media post. Three more ranked teams are on Kentucky's schedule over their next five games, including a matchup with Pope's former coach Rick Pitino and St. John's in the CBS Sports Classic, and they really need to find a way to score at least one win in those games to avoid some very uncomfortable conversations at the start of league play.