Projected college basketball AP Top 25 rankings after Creighton upset, Duke falls at Wake

We've finally reached the point on the college basketball calendar when we are merely counting down the weeks until March Madness begins. That means every loss is critical for potential seeding and the best reflection -- outside of Bracketology experts -- we have for that is the AP Top 25 college basketball rankings.

And in the final weekend of February, we saw plenty of wild proceedings, which followed a wild week of hoops in itself. On Saturday, though, the No. 8-ranked Duke Blue Devils went on the road to in-state rival Wake Forest and fell -- though they were underdogs in the matchup, removing the upset label. Of course, the story coming out of that was Kyle Filipowski's injury during the court-storming, but Duke could potentially fall outside the Top 10.

That wasn't all of the chaos on Saturday, though. The No. 13 Alabama Crimson Tide went on the road to face the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats as John Calipari's team came off a stunning upset loss to LSU, but Nate Oats' team ran into a buzzsaw in Justin Edwards' breakout 28-point performance and a 117-95 win for Big Blue Nation. Beyond that, No. 11 Baylor also suffered its second loss of the week, falling to Houston in an overtime thriller on Saturday.

Creighton then added to the craziness of the week. Just a few days after handing UConn a major loss in Omaha in a midweek Big East clash, the Bluejays went on the road and delivered a lackluster effort at Madison Square Garden. The result was a loss at the hands of reeling St. John's.

Outside of that, Texas Tech lost on the road at UCF, Washington State followed up upsetting Arizona by losing at Arizona State, Colorado State lost for the second time this week, and let's not forget losses by UConn, Dayton, Illinois and Iowa State this week as well.

So what does it mean for the AP Top 25 college basketball rankings? We're diving into our projections to figure that out.

Projected college basketball AP Top 25 rankings after Duke falls, Kentucky blows out Alabama

1. Houston Cougars
2. UConn Huskies
3. Purdue Boilermakers
4. Tennessee Volunteers
5. Marquette Golden Eagles
6. Arizona Wildcats
7. Kansas Jayhawks
8. North Carolina Tar Heels
9. Iowa State Cyclones
10. Duke Blue Devils
11. Auburn Tigers
12. Saint Mary's Gaels
13. Kentucky Wildcats
14. Creighton Bluejays
15. Illinois Fighting Illini
16. Alabama Crimson Tide
17. South Carolina Gamecocks
18. Dayton Flyers
19. Washington State Cougars
20. Baylor Bears
21. Gonzaga Bulldogs
22. TCU Horned Frogs
23. San Diego State Aztecs
24. Wisconsin Badgers
25. South Florida Bulls

Because of the chaos throughout college hoops, Duke stays in the Top 10. Meanwhile, despite the LSU loss, the emphatic win over the Tide vaults Kentucky up three spots to No. 14 in the rankings per our projections.

Of course, a major change comes at the top of the AP Top 25 projections. With UConn's loss at Creighton earlier in the week while Houston picked up a pair of Top 11 wins this week -- including on the road in Waco on Saturday -- the Cougars take over the top spot. You could also argue between Purdue and UConn for No. 2, but will give the Huskies the nod for now.