Duke and Mississippi State both got upset on the road and now we have to check our projected college basketball rankings after two Top 15 losses.
One of the most dangerous weeks on the college basketball calendar is here. It’s only human nature that 18-to-22-year-olds might have a letdown in any kind of tough matchup when it’s the week of Christmas and they’re set to go see their families for a couple of off days. But the result can be big shakeups in the college basketball rankings and we saw some of that on Tuesday night.
Mississippi State, who entered the week undefeated after climbing up to No. 15 in the CBB rankings, went on the road to face Drake. Though the Bulldogs had control early, they lost it late as the hosts came back and held on to pull off the upset win. That wasn’t the end of the upsets, though.
Just when you thought No. 14 Duke was starting to find itself under first-year head coach Jon Scheyer, they headed to Winston-Salem for a tricky matchup against a good Wake Forest team. The Demon Deacons took control early and never relinquished it, handing the Blue Devils their third loss of the season.
After these upsets, we’re going to see some moving in the college basketball rankings, so let’s check out our projections after Tuesday’s key results.
Projected college basketball rankings after Duke, Mississippi State upset on the road
- Purdue Boilermakers
- UConn Huskies
- Houston Cougars
- Kansas Jayhawks
- Arizona Wildcats
- Virginia Cavaliers
- Texas Longhorns
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Arkansas Razorbacks
- Gonzaga Bulldogs
- Baylor Bears
- UCLA Bruins
- Illinois Fighting Illini
- Wisconsin Badgers
- Indiana Hoosiers
- Duke Blue Devils
- Kentucky Wildcats
- TCU Horned Frogs
- Virginia Tech Hokies
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Miami Hurricanes
- Auburn Tigers
- Arizona State Sun Devils
- Maryland Terrapins
Based both on how these teams have been treated in the rankings by AP voters thus far and given the nature of their losses, they are going to have different results here after the upset losses.
For Duke, they shouldn’t drop too far. Wake Forest is a good 9-4 team in the conference that has been playing extremely well at times this season. It’s not a good loss, but it’s not one that’s going to kill the Blue Devils. In the case of Mississippi State, though, they were undefeated but untested, hence why they were only No. 15. After losing on the road to a mid-major, the respect won’t be there and they should drop out of the Top 20.
And let’s not forget Marquette, who lost a double-OT thriller, as they will likely go from No. 24 to dropping out of the next college basketball rankings.
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