Duke leads Kansas for No. 1 in the latest poll on college basketball in the Associated Press's Top 25

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Nov 12, 2018
Associated press

RALEIGH, N.C. – duke Everything has changed with regard to the top 25 of the AP voters considered the best team in the country with a single dominant performance against an opponent of choice.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski, the Hall of Fame coach, also took another step with his team: a record number of appearances at # 1.

The Blue Devils jumped from the first to fourth round of the regular season Monday to Monday, beating Kansas after a landslide victory over no. 2 Kentucky last week. This allowed Duke to set a record with his 135th week in first place, thus breaking the tie with UCLA for the highest poll history rankings.

The 34-point win against the Wildcats in the opening Champions Classic of the season was the program's most unbalanced victory against one of the top five contenders. Duke was virtually flawless behind new star players RJ Barrett, Zion Williamson and Cam Reddish, which created a craze for the team's already high potential, which was even higher than expected.

True, it was a match. And Duke (2-0) did not seem so dazzling Sunday at home against the army. But this performance caused a major vote change, even with now-No. 2 Kansas winning a quality victory against No-then. 10 Michigan State in the first game of the Champions Classic.

Kansas was a solid pre-season No. 1 with 37 of 65 first-place votes, followed by 19 for Kentucky and four for Duke. But Duke now has 48 first-place votes, earning first place for 19 voters who had Kentucky in pre-season No. 1, while forcing 23 voters to leave Kansas in Duke's pre-season this week.

Duke also urged lonely voters who had Gonzaga and Villanova to rank first in the pre-season.

The hype will probably not slow down anytime soon, either. The Blue Devils have everyone's attention.

"Part of the success is keeping the noise out of your locker room," Krzyzewski said after the army's victory. "And when something good happens and the beginning of the season starts … there is a lot of noise, and for us, it 's not always good, but in this case, it' s not good. Was an exceptional sound, exceptional noise.

"When you have four freshmen and we do not have veterans, you have to be more mature to listen to that."

AT THE TOP

Gonzaga remained third, followed by Virginia and Tennessee, both of which ranked in the top five. Nevada, NC, reigning national champion, Villanova and Auburn, will follow closely.

TOP RISERS

There has not been a spectacular climb beyond the Duke-Kansas change. In all, 16 teams progressed this week, with No. 14 Florida State and No. 19 Clemson matching Duke's triple jump for the week's biggest.

Twelve of the winnings were just a point.

LONG SLIDING

The fall of Kentucky was the biggest of all teams remaining in the poll. The others were all modest, with four teams – Kansas, 11th Michigan State, 16th Virginia Tech and 21st TCU – falling one place each.

New arrivals

Two new teams took part in the ballot: numbers 24, Marquette and 25, from Buffalo.

This is the first appearance of Marquette in almost five years since its last appearance at number 25 in November 2013.

As for Buffalo, this is the first appearance of a Top 25 AP in the program's history. That comes after the Bulls got 43 points and 14 rebounds from CJ Massinburg to defeat then-No. 13 West Virginia on the road – another edgy marquee for a team that beat Arizona and NBA's number one final choice, Deandre Ayton, in the first round of the NCAA tournament of the year last.

SLIDING

The Mountaineers lost everything after a loss to the Bulls, who scored their first loss in a home opener since November 2003. Washington sided with No. 25 after a loss to Auburn .