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A team that earns the No. 1 ranking from AP voters rarely loses its spot atop the rankings without sustaining a loss.
Notice I said rarely; it doesn’t happen often. But it does happen.
And my official guess: It happens this week for a third time this season when the rankings refresh on Monday. And again, it will be Purdue that loses the No. 1 spot despite remaining undefeated, if indeed voters make the switch.
The preseason No. 1 Boilermakers fell from No. 1 to No. 2 in Week 2 despite a 2-0 start with double digit wins over Evansville and Oakland — surmounted by then-No. 2 Houston jumping one spot. Purdue reclaimed the No. 1 ranking last week after defeating Alabama and Akron. But they’re positioned to fall back from No. 1 again, as you can gather by this predictive diatribe now, despite a perfect 2-0 week that featured wins over Memphis and Texas Tech.
Arizona’s just been that good. Two wins over top-25 teams were on its resume entering the week after defeating then-No. 3. Florida on opening day and No. 15 UCLA last week, good enough to potentially give it the best resume in the sport. That put the Wildcats at No. 4 in last week’s rankings. A true road win Wednesday over No. 3 UConn has them poised to leap again. And there should be no doubt about which team has the best resume in college basketball.
I don’t think it’ll be unanimous, to be clear. Voters who had Purdue at No. 1 may keep it at No. 1, the idea being you have to quite literally lose a game to lose the No. 1 ranking. Houston and Duke may even continue to earn first-place votes. But at the very least, Arizona, which earned two first-place votes last week, will have at least significantly cut into Purdue’s grip at No. 1, if not outright taking the…
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