College Basketball: New No. 1 team emerges in big AP Poll shakeup

After after a rough couple of contests, the Tennessee Volunteers rebounded with a huge win over the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday night at Thompson-Boling. It was much needed after consecutive losses to Auburn and Arkansas, bringing the Vols their first conference win.

Today, they were rewarded by staying inside of the AP top 25. Tennessee checks in at No. 24, down just one spot from last week.

Here are some other notes on the very different looking top 25 poll.

• Your new No. 1 team? The Villanova Wildcats. They benefit from Michigan State’s loss to Ohio State over the weekend.
• West Virginia soars to No. 2, sitting at 14-1.
• Purdue moves all the way up to No. 5. The Boilermakers are far and away Tennessee’s best win of the year.
• Clemson — a team Tennessee beat in the preseason — is now ranked 19th in the nation.
• North Carolina falls all the way to No. 20 after a losses to Virginia and Florida State.
• Kentucky stays ahead of Tennessee at No. 21.
• Bruce Pearl’s Auburn team enters the poll for the first time after wins over Tennessee and Arkansas. They check in at 22nd.

You can view the full poll here.