Early Conference Impressions: AP Releases CBB Poll

Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

The Associated Press released its weekly college basketball poll and, still, there has been little turnover at the top.

Indiana (9-0) still remains the No. 1 ranked team in the nation for the sixth straight week and all signs point to them holding onto the top position for the foreseeable future, or at least until division games start up in January.

The Hoosiers have been powered by Cody Zeller, who ranks as one of the top collegiate big man, averaging 15.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per contest. This past week, they handed a Central Connecticut 100-69 whipping on Saturday night. As a result, the Hoosiers received a total of 44 first-place votes from a 64- member national media panel.

Waiting in the wings are a slew of unbeatens, including No. 2 Duke (9-0), No. 3 Michigan (9-0), No. 4 Syracuse (8-0) and No. 5 Florida (7-0). Duke still remains the biggest draw to overtake Indiana in the rankings after receiving 20 first-place votes from the panel. They are also engined by a top-tier NBA draft pick in Seth Curry. He leads the Blue Devils in scoring  (16.1 ppg) and put on a show against then-undefeated Temple on Saturday eclipsing 20 points for the first time this season.

Meanwhile, Florida and Louisville swapped places at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively. The only dramatic changes this top-25 rankings is seeing this week is with Illinois, which posted an impressive win over Gonzaga this week and upgrades to No. 10 in the polls. Minnesota also climbed a spot to No. 13 after defeating USC 71-57.

As for the conference battles, the Big 10 boasts the most teams in the Top-25 with six, including four in the Top 10. They are completely dominating the power conferences this season.

The next conference to be represented in the Top-25 is the Big East, which drew four teams in the rankings. That is followed by ACC, which garners three top-25 teams including No. 2 Duke. The other two are North Carolina and NC State, the latter of which is hanging on by a thread at the No. 25 position. The team is still reeling from a loss to Michigan a few weeks earlier.

The Mountain West is the most surprising conference to be represented and it slides in with three teams. UNLV, which posted an impressive win over California on Sunday, moved up to No. 20 while No. 17 New Mexico and No. 18 San Diego State remain undefeated this season.