Duke's rebound to the #1 spot in the national polls hit a speedbump in Miami as the Hurricanes demolished the Blue Devils, 90-63 on Wednesday night.
The loss knocked Duke from #3 to #5 in the Strength power rating, an unusually large drop for a one-game result this late in the season. Miami (14-3) is up to #18, and #9 in Success, for a Combined ranking of #10. The Hurricanes are alone at the top of the ACC with a 5-0 record.
The loss opens the door for Michigan to take over the #1 spot in the polls. The Wolverines are #1 in our Combined power rating (#4 in our Strength rating and #1 in Success) and it would be their first appearance at #1 since 1992—early in Fab Five season #2 in 1992-1993. They have to get past Purdue tonight and Illinois on Sunday to make that happen.
Kansas is still #1 in our Zeitgeist rankings, where things move much more quickly based on recent games. And there we see the effects of the upsets of the last few days, where Butler, North Carolina State, and Louisville joined Duke as upset victims.
La Salle (13-5) jumped from #90 to #39 after beating Butler (now 15-3) 54-53 last night, while 8-10 Drake flew from #171 to #85 after upsetting former #16 Creighton 74-69. Northwestern got into the act by beating #22 Minnesota 55-48 and moved up 51 spots to #71; the Wildcats are 12-8.
These teams joined Tuesday night's surprises: Wake Forest (10-8) edged former #10 North Carolina State 86-84 and Villanova rocked #9 Louisville 73-64. The Deacons zoomed from #118 to #61, while the Wildcats passed them, moving from #119 to #60.
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