After a quiet start to the year, college basketball started to look like March this past week.
Purdue, who entered the week atop the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, dropped a road game to Nebraska on Tuesday that wasn’t particularly close, with the Cornhuskers winning by 16 points. That same night, Houston, who was No. 3 in the coaches’ rankings, fell by four points to Iowa State.
Then-No. 2 Kansas wasn’t any safer, as the Jayhawks lost to Central Florida by five points the following night. That same night, then-No. 5 Tennessee lost by the same five-point margin on the road to Mississippi State.
After Purdue, Kansas, Houston, and Tennessee combined for five losses before January 8, they lost four times in a 24-hour span.
The carnage wasn’t even over for Houston, who lost a second straight game to TCU by a single point on Saturday. After 14 consecutive wins to begin the year, the Cougars have a losing record in conference play.
All the carnage left a familiar face at the top of the rankings: last year’s national champions, the Connecticut Huskies. UConn played twice last week, dispatching Xavier by five points and defeating Georgetown by 13, to extend its winning streak to five games and supplant itself back atop the nation.
A look at the full Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports:
| Rank | Team | Record | Points | Change |
| 1 | UConn | 15-2 | 785 | +3 |
| 2 | Purdue | 15-2 | 762 | -1 |
| 3 | North Carolina | 13-3 | 717 | +4 |
| 4 | Kansas | 14-2 | 713 | -1 |
| 5 | Houston | 14-2 | 619 | -3 |
| 6 | Duke | 13-3 | 590 | +5 |
| 7 | Tennessee | 12-4 | 574 | -2 |
| 8 | Wisconsin | 13-3 | 533 | +7 |
| 9 | Baylor | 14-2 | 523 | +5 |
| 10 | Kentucky | 12-3 | 514 | -4 |
| 11 | Auburn | 14-2 | 509 | +5 |
| 12 | Memphis | 15-2 | 489 | +1 |
| 13 | Arizona | 12-4 | 424 | -5 |
| 14 | Illinois | 12-4 | 319 | -4 |
| 15 | Creighton | 13-4 | 261 | +5 |
| 16 | Oklahoma | 13-3 | 239 | -7 |
| 17 | Utah State | 16-1 | 238 | +6 |
| 18 | Marquette | 11-5 | 214 | -6 |
| 19 | BYU | 13-3 | 174 | -2 |
| 20 | Iowa State | 13-3 | 152 | +9 |
| 21 | Ole Miss | 15-1 | 151 | +2 |
| 22 | TCU | 13-3 | 150 | +12 |
| 23 | Dayton | 13-2 | 130 | +6 |
| 24 | San Diego State | 14-3 | 102 | -5 |
| 25 | Texas Tech | 14-2 | 92 | +11 |
Schools Dropped Out
Colorado State (18th), Gonzaga (21st), Clemson (22nd), FAU (25th)
Others Receiving Votes
Colorado State (81), FAU (67), Alabama (60), Seton Hall (40), Clemson (39), Grand Canyon (34), Texas (20), Nevada (14), Gonzaga (11), Oregon (10), N.C. State (9), Villanova (9), James Madison (8), Princeton (7), St. John’s (6), Florida State (4), Wake Forest (2), Nebraska (2), Florida (2), New Mexico (1), Indiana State (1)