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College Basketball Talk’s Top 25: A wild Saturday causes a top ten shakeup

On Saturday, four of the nation’s top nine, five of the top 12 and six of the top 16 teams in the country lost.

It was wild.

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Which means that the movement in this week’s top 25 was somewhat wild. Here is the NBCSports.com top 25:

[MORE: Recapping a wild Saturday]

1. Michigan State (12-0, LW: No. 1): The Spartans are the clear-cut No. 1 team in the country right now. There’s not much to argue about here.

2. Maryland (10-1, LW: No. 2): It was a bit more difficult than they would have liked but the Terps handled their business against a good Princeton team over the weekend. There are still questions that need to be answered about this team -- namely, will Jake Layman show up for big games, and can Jaylen Brantley spell Melo Trimble and Rasheed Sulaimon in the back court? -- but there is no better closer in the country than Trimble.
[RELATED: Utah upsets Duke | How bad is loss for Kentucky? | Iowa State struggles]

3. Kansas (9-1, LW: No. 3): The Jayhawks steamrolled Montana on Saturday. This feels like a group that is really coming together. They’re deep, they’re versatile and it seems like their pieces are buying into their roles.

4. Oklahoma (8-0, LW: No. 4): Buddy Hield is the most underrated player in the country. With the way he’s scoring and shooting, he is a legitimate national player of the year contender.

5. North Carolina (7-2, LW: No. 5): The Tar Heels bounced back from a loss at Texas by knocking off UCLA in New York. Brice Johnson has been sensational since Kennedy Meeks went down with an injury, averaging 26.0 points and 9.5 boards.
[PLAYER OF THE WEEK | TEAM OF THE WEEK]

6. Xavier (11-0, LW: No. 7): There’s not much to say about the Musketeers beyond the fact that this ranking isn’t an over-inflation. They’re for real.

7. Virginia (9-1, LW: No. 11): The Cavaliers put together an impressive win over Villanova on Saturday. What’s interesting about this group is that they’re relying way more on the offensive side of things this season, which is what makes London Perrantes the most important player on the roster. Let me explain.
[MORE: Virginia makes a statement | Butler’s special Saturday | Brice Johnson’s big day]

8. Miami (9-1, LW: No. 13): I’m back on the Hurricanes. I got off the bandwagon for a split-second when they fell to Northeastern at home, but that was a blip and a bit of a trap game. I’m back on the Hurricanes as a legitimate ACC title contender.

9. Butler (9-1, LW: No. 15): Butler put together arguably the most impressive win of the season to date. Not only did they hand the Boilermakers their first loss of the season, but they did it on a day where their leading scorer shot 0-for-12 from the floor and their second-leading scorer was 2-for-9. Their only loss this season is to Miami, who looks pretty damn good this season as well.

10. Purdue (11-1, LW: No. 8): The Boilermakers lost to Butler on Saturday, digging a hole that got as deep as 16 points. That’s not ideal, but the matchup with the Bulldogs was not ideal, either. Purdue doesn’t have anyone in their back court that can consistently create off the dribble, and the way to break down this Butler defense is with ball-penetration. That’s a big part of why they lost, but it’s not a knock of this team overall. They’re still a Big Ten contender.

11. Arizona (11-1, LW: No. 17)
12. Providence (11-1, LW: No. 16)
13. SMU (9-0, LW: No. 18)
14. Villanova (8-2, LW: No. 14)
15. Kentucky (9-2, LW: No. 6)
16. Iowa State (9-1, LW: No. 9)
17. Duke (9-2, LW: No. 10)
18. Texas A&M (9-2, LW: No. 22)
19. West Virginia (9-1, LW: No. 18)
20. Louisville (9-1, LW: No. 20)
21. Cincinnati (10-2, LW: No. 21)
22. George Washington (10-1, LW: No. 23)
23. South Carolina (10-0, LW: UR)
24. Baylor (8-2, LW: No. 12)
25. UCLA (8-4, LW: No. 24)

DROPPED OUT: No. 25 Wichita State

NEW ADDITIONS: South Carolina