Villanova provides stability at the top of Power Rankings

— -- Not a single team in the top 10 went down this past week, so there was no movement toward the top of the Power Rankings. But there was plenty overall.

For the first time this season, the No. 1 team didn't get bounced. Villanova looked vulnerable against Notre Dame, but Jay Wright and the defending national champs wound up -- with a stellar performance by Josh Hart?-- coming out on top and remaining unbeaten.

Kansas won but lost a key player for the time being, and UCLA showed its win the previous weekend was hardly a fluke. Two teams, Cincinnati and Iowa State, got bounced and were replaced by Florida State and Virginia Tech.

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

1. Villanova Wildcats
Record: 10-0
Last week's ranking: 1

It's time to move Josh Hart into the front-runner spot for the National Player of the Year. Hart scored a career-high 37 points and also grabbed 11 boards in a comeback win over Notre Dame. One week ago, he had a triple-double against St. Joe's.

2. Kansas Jayhawks
Record: 9-1
Last week's ranking: 2

Kansas played its first game without Carlton Bragg Jr., who was suspended indefinitely after being arrested in connection with a domestic battery incident. The Jayhawks beat Nebraska easily but will need Bragg back at some point to go deep in the NCAA tourney.

3. Baylor Bears
Record: 8-0
Last week's ranking: 3

The Bears earned the week off. Scott Drew's team has outscored Oregon, Michigan State, Louisville and Xavier by a combined 163-106 in the second half.

4. UCLA Bruins
Record: 10-0
Last week's ranking: 4

Michigan was holding opponents to just 58 points per game. Then the Bruins scored 52 -- in the second half -- to pull away from the Wolverines. UCLA did that without starting center Thomas Welsh, who was out with a knee injury.

5. Duke Blue Devils
Record: 10-1
Last week's ranking: 5

Duke beat Florida and UNLV, but the news of the week came when Mike Krzyzewski said that top-ranked freshman Harry Giles is hopeful to return next week, either Monday against Tennessee State or Wednesday against Elon.

6. Gonzaga Bulldogs
Record: 10-0
Last week's ranking: 6

After a rout over Washington and a victory over Akron, the Zags are 10-0 for the first time since they joined the Division I ranks back in 1958-59.

7. North Carolina Tar Heels
Record: 10-1
Last week's ranking: 7

The Tar Heels were without Joel Berry II (sprained left ankle) in a scare against Tennessee in Chapel Hill, but that's no excuse for being tested by a mediocre Vols team.

8. Indiana Hoosiers
Record: 8-1
Last week's ranking: 8

OG Anunoby?was cleared but was held out of the win over Houston Baptist. That means he'll likely return from his ankle injury Saturday against Butler in the Crossroads Classic.

9. Kentucky Wildcats
Record: 9-1
Last week's ranking: 9

The Wildcats took care of Valpo and Hofstra this past week, but it gets tough the next couple games before SEC play: Saturday vs. North Carolina in Vegas and Dec. 21 down the road in Louisville.

10. Creighton Bluejays
Record: 10-0
Last week's ranking: 10

The Bluejays took care of in-state rival Nebraska and have reeled off six straight against the Cornhuskers by an average of nearly 15 points.

11. Louisville Cardinals
Record: 9-1
Last week's ranking: 11

Rick Pitino got his 400th career win at Louisville in his 16th season with the Cardinals. He has 752 wins as a college head coach, among Boston University (91), Providence (42), Kentucky (219) and Louisville. He also has 192 victories in the NBA in five-plus seasons with the Knicks and Celtics.

12. Xavier Musketeers
Record: 8-2
Last week's ranking: 12

Chris Mack's team lost back-to-back games on the road to Baylor and Colorado but bounced back with a home win over Utah. Norfolk State transfer RaShid Gaston had 11 points and 14 boards in the win over the Utes.

The Gamecocks were off this past week. Frank Martin told ESPN that he won't have leading scorer and rebounder Sindarius Thorwnell (suspended indefinitely) for Monday's game against Seton Hall in New York.

A year ago, Wisconsin was a mess and lost to Marquette at the Kohl Center. Bo Ryan stepped down three days later, with the Badgers at 6-5 overall. Since then, Greg Gard is 24-10 with the most recent win coming Saturday against in-state rival Marquette in Milwaukee.

Bonzie Colson's double-double streak ended at six straight games in the loss to Villanova, but it was an off game from V.J. Beachem (16.8 PPG) that was tough to overcome. Beachem was 2-for-11 from the field and 0-for-5 from deep, and he finished with just four points.

Bob Huggins and the Mountaineers pounded a couple cupcakes in Western Carolina and VMI. It doesn't get much tougher, with the next three against UMKC, Radford and Northern Kentucky.

London Perrantes leads Tony Bennett's team in scoring -- at just 10.2 points per game. Bennett will need someone else to step up and become more of a focal point and go-to guy, as that just isn't Perrantes' strength.

USC is off to its best start since 2000-01, when the Trojans went to the Elite Eight. Andy Enfield's team is doing that with just one senior, Charles Buggs, who averages less than 10 minutes per game.

Matt Painter has gone with Vince Edwards off the bench the past three games because the frontline trio of Isaac Haas, Caleb Swanigan and Edwards was turning it over too much. Swanigan had eight turnovers in Saturday's rout of Cleveland State.

Chris Holtmann shook things up after the loss to Indiana State by inserting Kamar Baldwin and Sean McDermott into the starting lineup in place of Kelan Martin and Avery Woodson. It seemed to work, as the Bulldogs beat Cincinnati at Hinkle.

Was the loss to UT Arlington an outlier? The Gaels entered the game shooting 53 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3 and 82 percent from the line. In the loss, they were 16-of-51 from the field, 8-of-27 from 3 and 11-of-17 from the line.

DJ Hogg finally made some shots (6-of-11 for 15 points) in Saturday's win against South Carolina State, after a three-game stretch in which he was 8-of-34 from the field and 2-of-19 from beyond the arc.

Freshman Jonathan Isaac is a potential lottery pick, but he was a nonfactor in the win over in-state rival Florida after missing the previous three games. Dwayne Bacon was far from a nonfactor, with 24 points in the victory.

It was a rough week for Mike White and the Gators, as they lost at Madison Square Garden to Duke and in Tallahassee to Florida State. Florida's third loss was also to a top-25 team: Gonzaga.

25. Virginia Tech Hokies

Record: 8-1

Last week's ranking: NR?

Buzz Williams has brought leading scorer Zach LeDay (17.1) and Seth Allen (10.7 PPG) off the bench in all nine games thus far. Both are fifth-year seniors.

Dropped out: Cincinnati, Iowa State