Gonzaga Moves to #1 in AP College Basketball Poll After Beating Duke

Gonzaga jumped from #3 to #1 in the AP Top 25 College Basketball rankings after beating the incumbent #1, Duke 89-87 in the final of the Maui Invitational over the Thanksgiving weekend. Besides the fact that the Blue Devils were undefeated at 5-0 coming into the game, Gonzaga (6-0) had to overcome some history to win this one in particular as Duke was 17-0 in Maui Invitational games lifetime, and had won the tournament the previous five times it had been in it. Duke dropped to #3 with the loss.

Gotta love these early season non conference matchups between powerhouse programs. And speaking of powerhouse programs, #2 Kansas (5-0) won both its games last week, including an 87-81 win over #5 Tennessee (4-1) in the final of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The voters gave Gonzaga’s win over perennial national title contender Duke a little more value than the Jayhawks win over Tennessee as the Zags jumped over Kansas to claim the top spot.