Tennessee sheds invicibility

For the past eight weeks, the easiest part of filling out my AP Top 25 ballot was putting Tennessee at No. 1.

The Volunteers never steered me wrong. They just kept winning, 19 consecutive games. But I still had some reservations about Tennessee, even though it had just one loss — a neutral-court defeat in overtime back in November. The Vols went on to knock off then-No. 1 Gonzaga, but during the past two months, they never really were challenged while playing and beating up on the bottom of the SEC.

That’s part of what made Saturday night’s huge road game at Kentucky so interesting. But Tennessee, on this night, wasn’t up for the challenge.

The Vols were run out of the gym in a 17-point loss to the Wildcats, and they finally looked human. Kentucky completely outplayed them, and Tennessee played its worst game of the season.

It’s just one game, and there’s no reason to panic about the Volunteers, but they’re certainly not invincible. I dropped them to No. 5 in my poll after Saturday’s loss, one spot behind Kentucky. Tennessee has a better overall resume, but the Wildcats are continuing to play as well as anyone in the country right now, even after a controversial loss to LSU last week.

That all means Duke is back at No. 1 this week. The Blue Devils were awful for 30 minutes last week against Louisville and somehow erased a 23-point deficit in the last 10 minutes to win. It’s safe to say they’re the best team in the country at this point.

LSU is up to No. 15 from No. 24 in my poll after that terrific win against Kentucky. And nobody dropped out of my poll from last week. It’s the same 25 with some minor shuffling.