This week the Iowa State men’s basketball team finds themselves outside the top-10 of the Associated Press college basketball poll for the first time this season. The Cyclones dropped six spots to No. 11 in the poll after suffering their first loss of the season on Saturday against Northern Iowa.
Iowa State also fell seven spots in the USA Today Coaches Poll to No. 9. The Cyclones’ next opponent, Cincinnati, is No. 21 in the Coaches and No. 22 in the AP.
The Big 12 was still well represented in the top-five of both polls with Kansas taking the No. 2 spot in the AP and Oklahoma at No. 3, then the two teams were reversed in the Coaches Poll. Michigan State remained the consensus No. 1 team for the third week in a row.
Maryland and Virginia held the No. 4 and No. 5 spots in both polls.
Kentucky dropped out of the top-10 to No. 12 after suffering their second loss of the season against Ohio State.
West Virginia (No. 19 in AP, No. 18 in coaches) and Baylor (No. 23 in AP, No. 22 in coaches) were the other two Big 12 teams in the polls. Future Iowa State opponent Texas A&M jumped into the top-20 of the coaches at No. 19 and is No. 21 in the AP.
Iowa State also fell one spot to No. 6 in the RPI rankings. Nine teams on Iowa State’s schedule are in the top-50 of the of the RPI with Texas Tech (No. 9), Oklahoma (No. 10), Texas A&M (No. 15), Texas (No. 25), Kansas (No. 31), Colorado (No. 32), Iowa (No. 34), UNI (No. 38) and Kansas State (No. 44).
