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USATSI

Beating the No. 1 team in college basketball, turns out, will win you the support of coaches across the country. The Duke Blue Devils did as much Friday by dispatching of the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs, 84-81, and were rewarded by coaches in the ballot box by supplanting the Zags at No. 1 in the Coaches Poll that updated on Monday, bringing in 19 of a possible 31 first-place votes. Duke also came in at No. 1 in the AP poll earlier Monday.

Gonzaga dropped only two spots to No. 3 after the loss, which was its first of the season. It's the first time since Nov. 12, 2020 that it was not No. 1 in a regular-season Coaches Poll ranking. It's the first time Duke has been No. 1 in the poll since Nov. 25, 2019, after it opened the season 6-0. 

Duke's 7-0 start to the season has been book-ended thus far by two terrific wins on the resume. It opened the season with a win over No. 10 Kentucky, 79-71, and its win over Gonzaga was easily the most impressive victory by any team in the sport this season (so far). Tests will come quick, though, with a road trip vs. Ohio State on deck Tuesday as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge before a three-game homestand of tune-ups ahead of league play.

The rest of this week's Coaches Poll also saw some shifting around throughout, with Purdue up to No. 2, Baylor up to No. 4 and UCLA down to No. 5. Villanova, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas and Kentucky make up the rest of the new-look top-10. 

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Coaches Poll

The top 25 teams in the USA Today college basketball Coaches Poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sunday, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week's ranking:

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Rank Team Record Points Prev.
1 Duke 7-0 761 6
2 Purdue 6-0 742 4
3 Gonzaga 6-1 706 1
4 Baylor 7-0 693 5
5 UCLA 6-1 627 2
6 Villanova 4-2 563 7
7 Kansas 5-1 524 3
8 Texas 4-1 500 8
9 Arkansas 6-0 473 12
10 Kentucky 5-1 436 13
11 Arizona 6-0 431 19
12 Florida 6-0 425 24
13 Brigham Young 6-0 399 18
14 Houston 5-1 321 11
15 Tennessee 4-1 304 17
16 Alabama 6-1 231 9
17 UConn 6-1 222 21
18 USC 6-0 205 25
19 Memphis 5-1 184 10
20 Auburn 5-1 145 22
21 Wisconsin 5-1 140 NR
22 Michigan State 5-2 138 NR
23 Iowa State 6-0 134 NR
24 Michigan 4-2 123 13
25 St. Bonaventure 5-1 96 16

Others receiving votes: Seton Hall 86; Texas Tech 68; LSU 66; Illinois 65; Ohio State 43; Marquette 42; Colorado St. 38; Indiana 29; Iowa 28; Xavier 25; Florida State 22; Utah St. 13; Providence 11; West Virginia 5; San Francisco 5; Saint Louis 3; Oklahoma State 3.