Shannon Ryan’s men’s college basketball rankings

1. Kansas (20-1): Right back to where we started. (2)

2. Villanova (19-1): Wildcats are off to the best start in school history. (3)

3. Syracuse (21-1): Two-point escape from DePaul keeps the Orange climbing. (4)

4. Kentucky (20-1): Stay at No. 1 didn’t last long. (1)

5. Michigan State (19-3): Next three games come against teams tied for second in the Big Ten. (5)

6. Georgetown (16-4): President Obama appears to bring good luck to the Hoyas. (8)

7. Purdue (18-3): Boilermakers have won four straight after three consecutive losses. (9)

8. West Virginia (17-3): Da’Sean Butler is the comeback kid in Mountaineers’ rallies. (10)

9. Texas (18-3): Three losses in four games. The Longhorns need to correct this slide. (6)

10. Duke (17-4): Loss to Georgetown was first on road against top-25 nonconference team since 1997. (7)

11. Kansas State (17-4): Wildcats beat Texas and took Kansas to overtime. (11)

12. Ohio State (16-6): Buckeyes are 13-0 at home. (19)

13. Tennessee (16-4): Wayne Chism recorded his fourth double-double in win over Florida. (12)

14. Wisconsin (16-5): Huge test looms at home against Michigan State. (15)

15. Brigham Young (21-2): Team’s 15-game win streak ended against New Mexico. (16)

16. Gonzaga (17-4): Bulldogs had won 22 straight WCC games before falling to San Francisco. (13)

17. Georgia Tech (16-5): Win over Duke on Thursday would erase sting of losing to Florida State. (17)

18. Vanderbilt (16-4): Commodores lost to Kentucky after upsetting Tennessee. (25)

19. Pittsburgh (16-5): Panthers reverted back to early season form with three losses in four games. (14)

20. Butler (18-4): Gordon Hayward leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 16.1 average. (NR)

21. Baylor (16-4): Include Baylor as one of the latest to take down Texas. (NR)

22. New Mexico (20-3): Four players average double figures for the Lobos. (NR)

23. Mississippi (16-5): Lost four of last five conference home games. (18)

24. Temple (18-4): Bounced back from loss to Charlotte by beating intracity rival LaSalle. (22)

25. Northern Iowa (19-2): Panthers have rematch on Wednesday against Wichita State. (NR)

sryan@tribune.com