NCAA Basketball: North Carolina, Gonzaga tumble on latest top 25 power ranking

We are now nearly an entire month into another NCAA basketball season and these first four weeks have given us plenty to think about. We’ve had numerous holiday tournaments with exciting matchups and unexpected results. We’ve had highly ranked squads that have taken a tumble in recent weeks, while some unheralded teams are really soaking in their moments in the sun. Above all, we’ve got 363 teams back on the court playing ball and it feels great one month into the season.

Things were a bit calmer this past week, with those highly anticipated tournaments now in the rearview mirror. There were some conference challenges and other interesting matchups this week, but there are far fewer movements and insanity among the top teams here in early December. Nonconference season only has a few weeks left; have some of these teams done enough to prove themselves before the rigors of conference play?

A month tells us a lot and we’ve got a lot to consider as we rank the top 25 teams in the nation. We’re continuing our weekly series (through Saturday’s action) by diving deeply into these teams and figuring out where exactly they all stand. Several teams ranked earlier in the season find themselves excluded from the poll while a few new faces emerge this week, with their seasons off to a marvelous beginning. Keep in mind that this is just the beginning of the season; there’s still time for these teams to change their standing, either for good or for bad.

*Rankings were made before Sunday’s results