| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  | Duke | After a mid-week stop in Davidson, Duke kicks off ACC play on Saturday against Wake Forest. | 1 |
| 2 |  | Michigan | Michigan puts their perfect record on the line this week with a trip to Northwestern and a home game against Iowa. | 2 |
| 3 |  | Kansas | Kansas had no trouble against American U on Saturday. This week they'll face off against giant killer Temple. | 3 |
| 4 |  | Indiana | The Hoosiers start conference play on the road, heading to Iowa to take on a deceptively good Hawkeye squad. | 4 |
| 5 |  | Arizona | Arizona finished off their run to a Diamond Head Classic title last week, knocking off San Diego State. | 5 |
| 6 |  | Louisville | The Kentucky/Louisville contest is always tough and the Cardinals came away with some major momentum. | 7 |
| 7 |  | Syracuse | Syracuse bounced back a bit from their loss to Temple, but they did not look very good against Alcorn State. | 6 |
| 8 |  | Ohio State | The Buckyes start off their Big Ten campaign with Nebraska, but on Saturday they head to Illinois. | 9 |
| 9 |  | Notre Dame | Notre Dame has not played a game since December 21st and they don't play again until this Saturday. | 10 |
| 10 |  | Florida | Florida did not look great against Air Force, but they won pretty comfortably in the end. Next up is Yale. | 11 |
| 11 |  | Creighton | Creighton started off MVC play with a nice win over Evansville. A trip to Illinois State could be a bit tricky. | 13 |
| 12 |  | Cincinnati | The Bearcats kick off Big East play with a big game at Pitt on Monday. Not bad for a noon game on a Monday. | 12 |
| 13 |  | Gonzaga | Gonzaga got a quality home win over Baylor, but this week they hit the road against OSU, Pepperdine and SCU. | 16 |
| 14 |  | Minnesota | How good is Minnesota? We may learn a lot this week when the Gophers host Michigan State and Northwestern. | 14 |
| 15 |  | Missouri | The Tigers lost a thrilling overtime game at UCLA. This week they wrap up non-conference play against Bucknell. | 8 |
| 16 |  | Michigan State | The Spartans have not played a game since their quality home win over Texas. Now they head to Minneapolis. | 15 |
| 17 |  | Illinois | Illinois nearly lost two in a row, but managed to hang on at home against Auburn. A trip to Purdue is next. | 17 |
| 18 |  | Georgetown | Georgetown begins conference action on Saturday with a trip to Marquette. Four of their first six are on the road. | 19 |
| 19 |  | Butler | Butler went into Vanderbilt and absolutely shut down the Commodores in the second half en route to a 68-49 win. | 23 |
| 20 |  | North Carolina State | With a win over WMU, NC State is a healthy 11-2. UNC Greensboro is up next, then it is off to Boston College. | 21 |
| 21 |  | New Mexico | Just days after losing to South Dakota State, UNM put an end to Cincinnati's perfect season with a 55-54 victory. | 25 |
| 22 |  | San Diego State | A win against Arizona would have been huge, but SDSU played pretty well and that is promising. | 18 |
| 23 |  | Oklahoma State | Oklahoma State had last week off and they cannot be rusty on Monday night against a good Gonzaga team. | 24 |
| 24 |  | Kansas State | It was not pretty, but KSU followed up their big win over Florida with a tight victory over Kansas City. | NR |
| 25 |  | North Carolina | North Carolina finally got a quality win last week, but consistency will be key with ACC play starting this week. | NR |
12/31 Men's Basketball Top 25 Rankings
Sun, 12/30/2012
