Monday marks Week 12 of the college basketball season, and it brings the newest edition of the AP Top 25 men's basketball poll. Three weeks of conference play are complete, and we are finally getting a sense of which teams are legitimate contenders and which squads coasted through their easy non-conference slate.

The big news inside the Top 10 was Kansas' shocking loss to West Virginia. The Mountaineers are the worst team in the Big 12 by every metric but made 12 three-pointers at home to knock off the Jayhawks. Kansas dropped from third to seventh. Other big movers in the Top 25 include Memphis (which dropped nine spots to 19th) and Baylor (dropped six spots to 15th). Dayton — owner of the second-longest winning streak in the nation at 12 games — also jumped five spots to #16, while Auburn and its 11-game winning streak are up five spots to eighth in the latest poll.

While the AP Poll is by no means the be-all and end-all for determining how good a college basketball team is, it is an important capsule for determining who is playing the best basketball at any given week. Here are two big takeaways from the latest AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll.

Mountain West Conference shows its depth

Three Mountain West teams find themselves ranked in the AP poll this week, including a season debut from New Mexico. UNM has made The Pit its fortress this year. The Lobos are 10-0 at home, with recent victories of ranked San Diego State and Utah State teams vaulting Richard Patino's team into the AP Top 25 for the first time this season.

Rejoining the poll after a one-week hiatus is Colorado State, which, despite narrow victories over lesser teams, made the jump thanks to missteps from teams above them. San Diego State remains on the fringes after a one-point road loss to Boise State while the Broncos received votes for the first time this season. Boise's four Quad I wins are the most of any mid-major program in 2023-24 — including key wins over SDSU, Colorado State, and Nevada in MWC play.

Disappointing week, but damage minimized for American Athletic Conference 

Two American Athletic Conference teams have been ranked in the top 10 this season. This week, the conference is lucky just to have two teams ranked. It was a disastrous week for the Memphis Tigers — which lost at home to South Florida (#130 in NET) after blowing a 20-point lead, then dropped a road game to Tulane (#107 in NET). The Tigers are now 51st in KenPom and 54th in the NET Rankings yet somehow remain in the AP Top 25.

Florida Atlantic did not drop a game but had an equally worrying week. The Owls are 5-1 in AAC play but have rarely looked convincing during the easiest stretch of their conference schedule. FAU came back from a double-digit deficit to beat Wichita State (#145 in NET) then needed double-overtime to take down UTSA (#287 in NET) — easily the worst team in the conference. Through six AAC contests, the Owls have trailed in the second half in five of them. Yet FAU moved up a spot to #22 in the AP Poll.

Considering the AAC's recent struggles and a lack of quality games available for the conference's top teams, the league is lucky to still have two teams ranked. Both teams have quality wins, but Memphis and Florida Atlantic must continue to minimize damage against the AAC's lesser teams