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Why regular-season chaos could lead to a wild March Madness

AP Photo Erin Hooley

It's been a tough season for teams to stay at the top in men's college basketball.

Only one team -- the Purdue Boilermakers -- has been ranked among the top five in the AP Top 25 poll every week of the season. Just three others -- the UConn Huskies, Houston Cougars and Kansas Jayhawks -- have been season-long fixtures in the top 10. And even those teams have had their ups and downs: A couple of weeks ago, UConn and Purdue, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively at that time, lost as favorites on the road within the span of two days.

The rest of the nation's best teams, from the Arizona Wildcats and the Baylor Bears to the Duke Blue Devils and the Tennessee Volunteers, have seen even bigger changes to their poll positions over the past four months. Take, for example, Antonio Reeves, Reed Sheppard and Kentucky's up-and-down journey from 16th before the year to No. 6 by midseason, and then outside the top 20 recently after multiple losses against unranked opponents.

With all of this chaos, there's a case to be made that this has been the most unpredictable season for top teams over the past 15 years -- and it could translate to even more volatility in March.