The marquee MTEs and tournaments of November have long passed, the conference challenges and neutral-site nonconference showdowns of the past few weeks are in the rearview mirror -- and it's almost time to turn the page to the rhythm of full-blown conference play.
But not quite yet. The last week of December is always a hodgepodge when it comes to scheduling; some leagues are starting conference play, while other teams still have a bye game (or in the case of a handful of teams below, one last big nonconference tilt) remaining to finish out the 2024 slate.
The big movement this past week came from Kentucky's loss to Ohio State, which dropped the Wildcats out of the top five.