How far will No. 1 Arizona drop in rankings after losing back-to-back games?

The Arizona Wildcats have been the No. 1 ranked team in the country for the past nine weeks. That is almost certainly going to change on Monday when the newest rankings come out given the week they have had. 

The tough week continued on Saturday night when the Wildcats were on the losing end of 78-75 overtime game against No. 16 Texas Tech. It is their second loss in as many games after opening the week with an 82-78 loss at No. 9-ranked Kansas. 

How low will Arizona go in the rankings?

After back-to-back losses it is not necessarily a question of whether or not the Wildcats will drop. It is simply a matter of how far down they will go. No team can go 0-2 in a week and hold on to its top spot no matter how good or talented it is, what the expectations for the team are, or who they were playing.

The one thing working in Arizona's favor that might prevent too far of a drop is the fact both losses came against ranked opponents that are in the top 16 in the country. 

That includes the loss against Kansas, which came on the road. There is no shame in going into Kansas and losing against a ranked Jayhawks team. It happens. 

The tougher game to explain will be Saturday's against Texas Tech given that it was a home game. 

Will Arizona still be a top-three team? Top five? Given the way the teams immediately behind them in the rankings keep winning, they are going to lose a few spots. 

Arizona is also now entering an especially brutal part of its schedule that is going to tell us a lot about how good this team actually is.

Four of its next five games will come against ranked opponents, including three games against top-10 teams: A rematch with Kansas, at No. 3 Houston and home for No. 5 Iowa State. 

If Arizona is going to be a national title contender and a potential No. 1 seed in the tournament, these are the types of teams it is going to have to beat. The Wildcats were winning those games earlier in the season. They have not done so this week, and it is going to push them down a few spots in the rankings.