The Villanova Wildcats were on top of the world – or at least a couple of spots away – yesterday afternoon when they were elevated to the No. 3 spot in the AP college hoops rankings.

The euphoria didn’t last long.

The Wildcats promptly went out last night and dropped a contest to lowly UConn. The Huskies are not having a good year. In fact, they’ve been struggling.

Longtime coach Jim Calhoun just returned to the bench after another health concern and promptly labeled his team’s effort in a recent game one of the worst he’s seen in his career at UConn.

The Huskies decided to take it out on Villanova.

Kiss that No. 3 ranking goodbye. UConn took command late in the first half and the Wildcats never did make a run at them in the second half.

Check out Terry Toohey’s complete game coverage here.

The Wildcats not only likely will fall in the national rankings, but they also now have fallen into a tie for the Big East lead.

No doubt not exactly what Jay Wright had envisioned as a celebration for moving up a notch in the rankings.