Tennessee And Auburn remained No. 1-2 atop the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll. This is an ideal spot for two SEC teams considering the league placed 10 teams in Monday’s AP Top 25.
The Volunteers (11-0) and Tigers (11-1) spent a third straight week in the same position, and it marked a fourth straight week for Auburn in second place. top 10 programs, although slightly reworked with Kentucky tumbling six spots to No. 10 after a loss to Ohio State.
The poll also featured four additions that had already been ranked this season, including No. 19 Mississippi State and No. 23 Arkansas, to be added to SEC runs throughout the season.
The SEC had as many as nine ranked teams three times this season, including in the preseason poll. This is the first time since at least the start of the 2012-13 season that a league has had 10 ranked teams.
Iowa State was third, followed by Duke And Alabama to complete the top five. Florida, Kansas, Marquette And Oregon followed, with these teams all moving up one spot given the Wildcats’ fall to 10th.
San Diego State saw the biggest rise among last week’s ranked teams, moving up three spots to 20th, while 12th OklahomaNo. 17 Cincinnati and No. 18 Michigan State all moved up two places. In total, 11 teams moved up at least one place this week.
While Kentucky recorded the biggest drop of the week, No. 21 Purdue and No. 22 UCLA also slipped in several places. The Boilermakers fell five spots after a lopsided loss to Auburn, while the Bruins fell four spots after blowing a 16-point lead and falling by two to an unranked North Carolina team that opened the year at No. 9 rank.
No. 13 Texas A&M and No. 14 Gonzaga also slid one point to complete the downward movements.
Five teams retained their position from last week, starting with the Vols, Tigers and Cyclones in the lead. Double reigning national champion UConn (No. 11) and Houston (n°15) also remained in place.
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No. 24 Illinois and No. 25 Baylor joined Mississippi State and Arkansas as newcomers and returnees from the week’s ballot.
The Bears were the highest ranked of this group this year, opening the year at No. 8 and spending five weeks in the poll. The Razorbacks started at No. 16 and spent four weeks in the poll, while the Bulldogs and Illini each had two one-week stints in November and December.
Memphis (No. 21), Dayton (No. 22), Michigan (No. 24) and Clemson (No. 25) was eliminated from the ballot to make way for new teams.
While the SEC was gobbling up spots, the AP Top 25 featured teams from a total of just seven leagues.
The Big Ten – headlined by new league member Oregon, ranked ninth – had five teams to join the Big 12 for second place behind the SEC, while the Big East was the only other league with at least two ranked teams.
The ACC, West Coast and Mountain West each had a ranked team.
Here is the complete AP Top 25:
1. Tennessee
2. Auburn
3. Iowa State
4. Duke
5. Alabama
6. Florida
7. Kansas
8. Marquette
9. Oregon
10. Kentucky
11. UConn
12. Oklahoma
13. Texas A&M
14. Gonzaga
15. Houston
16. Ole Mademoiselle
17. Cincinnati
18. Michigan State
19. Mississippi State
20. San Diego State
21. Purdue
22. UCLA
23. Arkansas
24. Illinois
25. Baylor
Associated Press reporting.
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