FORT LAUDERDALE, Sporting Alert – Villanova remains No. 1 in the latest AP college basketball top 25 rankings, which was released on Week 16 on Monday, Feb. 22.
The Wildcats (24-3) received 45 first place votes and 1,604 points to stay atop of the rankings this week after picking up a pair of wins over Temple and Butler last week.
Kansas (23-4), on the back of two solid conference wins last week, remained No. 2 this week after securing the other 20 first place votes and 1,580 points.
The Jayhawks, who have fixtures against Baylor and Texas Tech this week, turned back Oklahoma State, 94-67 and Kansas State, 72-63 last week in their two scheduled games.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma stayed No. 3, but the Sooners have to share that spot with Virginia with moved up four places to third in the poll this week as well.
Oklahoma (21-5) fell to Texas Tech, 65-63 on the road, but bounced back with a 76-62 victory over West Virginia to split its Big 12 conference fixtures last week.
The Cavaliers (21-5), in the meantime, got past NC State, 73-53 in their lone game last week to move up four places this week in the rankings.
Completing the top five this week is Xavier (24-3), which jumped three spots this week on the back of wins over Providence and Georgetown.
Rounding out the top 10 in this week’s AP college basketball top 25 rankings are Michigan State (22-5), North Carolina (22-5), which dropped two spot to No. 7, Iowa (20-6), which dipped four places to No. 8 after losing to Penn State, Arizona (22-5) and Maryland (23-5).
Meanwhile, after putting away Syracuse and Duke last week, Louisville (21-6) leaped seven spots to No. 11, Miami (FL) (21-5), Oregon (21-6), West Virginia (20-7), Duke (20-7), despite losing to the Cardinals are up five places to No. 15 this week.
Texas A&M (20-7) come back into the AP college basketball top 25 rankings in Week 16, at No. 1, after a big win over Kentucky, while Utah (21-7) is also in the rankings this week — up four places to No. 22.
Dropping out of the rankings this week were Dayton, which was at No. 15 last week and last week’s No. 23 ranked side Providence.
AP College Basketball Top 25 Rankings
Week 16 on Monday, Feb. 22
Complete Poll For Week 16
1 Villanova (45) 24-3 1,604
2 Kansas (20) 23-4 1,580
3 Virginia 21-5 1,393
3 Oklahoma 21-5 1,393
5 Xavier 24-3 1,368
6 Michigan State 22-5 1,346
7 North Carolina 22-5 1,241
8 Iowa 20-6 1,144
9 Arizona 22-5 1,028
10 Maryland 23-5 976
11 Louisville 21-6 902
12 Miami (FL) 21-5 851
13 Oregon 21-6 842
14 West Virginia 20-7 772
15 Duke 20-7 674
16 Kentucky 20-7 627
17 Iowa State 19-8 616
18 Indiana 22-6 571
19 Baylor 20-7 521
20 Purdue 21-7 357
21 Texas A&M 20-7 283
22 Utah 21-7 253
23 Notre Dame 18-8 185
24 SMU 22-4 154
25 Texas 17-10 104
Dropped from rankings: Dayton 15, Providence 23
Others receiving votes: Dayton 80, Providence 48, California 34, Wichita St 33, Texas Tech 31, Wisconsin 27, Saint Joseph’s 20, VCU 19, South Carolina 12, Hawaii 12, Saint Mary’s 10, Valparaiso 3, Cincinnati 3, USC 2, San Diego State 2, UAB 1, Connecticut 1, Arkansas-Little Rock 1, Stephen F. Austin 1
