MIAMI, FL — Virginia returned as the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Rankings on Monday, while as expected, Oklahoma was among the teams sliding out of the poll in Week 16.
Virginia, which stifled Miami 59-50 in its solitary fixture last week, earned 42 of 65 first-place votes in this week’s rankings, which is 12 more than it collected a week ago.
The Cavaliers (24-2) will play two games this week, at home against Illinois on Tuesday and then at Wisconsin on Feb. 25.
No. 2 Michigan State earned 19 first-place votes after picking up a pair of wins on the road, including coming back from 27 points down to beat Northwestern 65-60 at the weekend.
Villanova comes in at No. 3 this week and got the other four first-place votes after defeating No. 4 Xavier on road with the Musketeers staying put in fourth.
No. 5 Duke jumped back into the top five this week, following a brace of impressive wins without top freshman forward Marvin Bagley III, who missed three games already because of injury.
The Blue Devils jumped seven spots this week after beating Virginia Tech and Clemson.
Gonzaga leaps two places to No. 6 and is followed by Texas Tech, Kansas, Purdue and defending national champion North Carolina in the top 10.
Cincinnati slid six places to No. 11 after losing to Houston and Wichita State, while Auburn drops two spots to No. 12 and is followed by the Shockers, Arizona and Clemson in the top 15.
After losing at home to Penn State and away to Michigan, Ohio State continues to dip, falling eight slots to No. 16 this week.
Michigan, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Nevada make up the Top 20.
Meanwhile, Middle Tennessee checked in at No. 24 in this week’s AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Rankings.
The Blue Raiders are making their first AP Top 25 appearance in program history.
Houston Cougars are at No. 23, the program’s first AP poll appearance since spending a week at No. 25 in Dec. 2005.
West Virginia, at No. 21, Saint Mary’s, at No. 22 and Florida State, at No. 25 completed the remaining five.
Texas A&M (21) and Arizona State (25) joined Oklahoma out of the top 25.
Baylor and Kentucky lead the list of teams receiving votes this week.
AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Rankings
Week 16: February 19.
RK TEAM RECORD
1 Virginia (42) 24-2
2 Michigan State (19) 26-3
3 Villanova (4) 24-3
4 Xavier 24-4
5 Duke 22-5
6 Gonzaga 25-4
6 Texas Tech 22-5
8 Kansas 21-6
9 Purdue 24-5
10 North Carolina 21-7
11 Cincinnati 23-4
12 Auburn 23-4
13 Wichita State 21-5
14 Arizona 21-6 831
15 Clemson 20-6
16 Ohio State 22-7
17 Michigan 22-7
18 Rhode Island 21-4
19 Tennessee 19-7
20 Nevada 23-5
21 West Virginia 19-8
22 Saint Mary’s 25-4
23 Houston 21-5
24 Middle Tennessee 22-5
25 Florida State 19-8
Dropped from rankings: Texas A&M 21, Oklahoma 23, Arizona State 25
Others receiving votes: Baylor 52, Kentucky 33, Arizona State 32, Arkansas 23, UCLA 20, St. Bonaventure 13, Virginia Tech 12, Creighton 10, Penn State 6, Missouri 5, Kansas State 5, Texas A&M 4, TCU 4, Loyola-Chicago 2, Butler 2, East Tennessee State 1, Alabama 1, Boise State 1, Oklahoma 1
