MIAMI– Gonzaga and Villanova returned No. 1 and No. 2 in The Associated Press latest NCAA men’s basketball Top 25 rankings in Week 15 after both knocked off ranked opponents last week.
Gonzaga (26-0) collected 60 of the 65 first-place votes from the media panel for 1,620 points to start the week atop the AP rankings for the third straight week.
The Bulldogs picked up a pair of victories last week, blowing away Loyola Mary 90-60 at home before putting away then-20 Saint Mary’s 74-64 on the road.
Gonzaga, which remains the only undefeated team in Division I men’s basketball this season, is also 14-0 in the West Coast Conference standings with only four regular-season games left on its schedule.
Villanova, the defending national champion, stayed second this week after beating Georgetown and then-No. 24 Xavier in its last two fixtures.
The Wildcats (24-2, 11-2 Big East) received the other five first-place votes for 1,564 points.
Kansas, which survived against Kansas State and Texas Tech, also held their position at No. 3 and the Jayhawks (22-3) were followed by fellow Big 12 outfit Baylor, which climbed two spots to fourth and Arizona, which move up four spots to round out the Top 5.
UCLA comes in at No. 6 and is followed by Oregon, Louisville, West Virginia and North Carolina in the Top 10.
Wisconsin slipped from seventh to 11th after losing to Northwestern and the Badgers were followed by Duke, Kentucky, Virginia, Florida, Purdue, Florida State, Cincinnati, SMU and Creighton inside the Top 20.
The last five ranked teams were South Carolina, Saint Mary’s, Maryland, Butler and newcomer Notre Dame.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL RANKINGS
AP TOP 25
1 Gonzaga (60)
2 Villanova (5)
3 Kansas
4 Baylor
5 Arizona
6 UCLA
7 Oregon
8 Louisville
9 West Virginia
10 North Carolina
11 Wisconsin
12 Duke
13 Kentucky
14 Virginia
15 Florida
16 Purdue
17 Florida State
18 Cincinnati
19 SMU
20 Creighton
21 South Carolina
22 Saint Mary’s (Cal.)
23 Maryland
24 Butler
25 Notre Dame
Others receiving votes: Wichita State 87, Xavier 72, Northwestern 60,Southern Cal 16, VCU 14, Dayton 4, Middle Tennessee 3, Monmouth 2, Oklahoma State 1, Vermont 1
