FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, Sporting Alert – Villanova remains the No. 1 team in the AP top 25 college basketball rankings in Week 15, while Duke makes its return to the poll.
The Wildcats (22-3, 12-1 Big East) picked up a pair of wins over DePaul, 86-59 and St John’s, 73-63 last week to stretch their winning streak to five games, while staying two games ahead of Xavier in the Big East conference standings.
This week, Villanova received 44 of the 65 first-place votes from the media panel for 1,601 points.
Meanwhile, Kansas moved four places up this week to No. 2 and collected the other 21 first-places votes and 1,578 points after taking down the Sooners in Norman on Saturday.
The Jayhawks (21-4, 9-3 Big 12), who had also defeated West Virginia, finished off the week with an advertising 76-72 win over last week’s third-ranked team Oklahoma to sweep the regular season battle against the Sooners, following their thriller in Lawrence, in January that went into three overtime.
Kansas, which won five games in a row, shares the lead atop of the Big 12 standings with West Virginia.
Oklahoma (20-4, 8-4 Big 12) stayed No. 3 this week, despite losing at the weekend.
Iowa (20-5) continues to hold its place at No. 4, with North Carolina (21-4), ahead of Wednesday night’s big showdown with Duke, climbing four places to round out the top five.
Maryland (22-4) slipped four spots to No. 6, Virginia (20-5) remains No. 7, despite suffering a defeat to Duke, while Michigan State (21-5) stayed No. 8 to share that spot with Xavier (22-3) which dropped three places after losing to Creighton.
West Virginia (20-5) completes the top 10 teams in this week.
Meanwhile, Duke is back in the AP top 25 college basketball rankings, at No. 20.
The Blue Devils (19-6, 8-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) earned their way back into the poll after bagging two important conference wins over ranked opponents last week.
Since falling out of the top 25 rankings in Week 13, the defending champions have won four straight games, but justly returned to the poll this week after defeating the liked of Louisville, 72-65 and Virginia, 63-62, which held No. 13 and No. 7 respective slots in Week 14.
Indiana (20-6) was rewarded for that big win over No. 4 Iowa last week and it comes back into the rankings at No. 22.
Notre Dame (18-7) is also in the top 25 this week, coming in at No. 19.
Meanwhile, Texas A&M (15), USC (23) and Wichita State (25) fell out of the top 25 poll this week.
AP Top 25
Week 15 – Feb. 15
1 Villanova (44) 22-3
2 Kansas (21) 21-4
3 Oklahoma 20-4
4 Iowa 20-5
5 North Carolina 21-4
6 Maryland 22-4
7 Virginia 20-5
8 Xavier 22-3
8 Michigan State 21-5
10 West Virginia 20-5
11 Miami (FL) 20-4
12 Arizona 21-5
13 Iowa State 18-7
14 Kentucky 19-6
15 Dayton 21-3
16 Oregon 20-6
17 Purdue 20-6
18 Louisville 19-6
19 Notre Dame 18-7
20 Duke 19-6
21 SMU 21-3
22 Indiana 20-6
23 Providence 19-7
24 Texas 16-9
25 Baylor 18-7
Dropped from rankings: Texas A&M 15, USC 23, Wichita St 25
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 90, Utah 75, Saint Joseph’s 57, Wisconsin 47, South Carolina 39, USC 38, Michigan 17, Syracuse 17, Wichita St 14, Stony Brook 13, Monmouth 10, California 8, Hawaii 5, UNC Wilmington 4, San Diego State 3, Yale 3, Cincinnati 2
