MIAMI, FL — Villanova, Virginia and Purdue remain the Top 3 teams in the latest NCAA College Men’s Basketball AP Top 25 Rankings for the fourth successive week, following the Week 14 poll on Monday (5).
As expected, Villanova (22-1, 9-1 Big East) hold the No. 1 stop for the fifth straight weeks after picking up a pair of victories last week against Creighton and Seton Hall at home.
The Wildcats, who have won nine straight games, collected 48 of the 65 first-place votes from the media panel for 1,608 points.
Virginia comes back this week as the No. 2 ranked team in the poll and received 16 first-place votes.
The Cavaliers (22-1, 11-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) held off Louisville at home before stifling Syracuse’s offense on the road to improve to 11-0 in ACC play and extend their overall win streak to 14 games.
Virginia, which edged closer to winning the ACC regular season conference title, leads the rest of field by at least three games.
At No. 3 is Purdue, which extended its overall winning streak to 19 games, the nation’s longest winning run.
The Boilermakers (23-2, 12-0 Big Ten) collected the final vote for first place, following victories over Maryland and Rutgers and they continue to play like a Final Four team.
Rounding out the Top 5 were Michigan State at No. 4 and Xavier.
Cincinnati (21-2) moves up two places to No. 6, its highest AP Top 25 Ranking since January 2004, while No. 7 is Texas Tech (19-4), its best position since ranked No. 7 in March 1996.
Also making a notable move inside the Top 10 this week was the eighth-ranked Auburn (21-2), which grabbed its highest ranking since January 2000.
Duke (19-4) dropped five places to No. 9 after shockingly losing to St John’s, 81-77, while Kansas (18-5) is down three spots to No. 10, following the defeat to Oklahoma State.
Next came No. 11 Saint Mary’s and it is followed by Gonzaga, Arizona, Ohio State and Tennessee in making up the Top 15.
Clemson advanced four places to No. 16, but Oklahoma is down five spots to No. 17, following its away defeat at Texas in a Big 12 battle on Saturday.
Rhode Island, a dipping West Virginia and Michigan completed to Top 20.
The last five is rounded out by defending champion North Carolina, at No. 21, Wichita State, which dropped six places to No. 22, as well as newcomers Nevada, at No. 23 and Miami, at No. 25.
Kentucky sits at No. 24.
Florida (23) and Arizona State (25) were the two teams making way this week.
The Gators slid out from No. 23 after back-to-back losses to unranked teams, while Arizona State dropped out from No. 25 after to influence the raters and holds a 5-6 record in the Pac-12 conference play.
NCAA College Men’s Basketball AP Top 25 Rankings
WEEK 14
RK TEAM RECORD
1 Villanova (48) 22-1
2 Virginia (16) 22-1
3 Purdue (1) 23-2
4 Michigan State 22-3
5 Xavier 21-3
6 Cincinnati 21-2
7 Texas Tech 19-4
8 Auburn 21-2
9 Duke 19-4
10 Kansas 18-5
11 Saint Mary’s 23-2
12 Gonzaga 21-4
13 Arizona 19-5
14 Ohio State 20-5
15 Tennessee 17-5
16 Clemson 19-4
17 Oklahoma 16-6
18 Rhode Island 19-3
19 West Virginia 17-6
20 Michigan 19-6 331
21 North Carolina 17-7
22 Wichita State 17-5
23 Nevada 20-4
24 Kentucky 17-6
25 Miami 17-5
Dropped from rankings: Florida (23) and Arizona State (25)
Others receiving votes: Butler 65, Washington 54, Florida State 27, New Mexico State 23, Seton Hall 20, Creighton 18, Arizona State 17, Texas 15, NC State 12, Alabama 8, Middle Tennessee 6, Nebraska 4, Florida 3, Houston 3, TCU 3, Oklahoma State 2, East Tennessee State 1, Vermont 1
