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Gonzaga Stays No. 1 In Associated Press Top 25 poll

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Gonzaga remains the clear-cut No. 1 college basketball team in The Associated Press Top 25 poll, which was released on Monday.

The Bulldogs (7-0) collected 62 of the 64 first-place votes from the media panel for a 1,598 points after a pair of wins over Northwestern State and another victory against then-No. 16 Virginia last week.

No. 2 ranked Baylor received the other two first-place votes, while Kansas remained No. 3 with the Top 3 staying the same after the Jayhawks routed then-No. 7 West Virginia.

Villanova and Houston each moved up one place to complete the No. 4 and No. 5 spots.

No. 6 Wisconsin, which jumped three spots this week, leads nine ranked teams from Big Ten.

Tennessee at No. 7, Texas, West Virginia and Iowa rounded out the Top 10.

The Hawkeyes dropped six places after their 102-95 overtime loss to Minnesota on Friday night.

No. 11 is Creighton, followed by Missouri, Texas Tech, Rutgers and Illinois in the top 15.

Meanwhile, Virginia was the biggest dippers this week after the Cavaliers slipped seven spots to No. 23. Duke, which was inactive last week stayed at 20 and Virginia Tech remains at No. 24.

No. 19 Northwestern and No. 21 Minnesota are the newcomers to The Associated Press Top 25 poll, while Ohio State dropped two places to No. 25.

The teams dropping out of the rankings this week are North Carolina, which was ranked No. 17 last week, and the previously No. 22 ranked Xavier.

The Associated Press Top 25

First-place votes in parentheses:

1. Gonzaga (62)
2. Baylor (2)
3. Kansas
4. Villanova
5. Houston
6. Wisconsin
7. Tennessee
8. Texas
9. West Virginia
10. Iowa
11. Creighton
12. Missouri
13. Texas Tech
14. Rutgers
15. Illinois
16. Michigan
17. Michigan State
18. Florida State
19. Northwestern
20. Duke
21. Oregon
22. Minnesota
23. Virginia
24. Virginia Tech
25. Ohio State

More Details

Others Receiving Votes:
Others receiving votes: Xavier 178, San Diego St. 172, North Carolina 57, Arkansas 55, Clemson 50, Colorado 50, Saint Louis 49, Florida 20, Louisville 18, BYU 12, Georgia 10, NC State 8, UCLA 4, Indiana 4, Richmond 3, UCF 2, Western Kentucky 2, Boise St. 2, SMU 1, Chattanooga 1, Drake 1.

Dropped from rankings: North Carolina 17, Xavier 22

[College Basketball Rankings] Gonzaga, Baylor 1-2; Kentucky Drops Out

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Gonzaga and Baylor remained No. 1 and No. 2 in the latest AP Top 25 men’s basketball rankings, released on Monday. As expected, Kentucky falls out of the rankings after losing three straight, while Oregon also joined them exiting the Top 25.

Gonzaga received 54 of the 61 votes for first place from a national media panel and 1,518 points to stay atop of the poll in Week 3. Baylor collected the remaining seven first-place votes and 1,470 points.

The Bulldogs (3-0) and Bears (3-0) were slated to meet in Indianapolis on Saturday, but their highly-anticipated showdown was called off less than two hours before tipoff because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within Gonzaga’s program.

Meanwhile, Iowa stayed No. 3 in the latest rankings after NBA prospect Luka Garza guided the Hawkeyes to a pair of victories last week. Michigan State, which beat then-No. 6 Duke last week jumped four spots to No. 4 and Kansas rounded out the top 5 after moving up two spots.

The Top 10 in the poll is completed by Illinois at No. 6, Houston, Creighton, Villanova and the Blue Devils.

Wisconsin (3-1) fell nine spots this week to No. 13 after being stunned by Marquette on Friday night, while Virginia dropped three places to No. 18 after losing to San Francisco and needing overtime to see off Kent State 71-64 on Friday night.

West Virginia comes in at No. 11, Tennessee at 12th and Texas at No. 13 also in the Top 15.

Rounding out the Top 20 are North Carolina at No. 16, followed by Texas Tech, No. 19. Richmond and No. 20. Florida State.

The last five in the rankings were Rutgers at No. 21, Ohio State, Arizona State, San Diego State, and Louisville.

CANCELED! – No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 2 Baylor Off Due To COVID-19

AP Top 25 Rankings
First-place votes in parentheses:

1. Gonzaga (54)
2. Baylor (7)
3. Iowa
4. Michigan State
5. Kansas
6. Illinois
7. Houston
8. Creighton
9. Villanova
10. Duke
11. West Virginia
12. Tennessee
13. Texas
13. Wisconsin
15. Virginia Tech
16. North Carolina
17. Texas Tech
18. Virginia
19. Richmond
20. Florida State
21. Rutgers
22. Ohio State
23. Arizona State
24. San Diego State
25. Louisville

Others receiving votes: Michigan 107, Saint Louis 94, Florida 90, Indiana 40, Oregon 26, Oklahoma State 26, Marquette 22, Missouri 19, UConn 12, Xavier 9, Clemson 7, Alabama 5, Washington State 3, Maryland 2, SMU 1, Oklahoma 1, UCLA 1

Dropped from rankings: Kentucky 20, Oregon 21

No. 16 Virginia Tech Hokies vs VMI Preview And How To Watch

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No. 16 Virginia Tech Hokies will take on the VMI Keydets in a college basketball game at the Cassell Coliseum here in Blacksburg on Thursday night. Live coverage of this game will be on the ACC Network with tipoff time slated for 8:00 PM ET.

Virginia Tech has won all its three games so far this season, including the upset overtime win over the then-No. 3 Villanova last Saturday night.

The Hokies (3-0) wrapped up their three-game linger at Bubbleville with a 76-58 win over South Florida on Sunday night and they will be happy to get back on the court at home.

Thursday night’s clash marks the third successive seasons Virginia Tech and VMI will go head-to-head, with the Hokies claiming a nine-point victory last year. Virginia Tech holds a 93-43 record all-time in the series against VMI and has won eight games in a row in the series that, dates back to 2009.

VMI (2-1) picked up an 84-71 win over Longwood 84-71 on Tuesday to bounce back from the defeat to Penn State.

In that win, Greg Parham scored 22 points and Sean Conway ended with a career-high 19 points for the Keydets.

Parham, who is averaging 18.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game is the man pacing VMI this season, while Kamdyn Curfman is averaging 13 points, 2.3 rebounds per contest.

Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma is pacing this season with 18.0 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 65.6% from the field and 66.7% from the 3-point range.

Nahiem Alleyne is averaging 13.7 points per game and Tyrece Radford is putting out 12.7 points and 6.3 boards for the Hokies.

GAME INFORMATION
Sat. | 8 p.m. ET vs. VMI | Stats | How To Watch Live | Listen Live Radio Stream |

Duke Back To No. 1: Associated Press Top 25 College Basketball Poll WK 8

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MIAMI, FL – Duke moved back to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll released on Monday, after Kansas suffered defeat at Arizona State.

The Blues Devils held the top-ranked spot earlier this season, following a crushing victory over Kentucky in its season opener, but fell down the order with a loss to Gonzaga two weeks later.

On Monday, Duke (11-1), which showed a level of toughness in a 69-58 victory over No. 12 Texas Tech last week, received 35 of 64 first-place votes from the panel.

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Michigan received nine first-place votes and moved up to No. 2, Tennessee collected 12 votes for first-place to inch up to third, while the last four votes for first-place went to No. 4 Virginia and No. 5 Kansas, which held the top spot last week.

The Jayhawks fell four places after losing for the first time this season to then-No. 18 Arizona State in Temple.

Completing the top 10 were Nevada, which held firm at No. 6, Gonzaga, Michigan State, Florida State and Virginia Tech.

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Despite losing to Duke at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, Texas Tech moved up one spot to No. 11, with Auburn dropping five spots to No. 12. Ohio State at No. 13, North Carolina and Wisconsin rounded out the top 15.

The next five are No. 16 Kentucky, Arizona State, Marquette, Mississippi State and NC State.

Closing out the top 25 are Buffalo, which dropped seven spots to No. 21, Houston, Indiana, Iowa and Oklahoma.

Dropped from rankings this week were Furman (24) and Nebraska (25).

Associated Press Top 25 Rankings

Men’s College Basketball Rankings – Week 8

1 Duke (35) 11-1 1529
2 Michigan (9) 12-0 1472
3 Tennessee (12) 10-1 1471
4 Virginia Virginia (4) 11-0 1427
5 Kansas (4) 10-1 1386
6 Nevada 12-0 1316
7 Gonzaga 11-2 1199
8 Michigan State 10-2 1146
9 Florida State 11-1 1061
10 Virginia Tech 10-1 924
11 Texas Tech 10-1 845
12 Auburn 10-2 770
13 Ohio State 11-1 737
14 North Carolina 8-3 678
15 Wisconsin Wisconsin 10-2 673
16 Kentucky 9-2 664
17 Arizona State 9-2 626
18 Marquette 10-2 538
19 Mississippi State 11-1 518
20 NC State 11-1 292
21 Buffalo Buffalo 11-1 279
22 Houston Houston 12-0 274
23 Indiana Indiana 11-2 247
24 Iowa Iowa 10-2 178
25 Oklahoma Oklahoma 11-1 163

Dropped from rankings: Furman 24, Nebraska 25
Others receiving votes: Nebraska 160, Kansas State 69, St. John’s 67, Villanova 44, Iowa State 11, Cincinnati 11, TCU 6, Seton Hall 5, Louisville 4, Purdue 3, Furman 2, Belmont 2, San Francisco 1, Pennsylvania 1, NJIT 1

AP Top 25 NCAA Men’s Basketball Rankings Week 18: Mar. 5

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MIAMI, FL — Virginia entered Week 18 as the unanimous No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 NCAA Men’s Basketball Rankings on Monday.

The Cavaliers (28-2), which easily won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title by four clear games, secured all 65 first-place votes in this week’s poll for 1,625 points.

Virginia, which beat Louisville, 67-66, and Notre Dame, 62-57 in its final two games to wrap up league play last week, has now held the No. 1 position in the poll for four straight weeks.

Tony Bennett’s men will be inactive until Thursday when it bows into ACC Tournament action at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Villanova moved two places up and leaped over Xavier to No. 2 this week after victories over Seton Hall and Georgetown during last week’s fixtures.

Meanwhile, the Musketeers, who won the Big East regular-season title ahead of the Wildcats, stayed at No. 3 with Michigan State, which dropped two places to No. 4, and Duke rounding out the Top 5.

At No. 6 is Gonzaga, while Michigan made a huge jump into the top 10 after surprisingly lifting the Big Ten Tournament title at the weekend.

The Wolverines, which finished fourth in the regular-season standings, jumped eight spots after beating the Spartans and then Purdue to win their second straight Big Ten Tournament crown.

Cincinnati, Kansas and the Boilermakers completed the Top 10.

Wichita State stays stable at No. 11 and it is followed by defending champion North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas Tech and Pac-12 regular-season champion Arizona.

Auburn slipped two spots to 16th, Ohio State drops four places to No. 17, while West Virginia, Clemson and Saint Mary’s rounded out the Top 20.

Florida, at No. 23 and Miami, at No. 24, are the two newcomers this week with the Top 25 completed by Houston at No. 21, Nevada at No. 22 and Rhode Island, which dropped both games last week, at No. 25.

Kentucky (23) and Middle Tennessee (24) were the two teams making way this week, while St. Bonaventure and Loyola-Chicago are among the teams receiving votes in Week 18.

AP Top 25 NCAA Men’s Basketball Rankings.

WEEK 18 – MONDAY, MARCH 5

RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Virginia (65) 28-2 1,625
2 Villanova 27-4 1,516
3 Xavier 27-4 1,510
4 Michigan State 29-4 1,346
5 Duke 25-6 1,340
6 Gonzaga 28-4 1,254
7 Michigan 28-7 1,231
8 Cincinnati 27-4 1,213
9 Kansas 24-7 1,129
10 Purdue 28-6 1,096
11 Wichita State 24-6 861
12 North Carolina 22-9 852
13 Tennessee 23-7 825
14 Texas Tech 23-8 784
15 Arizona 24-7 739
16 Auburn 25-6 692
17 Ohio State 24-8 603
18 West Virginia 22-9 486
19 Clemson 22-8 422
20 Saint Mary’s 28-4 385
21 Houston 24-6 247
22 Nevada 26-6 218
23 Florida 20-11 192
24 Miami 22-8 191
25 Rhode Island 23-6 86

Dropped from rankings: Kentucky 23, Middle Tennessee 24

Others receiving votes: St. Bonaventure 72, Kentucky 66, TCU 45, Loyola-Chicago 43, Virginia Tech 15, Seton Hall 10, Middle Tennessee 9, Creighton 8, Arkansas 4, NC State 2, Nebraska 2, Kansas State 2, Buffalo 1, New Mexico State 1, Texas A&M 1, Florida State 1

AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Rankings Week 16: Feb. 19

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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

Complete Top 25 Poll And More

Virginia Is No. 1 In AP Top 25 Week 15 Release: Feb. 12

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MIAMI, FL — Virginia is the new No. 1 team in the AP Top 25, following the Week 15 release on Monday, Feb. 12.

Despite losing 61-60 in overtime at home against Virginia Tech on Saturday, Cavaliers (23-2) earned 30 of 65 first-place votes to climb one spot to the top of AP Top 25 rankings for the first time since 1982.

Also making a notable move up in the poll on Monday was Michigan State, which collected 21 first-place votes to jump two places to No. 2 this season.

The Spartans (24-3) made the move up the poll after their wins against last week’s No. 3 Purdue and Iowa.

Villanova, which held the No. 1 spot for five straight weeks, fell to No. 3 this week after suffering its a home loss to St. John’s at the weekend.

The Wildcats received nine votes for first place, while No. 4 Xavier had the last five first-place votes. Cincinnati completes the Top 5.

Purdue fell three places to No. 6 after defeats to Ohio State and Michigan State last week.

Texas Tech, which is now the front-runner to win the Big 12 regular season title, holds firm at No. 7 and is followed by Ohio State, which jumps six-places to No. 8, Gonzaga, at No. 9 and Auburn, at No. 10.

Clemson, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and Saint Mary’s rounded out the Top 15.

Rhode Island, Arizona, Tennessee, Wichita State and West Virginia make up the Top 25.

The AP Top 25 is completed by the returning Texas A&M, at No. 21 and Arizona State, at No. 25.

No. 22 is Michigan and it is followed by the slipping Oklahoma and Nevada.

Kentucky (24) and Miami (25) were the two teams dropping from the Top 25 this week.

AP Top 25 Rankings

RK TEAM RECORD
1 Virginia (30) 23-2
2 Michigan State (21) 24-3
3 Villanova (9) 23-2
4 Xavier (5) 23-3
5 Cincinnati 23-2
6 Purdue 23-4
7 Texas Tech 21-4
8 Ohio State 22-5
9 Gonzaga 23-4
10 Auburn 22-3
11 Clemson 20-4
12 Duke 20-5
13 Kansas 19-6
14 North Carolina 19-7
15 Saint Mary’s 24-3
16 Rhode Island 20-3
17 Arizona 20-6
18 Tennessee 18-6
19 Wichita State 19-5
20 West Virginia 18-7
21 Texas A&M 17-8
22 Michigan 20-7
23 Oklahoma 16-8
24 Nevada 21-5
25 Arizona State 19-6

Dropped from rankings: Kentucky 24, Miami 25

Others receiving votes: New Mexico State 66, Florida 48, Creighton 44, Butler 43, Virginia Tech 29, Middle Tennessee 26, Alabama 22, Houston 16, Nebraska 15, Missouri 14, Miami 10, Kentucky 8, TCU 8, East Tennessee State 5, Oklahoma State 4, St. Bonaventure 3, Louisville 2, Florida State 1, Vermont 1

AP Top 25 Rankings: College Basketball Week 12 Poll On June 22

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MIAMI, FL — Villanova remains No. 1 in the Men’s College Basketball AP Top 25 Rankings, as the top three stayed the same. Duke moved up one place, while Kentucky dropped out the AP Top 25 Rankings after back-to-back defeats.

Villanova collected 63 of the 65 first-place votes from the media panel after wins over Georgetown and Connecticut last week.

The Wildcats (18-1) will next play at home against Providence on Tuesday and then at Marquette five days later.

Virginia (18-1), which defeated Georgia Tech and Wake Forest last week and got one first-place vote, remains No. 2, while Purdue (19-2), which collected the last first-place vote, cruised to easy wins over Wisconsin 78-50 and Iowa in its last fixtures, maintained its No. 3 slot.

Pre-season No. 1 Duke crept up a spot to No. 4, after recording a pair of wins over then-No. 25 Miami and Pittsburgh last week.

Meanwhile, Kansas advanced five places to No. 5 after winning at then-No. 6 West Virginia and rallying to beat Baylor at home.

The Top 10 is completed by Michigan State at No. 6, West Virginia, Xavier, Cincinnati and defending national champion North Carolina.

Arizona moves up three spots to No. 11 and is followed by Oklahoma, which dipped eight places to No. 12 after losing at Kansas State and Oklahoma State.

Ohio State continues to move up the rankings, as wins over Northwestern and Minnesota saw them jumping nine places to No. 13.

Texas Tech drops six spots to No. 14 after losing back-to-back games and Gonzaga dipped two places to No. 15.

Saint Mary’s, one of four newcomers in the AP Top 25 Rankings in Week 12, is at No. 16 and it is followed by Wichita State, Clemson, Auburn and the returning Florida Gators in the Top 20.

Arizona State, Tennessee, newcomers Nevada and Rhode Island and Michigan, rounded out the last five teams.

Kentucky, which dropped two straight and three in the last five overall, is out the AP Top 25 Rankings for the first time since March 2014.

The Wildcats started last week at No. 18, but slipped out of Monday’s latest poll after defeats to South Carolina and Florida.

Kentucky was joined by Seton Hall (19), TCU (24) and Miami (25) out of the latest poll.

AP Top 25 Rankings: College Basketball Week 12

RK TEAM RECORD
1 Villanova (63) 18-1
2 Virginia (1) 18-1
3 Purdue (1) 19-2
4 Duke 17-2
5 Kansas 16-3
6 Michigan State 17-3
7 West Virginia 16-3
8 Xavier 18-3
9 Cincinnati 17-2
10 North Carolina 16-4
11 Arizona 16-4
12 Oklahoma 14-4
13 Ohio State 17-4
14 Texas Tech 15-4
15 Gonzaga 17-4
16 Saint Mary’s 19-2
17 Wichita State 15-4
18 Clemson 16-3
19 Auburn 17-2
20 Florida 14-5
21 Arizona State 15-4
22 Tennessee 13-5
23 Nevada 18-3
24 Rhode Island 15-3
25 Michigan 17-5

Dropped from rankings: Kentucky 18, Seton Hall 19, TCU 24, Miami 25

Others receiving votes: Miami 83, Louisville 81, TCU 45, Kentucky 38, Kansas State 35, Seton Hall 25, Creighton 20, Florida State 14, Houston 5, New Mexico State 4, Boise State 2, Providence 2

Gonzaga, Villanova, Kansas Remain 1-2-3 in AP Top 25: Week 16

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MIAMI, FL — Gonzaga, Villanova and Kansas held on to the top three spots for the third straight week in Week 16 of The Associated Press men’s college basketball Top 25 rankings on Monday, February 20.

Gonzaga received 59 first-place votes from the 65 member media panel for 1,618 points to remain No. 1 for the fourth straight week.

The Bulldogs (28-0, 16-0 West Coast) picked up a pair of wins last week over San Francisco and Pacific to stay undefeated this season and extend their winning streak, which is the longest in the nation.

The Zags, who are the only unbeaten Division I men’s basketball team left this season, have two games remaining on their schedule and they will aim to become the first team to finish the regular season undefeated since Kentucky in 2014-15.

Defending champion Villanova collected five first-place votes to return second in the rankings this week with 1,618 points.

The Wildcats (26-4, 13-2 Big East) registered a pair of comfortable victories last week over DePaul and Seton Hall to stay atop the Big East standings.

Kansas, which is on the verge of securing its 13th consecutive Big 12 regular season title, is No. 3 again this week and received the last vote for first place, following highlighted wins over West Virginia and Baylor last week.

Baylor, which lost both games last week to Texas Tech and Kansas, respectively, fell five places from No. 4 to No. 9 this week and is now three games behind the Jayhawks in the Big 12 standings.

Arizona moves up one slot to No. 4 and was followed by UCLA, which also climbed one spot to No. 5.

Oregon comes in at sixth and is followed in the Top 10 by Louisville, North Carolina and Duke.

Kentucky, West Virginia, Florida, Purdue and Cincinnati rounded out the Top 15.

Wisconsin, after losing to Michigan last week, dropped five spots to No. 16 this week, while SMU, a struggling Virginia, Florida State and Saint Mary’s completed the Top 20.

The last five in the rankings this week are Notre Dame, Butler, Creighton, Maryland and Wichita State.

This week sees then-No. 21 South Carolina (20-7) falling out from the rankings after losing to Arkansas and Vanderbilt last week.

The Wichita State Shockers (25-4) replaced South Carolina in the poll and make their first Top 25 appearance this campaign.

AP Top 25
RK TEAM RECORD
1 Gonzaga (59) 28-0
2 Villanova (5) 26-2
3 Kansas (1) 24-3
4 Arizona 25-3
5 UCLA 24-3
6 Oregon 24-4
7 Louisville 22-5
8 North Carolina 23-5
9 Baylor 22-5
10 Duke 22-5
11 Kentucky 22-5
12 West Virginia 21-6
13 Florida 22-5
14 Purdue 22-5
15 Cincinnati 24-3
16 Wisconsin 22-5
17 SMU 24-4
18 Virginia 18-8
19 Florida State 21-6
20 Saint Mary’s 24-3
21 Notre Dame 21-7
22 Butler 21-6
23 Creighton 22-5
24 Maryland 22-5
25 Wichita State 25-4

Others receiving votes: VCU 39, Northwestern 25, Iowa State 22, South Carolina 12, USC 10, Dayton 9, Middle Tennessee 8, Oklahoma State 7, Minnesota 5, Monmouth 2, Miami 2, Virginia Tech 1, Vermont 1, Michigan 1

AP Top 25 NCAA Basketball Week 15 Rankings: Feb. 13

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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