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Purdue stays atop
Purdue kept its grip on the top spot in the AP men’s basketball poll on Monday after defeating previously unbeaten Arizona and receiving 49 of 63 first-place votes, surpassing second-place Kansas which received five. Houston maintained their perfect record by defeating Penn, while UConn and Tennessee both rose up one position to round out the top five teams.
Memphis and Auburn made impressive leaps this season, breaking into the top 10 for the first time this year. Florida State, Colorado State and Creighton all dropped, with FAU taking an especially sharp drop down 11 spots to No. 17. Here is what the rest of rankings looked like this week:
Gonzaga falls
Gonzaga dropped 11 spots to No. 24 but managed to extend its streak of consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25 to 142 weeks. Coach Mark Few’s Bulldogs may not have won any Quad 1 matches this season and lost to San Diego State but still received enough first-place votes for them to remain ranked. Wisconsin and Mississippi held down uncontested second and third spots, with Kansas moving up one spot while Houston maintained fourth position; Memphis and Tennessee both made gains, and unbeaten Auburn completed the list as 20th spot finishers.
Kansas rises
KU was the biggest mover this week after their gutsy win against Indiana, after trailing by 13 points late in the second half but using an incredible run to comeback and prevail. Freshman Gradey Dick had 19 points and nine rebounds in this crucial victory.
Kansas won their road matchup against Texas A&M and maintained their spot within the Top 10, even while losing star guard Killian Tillie to injury – this being one of only two Top 25 losses this week.
Gonzaga fell one spot to No. 24 this week despite receiving all 60 first-place votes last week for their victory. Head coach Mark Few is still searching for an efficient scorer to supplement senior leader Killian Tillie and help balance their lineup.
Houston stays
Following a week that saw 13 ranked teams lose, the national top five is mostly unaffected. Indiana’s win over Purdue didn’t lead to major changes; but they did move up four spots for USA Today and three spots for AP to claim fifth spot overall.
Houston maintained its position at No. 3, although they received fewer first-place votes this week than they had last. After spending four consecutive weeks at the top in November and December as well as two-weeks-in-a-row this month, the Cougars collected 49 of 63 first-place votes this time around.
Florida Atlantic moved up five spots, from No. 18 to No. 17. They beat Texas A&M and secured an impressive win against Arizona; however, voters expressed frustration with Dusty May’s inconsistent resume at FAU.
UConn and Tennessee move up
Tennessee made significant headway in their rankings following their 59-3 win against UConn on Saturday. Other ranked teams lost, which helped Tennessee move forward. Next week they face Missouri and Georgia who could also help move them upward further.
South Carolina retained its top five rankings from last week, receiving all 35 first-place votes from our national media panel and remaining at No. 1. They were followed by UCLA, North Carolina State and Iowa.
Memphis made the biggest leap this week, moving four spots up the rankings to 15 after defeating Austin Peay and Marquette earned three promotions to seventh by knocking off No. 22 Creighton. Other top 20 teams included Mississippi (unbeaten), Providence and Gonzaga – which has struggled over recent weeks.
