Arizona holds at No. 1 in college basketball rankings after beating Alabama
No. 1 Arizona and No. 2 Michigan remained locked in place atop The Associated Press men's college basketball poll released Monday.
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No. 1 Arizona and No. 2 Michigan remained locked in place atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released Monday, while No. 15 Nebraska jumped to its highest Top 25 ranking in nearly 35 years.
The Wildcats had 42 of 61 first-place votes to hold the top spot while the Wolverines received 15 to keep the teams at 1-2 for a second consecutive week.
The Wildcats (9-0) rallied from a halftime deficit Saturday to claim a 21-point win against then-No. 12 Alabama in the Crimson Tide’s home state, adding to a list of victories against ranked opponents that includes reigning national champion Florida, at UConn and Auburn.
Rival Arizona State earned five votes after a rally to beat Santa Clara moved the Sun Devils’ record to 9-2.
The No. 2 Wolverines (10-0) have won their last seven games by at least 18 points, a run that includes romps against Auburn (102-72) and Gonzaga (101-61). And Michigan sits atop analytics rankings by KenPom, Evan Miyakawa and Bart Torvik.
The top tier
The top 10 was largely unchanged, with No. 7 Gonzaga and No. 8 Houston swapping spots from last week the only new wrinkle. No. 3 Duke (three) and No. 4 Iowa State (one) were the only other teams to earn first-place votes.
UConn and Purdue were next after the Cyclones, and Michigan State and BYU rounded out the top 10.
Rising and falling
The Cornhuskers (11-0) had the week’s biggest jump of eight spots after Saturday’s win at then-No. 13 Illinois on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Nebraska has not been ranked this high since it was No. 11 in March 1991 for the final poll of that season.
The now-No. 18 Illini and 23rd-ranked Florida had the week’s biggest slides, with each falling five spots. Alabama fell four spots after losing to Arizona and Texas Tech slid three, joining Houston as the week’s five teams to drop.
Conference watch
The Southeastern Conference has the most ranked teams with seven, though none higher than Vanderbilt at No. 13.
The Big 12 was next with six ranked teams, including four in the top 10 and two in the top five, followed by the Big Ten with five and the Atlantic Coast Conference with four. Each of those three leagues have at least three teams ranked higher than anyone in the SEC.
The Big East (two) and West Coast Conference (one) rounded out the roll call.
AP college basketball rankings remain relatively unchanged
| Record | Pts | Prv | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Arizona (42) | 9-0 | 1500 | 1 |
| 2. Michigan (15) | 10-0 | 1470 | 2 |
| 3. Duke (3) | 10-0 | 1406 | 3 |
| 4. Iowa St. (1) | 11-0 | 1336 | 4 |
| 5. UConn | 10-1 | 1286 | 5 |
| 6. Purdue | 10-1 | 1195 | 6 |
| 7. Gonzaga | 10-1 | 1109 | 8 |
| 8. Houston | 10-1 | 1079 | 7 |
| 9. Michigan St. | 9-1 | 1037 | 9 |
| 10. BYU | 9-1 | 1017 | 10 |
| 11. Louisville | 9-1 | 921 | 11 |
| 12. North Carolina | 9-1 | 794 | 14 |
| 13. Vanderbilt | 10-0 | 766 | 15 |
| 14. Arkansas | 8-2 | 726 | 17 |
| 15. Nebraska | 11-0 | 655 | 23 |
| 16. Alabama | 7-3 | 644 | 12 |
| 17. Kansas | 8-3 | 502 | 19 |
| 18. Illinois | 8-3 | 483 | 13 |
| 19. Texas Tech | 7-3 | 314 | 16 |
| 20. Tennessee | 7-3 | 286 | 20 |
| 21. Auburn | 8-3 | 283 | 21 |
| 22. St. John’s | 6-3 | 250 | 22 |
| 23. Florida | 6-4 | 200 | 18 |
| 23. Virginia | 9-1 | 200 | 24 |
| 25. Georgia | 9-1 | 82 | – |
Others receiving votes: Southern Cal 68, Iowa 47, Seton Hall 46, LSU 19, Kentucky 19, UCLA 16, Clemson 14, California 13, Saint Mary’s 12, Arizona St 5, Villanova 5, Notre Dame 4, Indiana 4, Miami (Ohio) 4, Miami 4, Utah St. 2, Saint Louis 1, Wisconsin 1.
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Comments
1 Comments
Only matters in March. They're definitely going to lose games in conference, but the early non-conference schedule, and the games ahead of them, will help come Tourney Time. The biggest elephant in the room is the injury bug . . . IF they can avoid getting hurt, they're going to a tough match-up come March.