Arizona Wildcats back in AP poll ahead of NCAA Tournament

The Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball team found themselves back in The Associated Press’ Top 25 released Monday.

Arizona came in ranked No. 21 after falling out of the top 25 completely the week prior. It had been on a four-week downturn prior to Monday’s rankings and was as high as No. 19 a month ago.

The Wildcats are coming off a 2-1 mark this past week. They started their Big 12 Championship run with an 88-77 win over Kansas, getting revenge for a loss in the regular season finale. Guard KJ Lewis had a game with 19 points, five rebounds and six assists.

Arizona made it two wins in a row behind an 86-80 win over No. 9-ranked Texas Tech where guard Caleb Love paced the Wildcats behind 27 points and nine assists.

The Wildcats couldn’t make it three straight victories, though, falling 72-65 to Houston in the Big 12 Championship.

Arizona now prepares for a Round 1 game against Akron in the NCAA Tournament.

Duke remains at No. 1 in AP Top 25 entering March Madness; St. John’s rises to No. 5

AP — Duke remained atop the top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday a day after the committee that selects the 68-team field for the NCAA Tournament went with Auburn as the No. 1 overall seed.

The Blue Devils (31-3) earned 49 of 59 first-place votes in the latest poll after sweeping the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles. That marks Duke’s second straight week at No. 1, the first such stint in the three-year tenure of Jon Scheyer as the successor to retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski.

The Blue Devils completed its ACC title run despite losing freshman star Cooper Flagg (ankle) and versatile defender Maliq Brown (shoulder) to injuries in the quarterfinals. Scheyer has said he’s optimistic Flagg will be ready to go for the first round of the NCAAs, with the Blue Devils headlining the East Region.

Big 12 Tournament champion Houston also stayed at No. 2 while collecting six-first-place votes, followed by Southeastern Conference Tournament champion Florida and then Auburn, which had spent a national-best eight weeks at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 this season.

The Gators and Tigers each earned the remaining two first-place votes, and the top four teams of the AP Top 25 all earned 1-seeds for March Madness with Sunday night’s bracket unveiling.

St. John’s climbed one spot to No. 5 after winning the Big East title, with Rick Pitino guiding the Red Storm to its highest ranking since spending a week at the same spot in January 1991. St. John’s (30-4) has reached the 30-win mark for the first time since late coaching great Lou Carnesecca won a program-record 31 games in both the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.

The Associated Press’ top 25 men’s college basketball rankings — March 17

Others receiving votes: Drake 107, Marquette 69, UC San Diego 57, Illinois 55, VCU 28, Creighton 28, Mississippi 13, McNeese St. 4, UConn 4, Colorado St. 4, Kansas 3, High Point 3, UCLA 3, Akron 3.

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