AP Top 25: Kansas remains No. 1 ahead of showdown against No. 11 Duke

Kansas remained firmly at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday before a showdown with No. 11 Duke in Las Vegas, while two schools from The Magnolia State fought their way back into the rankings.

Ole Miss returned to the poll at No. 23, while Mississippi State made its season debut at No. 25.

The Jayhawks received 51 of 62 first-place votes from the national media panel, well ahead of two-time reigning national champion UConn, which finished second with six first-place votes. Gonzaga finished third with two first-place votes, Auburn followed with three first-place votes and Iowa State rounded out the top five, which remained unchanged from the previous week.

There’s a good chance for movement next week, however, with a variety of high-profile matchups in holiday tournaments and Tuesday night’s match between the Jayhawks and Blue Devils in the Vegas Showdown.

“Oh yeah, I saw them,” said Kansas coach Bill Self, who earned his 800th career victory with a win against UNC Wilmington last week. “They are talented across the board. You start three freshmen and everyone will talk about one (Cooper Flagg), but the other two are potential lottery picks, if not lottery picks.”

That also applies to the Jayhawks, who have already beaten North Carolina and No. 12 Michigan State this season.

Tennessee climbed four spots to No. 7 in this week’s poll, followed by SEC rivals Kentucky and Alabama. Marquette finished 10th after beating then-No. 6 Purdue and Georgia reached 6-0 last week for the first time since the 2011-12 season.

The Blue Devils and Tar Heels were followed by Purdue, which fell seven spots in the poll. Indiana and Wisconsin made it for the third straight year Big Ten schools, while Cincinnati, Baylor, Florida, Arkansas and Texas A&M rounded out the top 20.

The final five were Creighton, Ole Miss, Arizona, Mississippi State and BYU. The Wildcats narrowly extended their run in the AP Top 25 to 61 weeks – the fourth-longest active streak in the country – after back-to-back losses to Wisconsin and Duke.

“We didn’t play great,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said after the loss to the Blue Devils, “so now we have to take a step back and figure out why. Are there some schematic problems? Are there some problems with it, like our staff is put together somehow? And those are the things we’re going to look at. I mean, I like the plan, if things don’t go as well as you’d like, be honest with yourself and try to figure it out.

No. 6 Purdue Boilermakers vs. No. 15 Marquette Golden Eagles highlights

Xavier returned to the polls for the first time since the final poll of the 2022-23 season before traveling to the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Monday night. Ole Miss is back in the Top 25 after a brief exit, while Mississippi State is back after spending two weeks in the poll last November but just six weeks total over the last six years.

Those three competed at the expense of Illinois, St. John’s and Rutgers. The Illini lost to Alabama last week, while St. John’s lost to Baylor and Georgia. Rutgers lost 79-77 at Kennesaw State, which defeated a ranked team for the first time in school history.

Marquette made the biggest climb this week, moving up five spots to No. 10. The Golden Eagles take a breather this week with Stonehill and Western Carolina before back-to-back showdowns with No. 5 Iowa State and No. 15 Wisconsin.

Purdue, Creighton and Arizona all lost seven spots but remained in the poll. The Boilermakers lost to Marquette, while the Bluejays lost to rival Nebraska. The Wildcats fell to 2-2, the first time they had been .500 at any point in a season since where they were at the start of the 2017-18 season.

The SEC leads the way this week with nine of the top 25 teams, including four in the top 10: Auburn, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama. The Big 12 Next up are six, including three of the top six in Kansas, Iowa State and Houston. The Great East had four in the poll, the Big Ten had three and the ACC two.

Here is the full AP Top 25:

1. Kansas
2. UConn
3. Gonzaga
4. Auburn
5. Iowa State
6. Houston
7. Tennessee
8. Kentucky
9. Alabama
10. Marquette
11. duke
12. North Carolina
13. Purdue
14. Indiana
15. Wisconsin
16. Cincinnati
17. Baylor
18. Florida
19. Arkansas
20. Texas A&M
21. Creighton
22. Xavier
23. Ole Miss
24. Arizona
25. Mississippi State

Reporting by The Associated Press.

(Want great stories delivered straight to your inbox? Create your FOX Sports account or log in, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized daily newsletter.)

CONSEQUENCES Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience