There’s a shakeup at the top, but where did Kentucky land in this week’s AP Top 25?
There was a shakeup in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll this week with top-10 teams Duke, Tennessee, North Carolina and Auburn all dropping games as many squared off against each other in holiday tournaments.
But Kentucky’s two wins over Winthrop and Tennessee State were not enough for the Cats to reap any benefits in the rankings as UK held the No. 10 spot for the third week in a row.
This week, Michigan State, which got wins over UCLA and Texas, jumped over the Cats from No. 11 to No. 9 in the poll. Last week, it was Michigan who jumped over the Cats into the top 10.
Gonzaga took over the No. 1 spot after its impressive victory over Duke in the Maui Invitational.
The Bulldogs were third in last week’s poll and leapfrogged No. 2 Kansas. Gonzaga received 32 first-place votes from a 65-person media panel in the poll released Monday, edging Kansas by one.
No. 3 Duke received one first-place vote despite the loss to the Zags and No. 4 Virginia the other one after winning the Battle 4 Atlantis title in the Bahamas. Nevada moved up to No. 5 after winning the Las Vegas Invitational, with Tennessee, Michigan, Auburn, Michigan State and Kentucky rounding out the top 10.
Defending national champion Villanova moved back into the poll at No. 23 after winning the AdvoCare Invitational title.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Top Twenty Five
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 25, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
| | Record | Pts | Pvs |
1. Gonzaga (32) | 6-0 | 1,590 | 3 |
2. Kansas (31) | 5-0 | 1,584 | 2 |
3. Duke (1) | 5-1 | 1,486 | 1 |
4. Virginia (1) | 6-0 | 1,396 | 4 |
5. Nevada | 6-0 | 1,329 | 6 |
6. Tennessee | 4-1 | 1,284 | 5 |
7. Michigan | 6-0 | 1,213 | 9 |
8. Auburn | 5-1 | 1,129 | 8 |
9. Michigan St. | 5-1 | 1,111 | 11 |
10. Kentucky | 5-1 | 1,022 | 10 |
11. North Carolina | 6-1 | 943 | 7 |
12. Kansas St | 6-0 | 936 | 12 |
13. Virginia Tech | 5-0 | 921 | 13 |
14. Iowa | 5-0 | 599 | 20 |
15. Florida St. | 5-1 | 581 | 14 |
16. Ohio St. | 6-0 | 511 | 23 |
17. Texas | 5-1 | 486 | - |
18. Oregon | 4-1 | 439 | 21 |
19. Purdue | 5-1 | 387 | 24 |
20. Texas Tech | 6-0 | 380 | - |
21. Buffalo | 5-0 | 351 | 22 |
22. Wisconsin | 5-1 | 253 | 25 |
23. Villanova | 5-2 | 217 | - |
24. Maryland | 6-0 | 170 | - |
25. Mississippi St. | 4-1 | 161 | 15 |
Others receiving votes: Arizona St 156, Clemson 135, Furman 72, Creighton 65, LSU 41, Indiana 35, UCLA 30, Iowa St. 22, St. John’s 19, Minnesota 17, Miami 10, TCU 8, Syracuse 8, Arkansas 6, Nebraska 6, Notre Dame 4, UConn 4, Florida 3, UCF 3, Houston 1, Davidson 1.