UK Men's Basketball

Kentucky had the week's biggest jump in the Top 25

Kentucky had the week's biggest jump in the Top 25, moving up six spots to No. 16.

Three teams — Miami, Maryland and Iowa — all fell four places.

There were no changes in the teams in the Top 25 and that was surprising considering then-No. 19 Baylor lost twice last week, although both losses were to top 10 teams in Oklahoma and West Virginia.

(Kentucky also ranked 16th in Coaches rankings.)

SMU and California both lost a game last week but all they did was switch places in 24th and 25th.

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CHASING HISTORY

This is Kansas' 141st consecutive poll appearance, the longest current streak that started in February 2009. The Jayhawks are now an even 80 weeks behind all-time leader UCLA. The Bruins were ranked for 221 consecutive weeks, from 1966 through 1980.

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BEATING GOOD TEAMS

Entering conference tournament week, Kansas leads the way with eight wins over ranked teams. The Jayhawks beat then-No. 23 Texas and then-No. 21 Iowa State last week.

Oklahoma is next with seven ranked wins while Texas, Virginia and Xavier all have six.

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CHANCE AT A SWEEP

With next week's poll the final one for 2015-16, 11 schools have a chance at being ranked in every poll this season.

North Carolina, Kentucky, Maryland, Kansas, Virginia, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Villanova, Arizona, Michigan State and Purdue have all been ranked every week from the preseason poll through this week.

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LAST ONES DONE

Five conferences won't have their championship games played until Selection Sunday. The American Athletic Conference, the Atlantic 10, the Big Ten, the Southeastern Conference and the Sun Belt all won't decide their automatic qualifiers until hours before the 68-team field is announced.

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through March 6, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:

Record

Pts

Prv

1. Kansas (63)

27-4

1,623

1

2. Michigan St. (2)

26-5

1,520

2

3. Villanova

27-4

1,480

3

4. Virginia

24-6

1,424

4

5. Xavier

26-4

1,351

5

6. Oklahoma

24-6

1,309

6

7. North Carolina

25-6

1,252

8

8. Oregon

25-6

1,127

9

9. West Virginia

24-7

1,113

10

10. Indiana

25-6

1,038

12

11. Miami

24-6

935

7

12. Utah

24-7

898

13

13. Purdue

24-7

798

15

14. Louisville

23-8

647

11

15. Arizona

24-7

626

18

16. Kentucky

23-8

608

22

17. Texas A&M

24-7

574

20

18. Maryland

24-7

544

14

19. Duke

22-9

512

17

20. Iowa

21-9

407

16

21. Iowa St.

21-10

374

21

22. Baylor

21-10

262

19

23. Texas

20-11

191

23

24. California

22-9

189

25

25. SMU

25-5

88

24

Others receiving votes: Wisconsin 62, Dayton 35, Saint Mary’s (Cal) 33, Seton Hall 28, Stephen F. Austin 9, Butler 8, Providence 8, Valparaiso 7, Yale 7, Cincinnati 6, St. Bonaventure 6, Gonzaga 5, Akron 4, Temple 4, Notre Dame 3, San Diego St. 3, UAB 2, N. Iowa 1, S. Dakota St. 1, South Carolina 1, Texas Tech 1, Wichita St. 1.

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Kentucky had the week's biggest jump in the Top 25."

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