Auburn and Duke remain 1-2 atop The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll for the third straight week, while Maryland is back in the rankings for the first time in nearly two years.
Bruce Pearl’s Tigers (20-1) held the No. 1 ranking for the fourth consecutive week in Monday’s poll and the third in a row as the unanimous choice. Auburn has claimed 246 of 248 first-place votes over the past month while remaining unbeaten in a rugged Southeastern Conference with nine ranked teams.
Auburn’s only loss came to Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils (19-2), who enter the week with the nation’s longest winning streak at 15 games after rolling past rival North Carolina.
The two teams offered the only stability after 15 teams in last week’s AP Top 25 lost last week, with three of those losing twice.
The top tier
Alabama moved up a spot to No. 3, followed by Tennessee jumping four spots to No. 4 in an SEC-heavy top tier. Houston climbed one spot to No. 5 despite an overtime loss to now-No. 13 Texas Tech to end a 33-game home winning streak.
Florida was next at No. 6, followed by Purdue, Iowa State, Michigan State and Texas A&M to round out the top 10.
Rising
Texas Tech (17-4) had the biggest jump among last week’s ranked teams, rising nine spots to 13th after beating TCU at home and then beating the Cougars despite coach Grant McCasland and forward JT Toppin being ejected early.
Two-time reigning national champion UConn climbed six spots to No. 19 after winning at Marquette, while Missouri jumped five spots to No. 15 after beating Mississippi State.
In all, 10 teams moved up from their positions last week. That included Rick Pitino’s St. John’s team rising three spots to No. 12, the highest ranking for the program since finishing the 1999-2000 season at No. 9.
Sliding
Mississippi State had the week’s biggest tumble, falling eight spots to No. 22 after home losses to Alabama and Missouri. Iowa State joined the Bulldogs in a two-loss week, falling five spots after losses to Arizona and Kansas State.
No. 16 Kansas and No. 23 Illinois also fell five spots, pushing the list of sliding teams to 10.
Welcome
No. 18 Maryland, No. 20 Arizona and No. 24 Michigan were the week’s three new additions.
Kevin Willard’s Terrapins (17-5) jumped into the poll at No. 18 after pushing its winning streak to four games, a stretch that includes winning at then-No. 17 Illinois and beating then-No. 17 Wisconsin at home last week.
That gave Maryland its first poll ranking in nearly two years, the last coming with a week at No. 21 in late February 2023.
Arizona (15-6) returned to the poll for the first time since November. The Wildcats opened the year at No. 10 and peaked at ninth, but they’re back in after winning 11 of 12 — including against Iowa State after Caleb Love hit a half-court shot to force overtime.
Michigan (16-5) has two previous stints in the poll this season, peaking at No. 14 in early December.
Farewell (for now)
Oregon was one of the three departures from this week’s poll, falling out from No. 16 after being one of the trio to lose twice last week by falling at UCLA and at home to Nebraska. Louisville (No. 21) and Vanderbilt (No. 24) also fell out after losses to unranked foes.
Conference watch
The SEC had at least nine teams in the poll for the seventh straight week, including three weeks with 10 teams to make up 40% of the poll. The SEC has also had at least half of the top 10 eight times in nine weeks, peaking at six teams on Jan. 6. No other league has had more than six ranked teams in any week this season.
Maryland’s arrival pushed the Big Ten to six ranked teams, followed by the Big 12 with five and the Big East with three. The Atlantic Coast and American Athletic conferences each had one.
