AP Top 25: Duke ended Auburn’s eight-week stay at No. 1 in the men’s college basketball poll on Monday. The Tigers fell to third place behind Houston, as all three teams geared up for their upcoming conference tournaments.
The Blue Devils capitalized on Auburn’s consecutive losses to reclaim the top position for the first time since November 2021, a week during Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell season. Duke garnered 52 out of 61 votes from the national media panel, while Houston secured five votes, and Auburn retained four.
“Just my luck to be No. 1 going into the postseason when it really doesn’t matter,” Duke’s coach Jon Scheyer remarked humorously. “We haven’t discussed it at all. Our focus is on being No. 1 when the season concludes.”
Duke, set to be the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, recently dominated Wake Forest before defeating rival North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Saturday. The Blue Devils are now looking to carry this momentum into the postseason.
Houston, as the top seed in the Big 12 Tournament, achieved its highest ranking of the season. Although Auburn dropped three spots, they will still enter the SEC Tournament as the No. 1 seed, despite narrow losses to then-No. 23 Texas A&M and then-No. 7 Alabama.
“Those are two teams capable of reaching the Final Four,” commented Auburn’s coach Bruce Pearl after witnessing Alabama’s Mark Sears hit a buzzer-beater for a 93-91 overtime victory in Auburn’s home finale.
Florida, which recently defeated Alabama, climbed one spot to fourth, while Alabama moved up two positions to fifth. St. John’s held steady at sixth following their overtime win against then-No. 20 Marquette. Michigan State ranked seventh, Tennessee fell four spots to eighth, Texas Tech claimed ninth, and Clemson completed the top ten.
As some conferences crown champions and secure NCAA Tournament berths, the ACC and Big 12 will begin their tournaments on Tuesday, with the Big Ten and SEC tournaments kicking off on Wednesday.
Houston’s coach Kelvin Sampson, whose team enters the Big 12 quarterfinals on Thursday with a 10-game winning streak, stated, “My standards are a bit different. There are areas where we need to improve.”
Sampson added, “I’m not going to claim we’re playing our best ball because I believe our best is still ahead of us, so we need to keep working. That’s the key—stay humble and keep pushing.”
Oregon, the eighth seed in the Big Ten Tournament, re-entered the poll at No. 23, while Illinois, the seventh seed, made a comeback at No. 24. Their rankings came at the expense of Arizona, which lost to Kansas, and Mississippi State, which failed to receive any votes after close losses to Texas and Arkansas last week.
Texas A&M experienced the most significant jump in the poll, rising eight spots to No. 14 after victories over then-No. 1 Auburn and LSU. BYU advanced six spots to No. 17 following a double-overtime win against then-No. 10 Iowa State and a victory over Utah.
Wisconsin and Missouri each dropped six spots this week. The Badgers fell to No. 18 after losing to Penn State, while the Tigers slipped to No. 21 following losses to Oklahoma and then-No. 19 Kentucky.
The SEC and Big Ten each featured seven teams in the Top 25, with the SEC boasting three of the top five and six in the top 15. Meanwhile, the Big Ten had one team in the top 10. The Big 12 placed four teams in the rankings, the ACC had three, the Big East had two, and both the American Athletic and West Coast conferences had one each.
Here’s the complete AP Top 25:
1. Duke
2. Houston
3. Auburn
4. Florida
5. Alabama
6. St. John’s
7. Michigan State
8. Tennessee
9. Texas Tech
10. Clemson
11. Maryland
12. Iowa State
13. Louisville
14. Texas A&M
15. Kentucky
16. Memphis
17. BYU
18. Wisconsin
19. Saint Mary’s
20. Purdue
21. Missouri
22. Michigan
23. Oregon
24. Illinois
25. Marquette
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