Tennessee And Auburn Finished 1-2 in The Associated Press Men’s College Basketball Poll. That’s a fitting spot for a pair of Southeastern Conference teams, considering the league featured 10 teams in Monday’s AP Top 25.
The Volunteers (11-0) and Tigers (11-1) were in the same position for the third straight week, and it marked the fourth straight week for Auburn, sitting at No. 2. They were part of the top 10 that had similar characteristics. Top 10 programs, though with a slight twist. Kentucky dropped six spots to No. 10 after damaging . State of Ohio.
The poll also includes four additions to first-place finishes this season, including No. 19 Mississippi State And number 23 Arkansas To add to the SEC’s season-long streak.
The SEC had nine ranked teams three times this season, including the preseason poll. This is the first time since at least the start of the 2012–13 season that a league has had 10 ranked teams.
Iowa State There was a third, after that Duke And Alabama To round out the top five. Florida, Kansas, Marquette And Oregon Then, with all of those teams moving up one spot after the Wildcats fell to 10th.
increasing
San Diego State made the biggest jump among last week’s ranked teams, moving up three spots to No. 20, while No. 12 Oklahoma, No. 17 Cincinnati and No. 18 Michigan State climbed two spots. . In all, 11 teams earned at least one spot this week.
Sliding
While Kentucky took the week’s biggest drop, No. 21 Purdue and No. 22 UCLA also slipped multiple spots. The Boilermakers fell five spots after a lopsided loss to Auburn, while the Bruins dropped four spots after blowing a 16-point lead and two against an unranked North Carolina team that started the year at No. What at 9?
No. 13 Texas A&M and No. 14 Gonzaga also slipped a spot to round out the bottom seed.
The status quo
Five teams held their positions from last week, starting with the Volunteers, Tigers and Cyclones. Two-time defending national champions UConn (No. 11) and Houston (No. 15) also held their spots.
welcome
No. 24 Illinois and No. 25 Baylor join Mississippi State and Arkansas as the week’s newcomers and poll returners.
The Bears were the highest ranked of the group this year, starting the year at No. 8 and spending five weeks in the survey. The Razorbacks started at No. 16 and spent four weeks in the pool, while the Bulldogs and Illini each had a pair of weeks in November and December.
goodbye (for now)
Memphis (No. 21), Dayton (No. 22), Michigan (No. 24) and Clemson (No. 25) dropped out of the pool to make room for new teams.
Conference clock
While the SEC expanded the spots, the AP Top 25 included teams from a total of seven leagues.
The Big Ten — headlined by ninth-ranked league member Oregon — had five teams join the Big 12 in second place behind the SEC, while the Big East was the only other league with at least two rankings. There were teams.
The Atlantic Coast, West Coast and Mountain West conferences each had one ranked team.