Kansas tightens grip on No. 1; Purdue soars to 6
Kansas strengthened its grip on the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll on Monday, while the rest of the top 10 turned into a jumble of teams swapping places.
The Jayhawks picked up five first-place votes, receiving 49 from a 61-person media panel. No. 2 UConn had seven first-place votes, No. 3 Gonzaga earned two and No. 4 Auburn three. Iowa State climbed two spots to round out the top five.
The shuffling started with No. 8 Alabama‘s 87-78 loss to No. 6 Purdue, a game that dropped the Crimson Tide six spots and bumped the Boilermakers up seven. Losses by Duke and Arizona shook up the top 10 further.
The No. 12 Blue Devils dropped six spots from last week after their 77-72 loss to No. 9 Kentucky. The Wildcats climbed 10 spots for their first top-10 ranking this season. Arizona lost 103-88 at No. 19 Wisconsin and fell eight spots to No. 17. The Badgers are ranked for the first time this season.
Kansas backed up its win over North Carolina in the season’s opening week by beating Michigan State and Oakland last week.
UConn continued to roll in its bid for a third straight national championship, blowing out Le Moyne 90-49. Gonzaga crushed UMass Lowell, Auburn rolled over Kent State and Iowa State beat Kansas City by 26.
No. 7 Houston moved up a spot bouncing back from a 74-69 loss to Auburn by blowing out Louisiana.
ON THE RISE
Wisconsin had to reload its roster after an upset loss to James Madison in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season.
Coach Greg Gard filled the holes with some solid additions through the transfer portal, but the Badgers were still picked to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten.
The projections may have been off.
After rolling through three easy wins against smaller conference schools, Wisconsin made a few waves by running over Arizona. John Tonje scored 41 points, two off the school record, and the Badgers never trailed in a convincing win over a top-10 team that led to a passionate postgame speech by Gard.
WHO’S IN; WHO’S OUT
No. 25 Illinois joined Wisconsin as the only teams to move into the top 25. The Illini knocked off Oakland 66-54 last week.
Ole Miss dropped out from No. 25 despite beating South Alabama and Colorado State last week. Ohio State fell from No. 21 after its 78-64 loss to No. 23 Texas A&M.
BIG MOVES
Arizona had the biggest drop, losing eight spots. Alabama and Duke were next, each dropping six places.
Kentucky had the biggest jump among teams already in the poll, climbing 10 places and Purdue was next at seven.
CONFERENCE WATCH
The Southeastern Conference led the way with seven ranked teams, including No. 11 Tennessee, No. 20 Arkansas and No. 21 Florida.
The Big 12 has six teams in the poll and the Big Ten five, followed by the Big East with four. The Atlantic Coast Conference has two, while the West Coast Conference has one.
