Auburn rises to No. 4, Alabama falls to No. 8 in latest AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll
Auburn’s win over Kent State and Alabama’s loss to Purdue had the teams going in opposite directions in the latest AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll.
Auburn beat Kent State 79-56, as the Tigers jumped one spot to No. 4. Auburn also earned three first-place votes.
Alabama lost 87-78 yo Purdue, taking the Crimson Tide down six places to No. 8.
Overall, Kansas strengthened its grip on No. 1 in the poll. The rest of the top 10 turned into a jumble of teams swapping places.
The Jayhawks picked up 49 first-place votes from the 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 loss to No. 6 Purdue, a game that 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.
No. 7 Houston moved up a spot bouncing back from a 74-69 loss to Auburn by blowing out Louisiana-Lafayette.
Building Badgers
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 post-game speech by Gard.
In and 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.
Rising and falling
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.
AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll (first-place votes in parentheses; SEC teams in bold):
| 1 | Kansas (49) | 4-0 | 1,509 | 1 |
| 2 | UConn (7) | 3-0 | 1,416 | 3 |
| 3 | Gonzaga (2) | 3-0 | 1,397 | 4 |
| 4 | Auburn (3) | 3-0 | 1,370 | 5 |
| 5 | Iowa State | 2-0 | 1,184 | 7 |
| 6 | Purdue | 4-0 | 1,172 | 13 |
| 7 | Houston | 2-1 | 1,091 | 8 |
| 8 | Alabama | 3-1 | 1,084 | 2 |
| 9 | Kentucky | 3-0 | 1,009 | 19 |
| 10 | North Carolina | 2-1 | 969 | 10 |
| 11 | Tennessee | 4-0 | 942 | 11 |
| 12 | Duke | 3-1 | 914 | 6 |
| 13 | Baylor | 3-1 | 765 | 12 |
| 14 | Creighton | 4-0 | 722 | 14 |
| 15 | Marquette | 4-0 | 630 | 15 |
| 16 | Indiana | 3-0 | 573 | 16 |
| 17 | Arizona | 2-1 | 437 | 9 |
| 18 | Cincinnati | 3-0 | 412 | 17 |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 4-0 | 370 | NR |
| 20 | Arkansas | 2-1 | 313 | 18 |
| 21 | Florida | 4-0 | 302 | 20 |
| 22 | St. John’s | 4-0 | 270 | 22 |
| 23 | Texas A&M | 3-1 | 233 | 23 |
| 24 | Rutgers | 3-0 | 143 | 24 |
| 25 | Illinois | 3-0 | 116 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Texas Tech 109, Ole Miss 103, Xavier 89, BYU 27, UCF 21, Texas 17, VCU 17, Michigan St. 16, Mississippi St. 15, Ohio St. 13, Miami 10, Pittsburgh 9, Oregon 7, Memphis 6, Penn St. 4, Providence 4, Utah St. 3, Kansas St 3, Clemson 2, Furman 2, Arizona St 2, Michigan 1, Hofstra 1, Maryland 1.
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