Auburn rises to No. 2, Alabama falls to No. 10 in AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll
Auburn center Dylan Cardwell (44) celebrates during a timeout against Memphis with guard Miles Kelly (13) during the first half an NCAA college basketball game for the Maui Invitational championship Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Auburn has risen to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll after winning the Maui Invitational title, while Alabama has slipped to No. 10.
Kansas held off Auburn for the No. 1 ranking, but Southeastern Conference teams grabbed three of the top four spots.
Auburn was joined by fellow SEC schools No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Kentucky, with each team climbing four spots. Marquette was next at No. 5, followed by Iowa State, Gonzaga, Purdue, Duke and Alabama to round out the top 10.
The Kansas Jayhawks earned 35 of 61 first-place votes in the poll, while the Tigers got the remaining 26 and climbed two spots to No. 2.
Meanwhile, the UConn Huskies fell all the way from No. 2 to No. 25 after going 0-3 at Maui, barely avoiding becoming only the second team to go from No. 2 to unranked in a week in nearly four decades.
It was part of a turbulent week with holiday-week tournaments, leading to six new teams entering the rankings headlined by No. 12 Oregon and No. 16 Memphis.
Kansas (7-0), which beat Duke last week, had increased its margin on the No. 2-ranked team each week since the preseason poll and had a 107-point margin on the Huskies last week. But with the Tigers — ranked No. 1 in KenPom’s metrics — beating ranked Iowa State and North Carolina teams in the Maui title run, that margin is just nine points this week.
In all, seven teams fell from last week’s poll.
While UConn’s tumble stood out, No. 17 Houston fell 11 spots after losses to Alabama and now-No. 24 San Diego State in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.
North Carolina also had a big fall, sliding eight spots to No. 20 after losses to Auburn and Michigan State in Maui. Gonzaga tumbled four spots to seventh after losing its Battle 4 Atlantis opener to West Virginia.
AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll (first-place votes in parentheses, SEC teams in bold):
| Rank | Team | Record | Points | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas (35) | 7-0 | 1,499 | 1 |
| 2 | Auburn (26) | 7-0 | 1,490 | 4 |
| 3 | Tennessee | 7-0 | 1,351 | 7 |
| 4 | Kentucky | 7-0 | 1,267 | 8 |
| 5 | Marquette | 8-0 | 1,246 | 10 |
| 6 | Iowa State | 5-1 | 1,225 | 5 |
| 7 | Gonzaga | 7-1 | 1,181 | 3 |
| 8 | Purdue | 7-1 | 1,058 | 13 |
| 9 | Duke | 5-2 | 941 | 11 |
| 10 | Alabama | 6-2 | 939 | 9 |
| 11 | Wisconsin | 8-0 | 903 | 15 |
| 12 | Oregon | 8-0 | 806 | NR |
| 13 | Florida | 8-0 | 782 | 18 |
| 14 | Cincinnati | 6-0 | 774 | 16 |
| 15 | Baylor | 5-2 | 567 | 17 |
| 16 | Memphis | 6-1 | 500 | NR |
| 17 | Houston | 4-3 | 402 | 6 |
| 18 | Pittsburgh | 7-1 | 374 | NR |
| 19 | Illinois | 6-1 | 351 | NR |
| 20 | North Carolina | 4-3 | 292 | 12 |
| 21 | Oklahoma | 7-0 | 266 | NR |
| 22 | Texas A&M | 6-2 | 207 | 20 |
| 23 | Ole Miss | 6-1 | 156 | 23 |
| 24 | San Diego State | 4-2 | 143 | NR |
| 25 | UConn | 5-3 | 123 | 2 |
Also receiving votes: Michigan State, 108, Arkansas 104, Texas 97, Michigan 95, Arizona State 89, Indiana 72, Drake 58, Xavier 33, Utah State 28, Louisville 27, West Virginia 26, Clemson 25, BYU 24, Dayton 24, Texas Tech 22, Nebraska 22, Mississippi State 20, Ohio State 19, Maryland 13, UCLA 13, Creighton 12, Saint Mary’s 11, Georgia 10, St. John’s 7, Loyola Chicago 4, Florida State 3, DePaul 3, UC Irvine 2, Columbia 2.
Dropping out: Indiana (No. 14), Arkansas (No. 19), Creighton (No. 21), Xavier (No. 22), Arizona (No. 24) and Mississippi State (No. 25) fell out of the poll.
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