Auburn remained atop the AP Top 25 for the seventh straight week on Monday, while preseason No. 1 Kansas dropped out of the men’s college basketball for the first time in nearly four years, ending the Jayhawks’ ranked run at 80 consecutive weeks.
The Tigers earned all 60 votes from the national media panel after beating Arkansas and Georgia last week. They were followed by Duke and Florida, which traded places in the poll, with Houston and Tennessee rounding out the top five. Houston has the nation’s longest active streak in the Top 25 at 102 weeks.
The Jayhawks were dropped from the poll for the first time since Feb. 8, 2021, when the season was played amid the COVID-19 pandemic. That ended a record 231 consecutive weeks in the Top 25 for Kansas.
The Jayhawks fell this week after a 74-67 loss at Utah and a 91-57 blowout loss at BYU, the biggest margin of defeat in school history for a ranked Kansas team against an unranked opponent. BYU entered the poll at No. 25 this week.
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Kansas took out its frustration on Oklahoma State on Saturday, rolling to a 96-64 victory in Allen Fieldhouse.
“We’re 1-0,” Jayhawks coach Bill Self said afterward. “That’s what we’re talking about, and everybody’s stat sheet in what they’re averaging this year is exactly what happened today — and we’re not even gonna talk about the other stuff right now.”
Alabama fell two spots to No. 6 this week and was followed by St. John’s and Michigan State, which jumped six spots after back-to-back ranked wins over Purdue and Michigan. Iowa State and Texas Tech rounded out the top 10.
UConn Huskies vs. No. 10 St. John’s Red Storm | FOX College Hoops
Kansas dropped out along with Ole Miss, which had been ranked the last 13 weeks and 15 of the last 16. That made room for Saint Mary’s, which beat Portland and Gonzaga to enter at No. 23, and BYU, which followed its win over the Jayhawks by beating then-No. 19 Arizona on Saturday, 96-95, thanks to two free throws by Richie Saunders with 3.2 seconds left.
It was the first time the Cougars had beaten ranked teams in consecutive games since 1988.
“My message to our group is, you know, whatever the next challenge in front of us, we’re trying to attack it — whether that’s practice, whether that’s shoot-around, whether that’s a game,” first-year BYU coach Kevin Young said. “I know that sounds cliche but that’s really been the recipe for us, to not look any further than what we have to do at that moment.”
Louisville joined Michigan State in making the biggest jump in this week’s poll, climbing six spots to No. 19. The Cardinals beat Florida State in their only game last week for their fifth consecutive win, and they head into this week tied with No. 13 Clemson for second in the ACC behind the second-ranked Blue Devils.
Illinois Fighting Illini vs. No. 3 Duke Blue Devils | FOX College Hoops
Purdue fell seven spots to No. 20 after losses to Michigan State and Indiana, but the Boilermakers held onto a spot in the Top 25 for the 55th consecutive week. That is now the third-longest active streak behind Houston and Tennessee (76 weeks).
Kansas isn’t the only team ranked highly in the preseason poll to drop out altogether this season.
Two-time defending national champion UConn was No. 3 with 11 first-place votes in October but did not appear on any ballots this week. Gonzaga was sixth, Baylor eighth and North Carolina ninth in the preseason poll — and all are unranked.
In all, more than half of the teams in the preseason poll — 13 of them — failed to crack this week’s Top 25.
The SEC continued its dominance with three of the top five and eight total in the Top 25 this week. The Big 12 had three in the top 10 and five ranked teams, while the Big Ten also had five teams in the poll. The ACC had three, the Big East had two and the American Athletic Conference and West Coast Conference had one team apiece.
Here’s the full AP Top 25:
1. Auburn
2. Duke
3. Florida
4. Houston
5. Tennessee
6. Alabama
7. St. John’s
8. Michigan State
9. Iowa State
10. Texas Tech
11. Wisconsin
12. Texas A&M
13. Clemson
14. Missouri
15. Michigan
16. Maryland
17. Kentucky
18. Memphis
19. Louisville
20. Purdue
21. Marquette
22. Arizona
23. Saint Mary’s
24. Mississippi State
25. BYU
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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