Purdue jumps back to No. 1
Purdue’s slide from No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll turned out to be brief.
The Boilermakers headlined Monday’s latest poll for the second time this season after beating former No. 1 Arizona over the weekend. The Wildcats had spent two weeks at No. 1 after Purdue’s loss to Northwestern ended the Boilermakers’ stint at the top after one week.
Purdue received 48 of 62 first-place votes in the latest poll to jump from third with the Arizona win, which marked the program’s first win against a No. 1 team in 23 years. It also marked the latest impressive nonconference win to a resume that already includes ranked teams in Gonzaga, Tennessee and Marquette.
Preseason No. 1 Kansas stayed at No. 2 with six firstplace votes, while Houston moved up one spot to No. 3 and had the other eight votes. Arizona fell to fourth.
The top tier
Uconn, Marquette, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky and Baylor rounded out the top 10.
Of that group, the Soon- ers are making their first appearance inside the top 10 since February 2021. And the Wildcats cracked the top 10 for the first time this season after beating North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic.
Rising and falling
Kentucky’s five-spot rise marked the biggest jump of the week. Oklahoma and Tennessee were next with four spots to push inside the top 10, while No. 13 Illinois rose three spots. In all, 10 teams climbed from last week’s poll.
No. 15 Gonzaga and No. 18 Clemson took the biggest tumbles, with each falling five spots after losses. Baylor, which lost in a blowout to Michigan State, and No. 12 Creighton were next by falling four spots. A total of seven teams slid from last week’s rankings.
Status quo
Six teams held their position from last week, including Uconn, No. 19 Texas, No. 20 James Madison, No. 21 Duke and No. 22 Virginia.
Welcome aboard
No. 23 Memphis and No. 25 Mississippi were the week’s new additions.
The Tigers handed Clemson its first loss after a 9-0 start to jump into the rankings for the first time this season.
As for Ole Miss, the Rebels (10-0) are off to their best start since opening at 13-0 in 2007-08. The program, in its first season under Chris Beard, is ranked for the first time since January 2019.
Purdue guard Braden Smith reacts after being fouled in the second half against Arizona in Indianapolis on Saturday.
Oklahoma guard Le’tre Darthard drives past Green Bay guard Foster Wonders during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, in Norman, Okla.
Miami (No. 24) and Northwestern (No. 25) fell out from last week.
Conference watch
The Big 12 led all conferences with six ranked teams, including No. 17 BYU. The Atlantic Coast Conference was next with
four teams, followed by three each for the Big East, Big Ten and Southeastern conferences.
The American Athletic Conference had two ranked teams, while the Pac-12, West Coast, Mountain West and Sun Belt conferences each had one.