Bama No. 1 in AP Top 25 for 1st time

Alabama is the brand-new No. 1, rising to the top spot in the Associated Press Top 25 males’s college basketball poll for the first time in 20 years.Purdue’s loss

to Northwestern recently caused a jumble at the top of the AP Top 25 and that assisted the Crimson Tide.Team Tape 1. Alabama(

38)22-3 2. Houston(22) 23-2 3. Purdue (2)23-3 4. UCLA 21-4 5. Kansas 20-5 6. Texas 20-5 7. Virginia 19-4 8. Arizona 22-4 9. Baylor 19-6 10. Tennessee 19-6 11. Marquette 20-6 12. Kansas State 19-6 13. Gonzaga 21-5 14. Indiana 18-7 15. Miami 20-5 16. Xavier 19-6 17. St. Mary’s 22-5 18. Creighton 17-8 19. Iowa State 16-8 20. UConn 19-7 21

. San Diego State 20-5 22. TCU 17-8 23. NC State 20-6 24. Providence 18-7 25. Florida Atlantic 24-2 Alabama got 38 first-place votes from

a 62-person media panel Monday

, going up two areas to leapfrog No. 2 Houston. The Cougars had 22 first-place votes to stay at No. 2 and Purdue, down to No. 3, still had two first-place votes.UCLA and Kansas rounded out the top five.Alabama has actually made a name for itself as more than just a football school given that coach Nate Oats arrived from Buffalo in 2019 . The Crimson Tide reached the NCAA competition’s Elite 8 2 years ago and Oats drew in one of the nation’s finest recruiting classes last year.Alabama is

No. 1 for the first time because spending 2 weeks atop the poll midway through the 2002-03 season. Alabama(22-3, 12-0 Southeastern Conference) beat Auburn and Florida recently, with its only loss since mid-December coming at Oklahoma in a nonconference

game on Jan. 28.” Our group is playing excellent basketball today,”Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said after a 77-69 loss to the Crimson Tide on Saturday. “We’re playing well. We’re simply not playing all right to beat the best group in the nation.” BOUNCING BOILERMAKERS Purdue handled to stay No. 1 recently despite losing to No. 14 Indiana.

The Boilermakers weren’t so lucky after a 64-58 loss to Northwestern on Sunday.The Wildcats swarmed 7-foot-4 Purdue center Zach Edey, who had 24 points however committed six turnovers. The Boilermakers shot 36%from the field and missed their last 13 shots from 3-point range.” Simply got to show more poise and toughness than we did, “Purdue coach Matt Painter said.RISING/ FALLING No. 9 Baylor and No. 18 Creighton made the greatest relocations of the week, each gaining five spots.The Bears beat Oklahoma and picked up a roadway win at No. 22 TCU recently. The Bluejays beat Seton Hall and eked out a 56-53 win over No. 20 UConn to stretch their winning streak to eight games to remain in contention for the Big East regular-season title.No. 19 Iowa State had the greatest

drop, losing 8 places following losses to West Virginia and Oklahoma State.IN AND OUT Florida Atlantic was the only group to move into the poll, returning at No. 25 after leaving recently. The Owls beat Rice and Louisiana Tech recently after being ranked for the very first time in school history earlier this season.Rutgers fell out of the survey for the 2nd time this season, dropping from No. 24 after losing to Indiana and Illinois.