Arizona stays atop AP survey ahead of Purdue game
Dec 11, 2023, 01:25 PM ET
Arizona strengthened its place atop the Associated Press Top 25 males’s college basketball survey Monday, setting up a showdown this weekend against Purdue, the former No. 1 group in the nation.The Wildcats made all but one first-place vote from a panel of 63 voters, no doubt impressing them with their 98-73 win over the No. 23 Badgers. They got 3 more first-place votes as they topped the survey for the 2nd straight week, while Kansas remained at No. 2 and Purdue– which Arizona had actually supplanted at No. 1– moved up one area to 3rd after wins over Iowa and Alabama.The Wildcats
( 8-0) play the Boilermakers (9-1) on Saturday in Indianapolis.Team Tape 1.
| Arizona(62)8-0 2. Kansas 9-1 3. Purdue 9-1 4 | ||
|---|---|---|
| . Houston (1 ) | 10-0 5. UConn 9-1 6. Baylor | 9-0 |
| 7. Marquette 8-2 8. Creighton | ||
| 8-1 9. North Carolina 7-2 10. Gonzaga 7-2 11. Oklahoma 9-0 12. Tennessee 6-3 13. Clemson 9-0 | ||
| 14. Kentucky | 7-2 | |
| 15. Florida Atlantic 7-2 16 | ||
| . Illinois 7-2 | ||
| 17. Colorado State 9-1 18. | ||
| BYU 8-1 19. Texas 7-2 20. James Madison 9-0 21 | . Duke 6-3 | |
| 22. Virginia 8-1 23. Wisconsin 7-3 24. Miami(Fla.)7-2 | ||
| 25. Northwestern 7-1″ | We spend a | |
| lot of time talking | about Arizona basketball legacy,”Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said | |
| over the | weekend, | |
| “and this group today | ||
| , we remain in the sun. | The | |
| sun is shining | on us right now. “Houston | got |
| the only No. 1 vote that didn’t go to | ||
| the Wildcats but still dropped one spot to fourth | . UConn remained at No. 5 after |
beating ninth-ranked North Carolina and Arkansas-Pine Bluff last week.Baylor once again offered the Huge 12 half of the leading 6 teams in the country. The Bears at No. 6 were followed by Marquette, then Creighton, the Tar Heels and Gonzaga, which fell 3 spots to No. 10 after its 78-73 loss to Washington.” We’ve got a long season. Big games showing up,”stated Bulldogs forward Anton Watson, whose group will play fifth-ranked UConn on Friday night in Seattle.
“I don’t believe one loss, 2 losses, is going to identify a season. We all have that mindset.” While there was little movement within the leading 10 today, there were some wild swings within the rest of the Leading 25. Oklahoma made one of the
greatest dives, climbing 8 spots to No. 11 after wins over Providence and Arkansas. The unbeaten Sooners were followed by Tennessee, which climbed 5 spots, and unbeaten Clemson, which moved up to No. 13 after beating South Carolina and TCU to stay
among the 7 teams with perfect records left in Division I basketball.Kentucky moved up 2 spots to No. 14 while Florida Atlantic fell four areas to No. 15 after its loss to Illinois.The Illini slotted in right behind the Owls, while Colorado State, BYU, Texas and James Madison round out the leading 20. Duke was at No. 21, followed by Virginia, Wisconsin, the Miami Hurricanes and Northwestern at No. 25. The Wildcats (7-1 )are ranked for the 2nd straight season but only the seventh time given that the 1968-69 season
.”I hear about it at home. My child is probably the greatest one that seethed that we didn’t get ranked last week.
She’s the one that has been screaming and yelling that we need to be in the Leading 25, “said Northwestern coach Chris Collins, whose group is off to its finest eight-game start because the 2015-16 season.”Those are all good benefits for a team that is playing hard and striving, but we’re not fretted about that. Our whole focus right
now is winning basketball games. “Fluctuating: The No. 11 Sooners play Green Bay this week before a prominent matchup with the ninth-ranked Tar Heels next week. No. 13 Clemson likewise will have a chance to keep climbing up when it goes to Memphis– which is getting votes– on Saturday.The Hurricanes fell 9 areas to No. 24 after their 90-63 loss to Colorado, which was nearly enough to get the Buffalos ranked; they were the first team outside the Top 25. Texas fell 7 spots after losing to Marquette and beating Houston Christian.In and out: Virginia returned to the poll at No. 22 after being ranked for a week last month. Northwestern made its Top 25 season debut.Texas A&M left of the survey after losing to Memphis on Sunday. San Diego State likewise fell out after losing to Grand Canyon, which has actually never ever been ranked but received one elect No. 25 this week.Conference watch: The Big 12 not only has 3 of the leading 6 groups but has six in the Top 25, including league newcomers Houston (No. 4)and BYU(No. 18)and soon-to-depart Oklahoma(No. 11) and Texas (No. 19). The ACC has five groups in the leading 25 and the Big East and Big Ten have 4 each, though the Big East has three of the top 8 in UConn(No. 5), Marquette(No. 7)and Creighton(No. 8).