Houston tops AP males’s survey for 2nd straight week

Houston still has a tight grip on No. 1 in the AP Top 25.

The Cougars got 52 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel in the males’s poll released Monday to hold the top area for the 2nd straight week.UConn moved

up an area to No. 2 and had six first-place votes to leapfrog No. 3 Purdue, which had four first-place votes. Tennessee and Arizona rounded out the top five.Team Record 1. Houston(

52)26-3 2. UConn(6 )26-3 3. Purdue (4 ) 26-3 4. Tennessee 23-6 5. Arizona 23-6 6. Iowa St.23-36 7. North Carolina 23-6 8. Marquette 22-7 9. Duke 23-6 10. Creighton 22-8 11

. Baylor 21-8 12. Illinois 22-7 13 . Auburn 22-7 14. Kansas 21-8 15. Kentucky 21-8 16. Alabama 20-9 17. South Carolina 24-5 18. Washington St.23-7 19. Gonzaga 24-6 20. BYU 21-8 21. San Diego St.22-7 22. Utah St.24-5 23

. Saint Mary’s 24-7 24. South Florida 22-5 25. Dayton 22-6 Houston relocated to No. 1 for the very first time this season a week ago and won both of its games last week: 67-59 at home over Cincinnati and, thanks to Jamal Shead’s last-second shot, 87-85 at Oklahoma.Houston is still leading the country in KenPom’s adjusted protective efficiency despite quiting 85 points to the Sooners. The win allowed coach Kelvin Sampson to have a triumphant return to Norman , where he coached from 1994 to 2006. UConn had a great bounce-back after being knocked from the No. 1 area following a six-week run, burning out Seton Hall 91-61 in the house for its first outright Big East title in 25 years. The Huskies, the ruling nationwide champions, had not won even a share of the Big East regular-season title in 18 years.”The hardest thing to do is to be outstanding throughout 3, 4 months in a harsh, difficult league, “UConn coach Dan Hurley said.Purdue dropped an area

regardless of an 80-74 win over Michigan State that clinched a share of a 2nd straight Big 10 title. The Boilermakers have a two-game lead with 2 games left.FADING JAYHAWKS Kansas invested the first 3 weeks at No. 1 and was in the top 10 for three years.Consecutive losses recently ended the Jayhawks ‘run.Kansas fell 7 areas to No. 14 in this week’s

survey, its worst ranking considering that hitting No. 15 midway through the 2020-21 season. The Jayhawks remained in the top 10 for 55 straight weeks, which had been the longest active streak. Houston now has the longest active top-10 perform at 36 straight weeks.Losses to No. 20 BYU and No. 11 Baylor ensured Kansas can’t win the Big 12 regular-season title. The Jayhawks have seven conference

losses for the first time in 21 years under coach Costs Self.RISING AND FALLING No. 15 Baylor and No. 19 Gonzaga had the greatest climbs

among teams in the poll today, each going up four areas.

No. 23 Saint Mary’s had the greatest drop, losing six places after Gonzaga ended the Gaels’16-game winning streak.IN AND OUT BYU returned into the survey after leaving last week, being available in at No. 20 after wins over Kansas and TCU. Florida left from No. 24 after losing at No. 17 South Carolina.CONFERENCE VIEW The Southeastern Conference and the Huge 12 each have five ranked teams after BYU reentered the poll and Florida dropped out.The Big East has three, followed by the Big Ten, Atlantic Coast, Pac-12, Mountain West and West Coast conferences with 2. The Atlantic 10 and AAC each have one.