Purdue stays No. 1; NC State fractures Leading 25

Purdue’s undoubted grip on No. 1 in the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll is pursued a weekend loss. That didn’t stop the Boilermakers from staying at the top.The Boilermakers made 38 of 62 first-place votes in the survey released Monday to remain at No. 1 for a 3rd straight week and seventh time this season. Purdue was the consentaneous option recently, the first for any group this season, before falling at Indiana over the weekend for only its 2nd loss.Team Tape-record 1. Purdue(38)22-2 2

. Houston( 22)22-2 3. Alabama

( 1 ) 20-3 4. Arizona (1 ) 21-3 5. Texas 19-4 6. Tennessee 19-4 7. UCLA 19-4 8 . Virginia 17-4 9. Kansas 18-5 10. Marquette 19-5 11. Iowa State 16-6 12. Kansas State 18-5 13 . Xavier 19-5 14. Baylor 17-6 15. St. Mary’s 21-4 16. Gonzaga 19-5 17

. TCU 17-6 18 . Indiana 16-7 19

. Miami 18-5 20. Providence 17-6 21 . UConn 18-6 22. NC State 19-5 23. Creighton 15-8 24. Rutgers 16-7 25

. San Diego State 18-5 The Boilermakers( 22-2, 11-2)have a leading candidate for national player of the year in Zach Edey and

KenPom’s No. 1-ranked offense(121.1 points scored per 100 possessions) to opt for a top-25 defense. However they got down huge, dedicated 16 turnovers and

permitted the Hoosiers– up to No. 18 this week– to shoot nearly 53% in a 79-74 loss Saturday.”When we go to Zach and we make some boundary

shots, the defense improves in some cases when the offense flows, “Purdue coach Matt Painter stated at his postgame press conference. “And you can’t do that. You can always rebound, you can always look after the ball, you can always make your free throws, those things there.”The loss suggested Houston gathered 22 first-place votes as it rose one area to No. 2, followed by No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 Arizona in each claiming one first-place vote.The top tier Texas jumped five areas to No. 5, shooting previous Tennessee, which fell 4 areas to No. 6 after losing last week at Florida.UCLA, Virginia, Kansas and Marquette rounded out the leading 10, with Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles splitting the top 10 for the first time since 2019. Increasing The Longhorns’jump marked the biggest of the week, followed by Marquette and Miami each increasing four areas. No. 13 Xavier, No. 15 Saint Mary’s and No. 21 UConn joined Indiana in each moving up 3 positions.In all, 12 teams increased from recently’s rankings.Sliding Kansas State took the week’s greatest tumble, falling five spots to No. 12 after losing at Kansas and at home to Texas last week. No. 16 Gonzaga joined Tennessee in falling 4 spots after its overtime loss at Saint

Mary’s. In all, nine teams fell relative to last week’s rankings.Status quo Purdue was the only group to stay in the same position this week.Welcome NC State earned its first AP Top 25 ranking in four years, signing in at No. 22. The Wolfpack(19-5, 9-4 Atlantic Coast Conference)invested six weeks in the poll throughout the 2018-19 season. NC State already has gone beyond the win overall for each of the past 2 seasons and remains in contention for the program’s first NCAA tournament berth given that 2018. Creighton and

Rutgers joined NC State as this week’s brand-new additions to the survey, although both were ranked previously this season. The Bluejays were No. 9 in the preseason survey and peaked at No. 7 prior to falling out by mid-December, while the Scarlet Knights invested a week at No.

23 in mid-January. Goodbye (for now )Florida Atlantic

(No. 19 ), Clemson(No. 20) and Auburn(No. 25) fell out of this week’s poll.Conference watch The Big 12 leads all

leagues

with 6 ranked teams, including No. 11 Iowa State, No. 14 Baylor and No. 17 TCU. The Big East is next with 5 ranked groups, followed by the Big Ten and ACC with three each.The Pac-12, Southeastern and West Coast conferences each have two ranked teams, while the American Athletic and Mountain West each have one.