UConn, Purdue stay at top amid Top 25 shuffle
Jan 22, 2024, 01:28 PM ET The same two teams stayed at the top of the AP Top 25 males’s college basketball survey amidst another week of turmoil, with teams bouncing around like kernels in a popcorn maker.Reigning national champ UConn stayed No. 1, receiving 44 first-place votes from a 61-person media panel. No. 2 Purdue got 17 first-place votes.A loss by Kansas jumbled the rest of the leading
five, with No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 Houston and No. 5 Tennessee all going up a spot by sweeping two games each last week.Editor’s Picks 1 Related The Jayhawks dropped 4 areas to No. 7 following a 91-85 loss to West Virginia that ended
their six-game
winning streak in the series.UConn transferred to the top of the survey last week for the very first time in 15 years.The Huskies opened the week with a lopsided win over
No. 17 Creighton in Donovan Clingan’s return from a right foot injury.
UConn then edged Villanova 66-65 in a physical game that had coach Dan Hurley talking about jujitsu, Muay Thai and UFC fighting.Team Tape 1. UConn (44) 17-2 2. Purdue(17 )17-2 3. North Carolina 15-3 4. Houston 16-2 5. Tennessee 14-4 6. Kentucky 14-3 7. Kansas 15-3 8. Auburn 16-2 9.
| Arizona 14-4 10. Illinois 14-4 11. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma 15-3 12. Duke 13-4 13. | ||
| Wisconsin 14-4 14. Marquette 13-5 15. Baylor 14-4 16. Dayton | 15-2 | |
| 17. Creighton 14-5 18. Utah State 17-2 | ||
| 19. Memphis 15-4 20 | . Texas Tech 15-3 | |
| 21. BYU 14-4 | 22. Florida Atlantic | 15-4 23. Iowa State 14-4 24 |
| . Colorado State 15-3 25 | ||
| . New Mexico 16-3″When you get ranked | ||
| No. 1– coach | talked about it the whole week– it’s like a short-term belt,” | |
| UConn’s Alex Karaban said.”You have actually got to | continue to secure the belt, safeguard the heavyweight champion.”The Boilermakers | |
| opened their week | with | |
| an 87-66 thrashing of rival Indiana and | ||
| followed with a | 14-point win over Iowa. Purdue big guy Zach Edey had | |
| another controling week, finishing with 33 points and 14 rebounds | versus Indiana | |
| , and 30 points | and 18 rebounds versus Iowa. “It’s just various with him,”Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.” When he gets | deep |
| position, it’s difficult [to defend | ||
| him] | .”North Carolina had a sheer fall from the poll last season, dropping out a month after being preseason No. 1. The Tar Heels have moved in the opposite instructions this season after missing the NCAA Tournament.North Carolina opened at No. 19 in the preseason poll and, after bouncing around a bit, has actually steadily climbed to No. 3. The Tar Heels beat Louisville 86-70 last Wednesday and removed Boston College 76-66 on Saturday.North Carolina(15-3)has actually won eight straight, consisting of all 7 of its Atlantic Coast Conference games, to lead the conference by two games over NC State.RISING & FALLING No. 19 Memphis had the greatest drop of the week, falling 9 places after losing to South Florida and Tulane. Baylor tumbled 6 spots to No. 15 list below losses to Kansas
State and Texas.No. 12 Duke’s 80-76 loss to Pittsburgh dropped heaven Devils five areas from last week’s poll.No. 16 Dayton made the most significant upward move, getting 6 locations after wins over Saint Louis and Rhode Island. No. 8 Auburn and No. 20 Texas Tech each climbed 5 places.MOVING IN; VACATING No. 24 Colorado State went back to the poll after leaving recently with wins over Air Force and UNLV. No. 25 New Mexico is ranked for the very first time because last January after beating No. 18 Utah State and Air Force.TCU dropped out from No. 19 following close losses to No. 23 Iowa State and Cincinnati. Ole Miss likewise fell out from No. 22 list below losses to LSU and Auburn.CONFERENCE VIEW The Big 12 still leads the nation with 7 ranked teams in spite of Kansas State dropping out. The Big East, Southeastern, Big Ten and Mountain West conferences all had three ranked teams.The Atlantic Coast and American Athletic conferences had 2 ranked teams, and one each for the Pac-12 and Atlantic-10. |