UNC, Gonzaga stay atop Leading 25 males’s poll

North Carolina didn’t have a controling start at No. 1. The Tar Heels open their 2nd week atop the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll with coach Hubert Davis reminding his players it will take time to discover a flow like the one that brought them to last year’s NCAA championship game.UNC (2-0)

earned 44 of 63 first-place votes to complete ahead of No. 2 Gonzaga in Monday’s first regular-season AP Top 25, which included only minor changes from the preseason poll released Oct. 17.

The Tar Heels return four starters from last year’s team, including AP preseason All-American Armando Bacot inside. However they labored through wins recently, initially against UNC Wilmington and then versus College of Charleston.1.

After the opener, Davis said he hoped it was “first-game stress and anxiety and anxiety.” After the second, he stated he had actually talked with his group about dealing with expectations.

“One of the things I have actually sensed in them– I just felt not a nervousness, however maybe a little bit of a burden of the expectations,” Davis stated. “And I tried to get them to understand that though those expectations are sound, it means nothing.

“I seemed like on every play, they were trying to make it look like the way we looked in April. That’s simply not possible. That simply can’t occur. This is this year’s group.”

The leading tier

The second-ranked Bulldogs (2-0) got 14 first-place votes after wins against North Florida and Michigan State, the latter coming on the deck of a warship. Third-ranked Houston (2-0) and fourth-ranked Kentucky (2-0) got the staying five first-place votes.Baylor and Kansas were tied for 5th previously. This time, Baylor is alone at No. 5, followed by Kansas and Duke. UCLA, Arkansas and Creighton round out the leading 10. The new periods Duke and Villanova both are starting with young coaches replacing retired Hall of Famers. One had an early stumble that brought it right out of the poll.The Wildcats have actually turned to Kyle Neptune, who took over in the spring after the retirement of Jay Wright. They won their opener against La Salle, then lost to Temple, which dropped Villanova from 16th to unranked for the first time because February 2019. The Blue Devils beat Jacksonville and USC Upstate– giving up 82 combined points– in their very first 2 games under Jon Scheyer, who has actually taken over for Mike Krzyzewski in the Duke program’s very first coaching change because 1980. Increasing Illinois( 2-0)had the most significant jump, climbing up four areas to No. 19 after 2 simple home wins. No. 14 Arizona and No. 21 Dayton each increased three areas

. In all

, 12 groups moved up from the preseason poll.Sliding Tennessee(1-1 )took the most significant tumble, falling 11 areas to No. 22 after losing to Colorado in its house state.Kansas– which fell out of the voting tie at No. 5– Creighton and No. 15

TCU fell

one spot each to complete the four groups that slid from their preseason rankings.Status quo 7 groups, all inside the top 10, held their preseason position.Welcome No. 24 Texas A&M and No. 25 Connecticut are the week’s new additions. The Huskies spent most of last season in the AP Top 25, and the Aggies joined the survey for the

very first time under

fourth-year coach Buzz Williams. Texas A&M was last ranked in February 2018, a season that ended

with an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.Farewell(in the meantime)Oregon (No. 21)joined Villanova as the other team to fall out from the preseason poll. The Ducks opened with a home win versus Florida A&M but lost in the house to UC Irvine 4 days later.Conference watch The SEC led the way with 6 ranked teams, with No. 13 Auburn and No. 18 Alabama signing up with Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

The Huge 12 was next with five, with No. 11 Texas and No. 23 Texas Tech signing up with Baylor, Kansas and TCU.The ACC and Big Ten had 3, with No. 16 Virginia joining UNC and Duke for the ACC and No. 12 Indiana and No. 20 Michigan joining Illinois for the Big Ten.The Pac-12 and Big East each had two ranked teams, followed by the West Coast, American Athletic, Mountain West and Atlantic 10 conferences each having one.