Villanova starts 3rd week at No. 1

Villanova remains No. 1 in The Associated Press college basketball poll, holding its comfortable lead over Kansas.

The Wildcats (24-3) received 45 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel on Monday for its third week on top of the poll. Kansas (23-4) was No. 1 on 20 ballots to hold second.

Villanova will have its toughest test yet as the top-ranked team when the Wildcats travel to No. 5 Xavier on Wednesday.

Oklahoma and Virginia are tied for third and are followed in the top 10 by Xavier, Michigan State, North Carolina, Iowa, Arizona and Maryland.

No. 21 Texas A&M and No. 22 Utah return to the rankings this week, replacing Dayton, which dropped out from 15th, and Providence, which was 23rd.