College Basketball AP Top 25 Week 18: Top Three Unchanged Entering Championship Week
The Associated Press released its week 18 men's basketball top 25 poll on Monday.
As we enter Championship Week, the top three teams in the AP poll remained unchanged with No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 2 Arizona, and No. 3 Baylor holding onto their positions. Duke dropped to No. 7 from No. 4 after losing to North Carolina on Saturday. The Tar Heels entered the top 25 at No. 25, giving the ACC multiple teams in the poll for the first time since November.
No. 4 Auburn and No. 5 Kentucky fill out the top five. Purdue and Tennessee each received 967 votes, so both the Boilermakers and the Volunteers are No. 9 in this week's poll.
Biggest movers: No. 9 Tennessee (up four), No. 13 UCLA (up four), No. 16 Illinois (up four), No. 18 Houston (down four), No. 21 USC (down five)
Newcomers: No. 23 Colorado State, No. 25 North Carolina
Dropped Out: Ohio State, Alabama
READ MORE: Brackets and Schedules for Every Major Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Conference Tally
Big Ten: four teams
SEC: four teams
Big 12: four teams
Big East: three teams
Pac-12: three teams
WCC: two teams
ACC: two teams
AAC: one team
OVC: one team
MWC: one team
Associated Press Top 25 College Basketball Poll
1. Gonzaga (24-3)
2. Arizona (28-3)
3. Baylor (26-5)
4. Auburn (27-4)
5. Kentucky (25-6)
6. Kansas (25-6)
7. Duke (26-5)
8. Villanova (23-7)
9. Purdue (25-6)
9. Tennessee (23-7)
11. Providence (24-4)
12. Wisconsin (24-6)
13. UCLA (23-6)
14. Texas Tech (23-8)
15. Arkansas (24-7)
16. Illinois (22-8)
17. Saint Mary's (24-6)
18. Houston (26-5)
19. Murray State (30-2)
20. Connecticut (22-8)
21. USC (25-6)
22. Texas (21-10)
23. Colorado State (24-4)
24. Iowa (22-9)
25. North Carolina (23-8)
Others receiving votes: Boise State (49), South Dakota State (32), Memphis (26), San Diego State (24), LSU (22), Loyola Chicago (16), Ohio State (16), Seton Hall (9), San Francisco (9), Rutgers (8), Alabama (7), Notre Dame (4), Vermont (3), Davidson (1), Longwood (1)
