Virginia Basketball Earns Highest Ranking In Three Seasons In Latest AP Poll

Where did the Virginia Cavaliers land in the latest rankings?

Virginia Cavaliers head coach Ryan Odom | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Virginia Cavaliers are now riding an eight-game winning streak after their latest victory over the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday. The Cavaliers are now 24-3 overall and 12-1 in conference play, continuing to edge out some of the most productive teams in the ACC.

As a result of their illustrious season thus far, the Cavaliers landed at No. 14 in last week's AP Top 25. As expected, Michigan stood at No. 1, Houston at No. 2 and Duke at No. 3.

Along with Virginia's victories over Georgia Tech and Miami, some of the close competitors in the rankings lost games this week, including Texas Tech, which fell to Arizona State 72-67. While they bounced back on Saturday for a 100-72 win over Kansas State, this loss was expected to be just enough to push UVA on top.

Now that the AP Top 25 has been updated, were the Cavaliers able to climb past some of their competitors?

UVA's Latest AP Top 25 Ranking

Virginia Cavaliers center Johann Grünloh | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Cavaliers managed to climb up three spots from their No. 14 placement, now landing at No. 11. Interestingly enough, the Blue Devils have now climbed to the top of the rankings and hold the helm at No. 1. Arizona found its temporary home at No. 2, while Michigan fell to No. 3.

With Virginia climbing three spots, some programs inevitably faced a drop, including Nebraska, Kansas and Texas Tech. Kansas faced one of the largest drops this week, moving down six spots in the rankings.

Duke, Virginia and North Carolina are the only ACC programs named in the AP Top 25, further cementing themselves as threats.

Of note, the Cavaliers are gearing up to face the No. 1 Blue Devils on Feb. 28 in Durham, N.C. If the Hoos can seal a victory over Duke, this will send them further up in the rankings and shake up the ACC. But as head coach Ryan Odom stated in a recent media appearance:

"Yeah, we want to play in the NCAA tournament. I think that's clear. We want to do that. And we want to get as high a seat as we can. But the focus right now is not anywhere near the NCAA tournament. It's all in the regular season and the ACC regular season, and then the conference tournament. And then the NCAA tournament will come after that. If you start getting ahead of yourself, the way you control it is with your play on the court. And so if we start talking about all that kind of stuff, well, it distracts from what the job is, and that's to get the job done inside the lines."

Virginia is in the midst of a grueling stretch of basketball, and it's only going to intensify from here. Do they have the ability to take down their No. 1 competitor?