Men’s Hoops AP Top 25: Arizona unanimous No. 1; Gonzaga rises

Arizona is the unanimous No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll for the first time.

The Wildcats received all 61 votes from a media panel in Monday’s poll, a week after picking up all but one first-place vote.

See this week’s full men’s basketball AP Top 25

The Gonzaga Bulldogs (19-1 overall) moved up a spot to No. 8 after beating the WSU Cougars and Seattle U each on the road in WCC play in the last week. Gonzaga won both games without leading scorer Braden Huff, who is out 4-8 weeks with a knee injury, and additionally didn’t have fellow star forward Graham Ike on Saturday in Seattle due to an ankle injury.

The Zags play Pepperdine on Wednesday and San Francisco on Saturday this week in a pair of home games.

Arizona (18-0) won both of its games last week to remain among the three undefeated Division I teams and earn the program’s first unanimous No. 1 ranking after Iowa State lost twice. The Cyclones, who received one first-place vote last week, dropped seven spots to No. 9 after their undefeated season ended.

Arizona has been ranked No. 1 for six straight weeks, its longest run since eight straight in 2013-14 when the Wildcats opened 21-0. UConn, Michigan, Purdue and Duke rounded out the top five.

No. 7 Nebraska (18-0) won both its games last week to remain undefeated and moved up a spot this week to notch its highest ranking ever.

No. 24 Saint Louis (17-1) is ranked for the first time since reaching No. 22 in 2021 after stretching its winning streak to 11 straight.

No. 25 Miami (Ohio) is ranked for the first time since a three-week stint in the AP Top 25 in 1998-99. The RedHawks blew out Central Michigan on Tuesday, but needed overtime to beat Buffalo 105-102 on Saturday, pulling it out on Pete Suder’s 3-pointer with just over a second remaining.

Rising/falling

No. 18 Clemson made the biggest move among teams already in the poll, climbing four places with wins over Boston College and Miami.

Texas Tech moved up three places to No. 12 following wins over Utah and then-No. 11 BYU.

No. 22 North Carolina had the week’s biggest drop, losing eight places after being swept by the ACC’s Bay Area schools.

No. 9 Iowa State lost seven spots following losses to two unranked teams, Kansas and Cincinnati. No. 15 Vanderbilt dropped five places after seeing its undefeated season come to an end with losses to Texas and No. 16 Florida.

In and out

No. 19 Kansas returned to the poll after being left out last week after handing Iowa State its first loss and beating Baylor by 18.

Saint Louis and Miami (Ohio) were the only other teams to join this week’s poll.

Tennessee dropped out from No. 24 after blowing a 17-point lead in an 80-78 loss to Kentucky. Utah State’s road loss to Grand Canyon knocked the Aggies out of the poll from No. 23.

Seton Hall didn’t receive a single vote and dropped out of the poll from No. 25 after losses to UConn and Butler.

Conference watch

Kansas’ return to the poll gives the Big 12 Conference a nation’s best six ranked teams. The Southeastern Conference, Big Ten and ACC each have five ranked teams.

The Big East, West Coast, Atlantic-10 and Mid-American conferences have one each.

Seattle Sports staff made additions to this post.

UW Huskies sneak back into AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll

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