Purdue is the season’s first unanimous No.1 team, taking all 62 first-place votes in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll released Monday.
The Boilermakers (21-1) had wins over Michigan and Michigan State last week, pushing their win streak to eight since an upset loss by one point to Rutgers on January 2.
While Purdue took care of business last week, chaos ensued behind them among other ranked teams.
Over half of the Top 25 teams endured at least one loss during the previous week, including last week’s No.2 Alabama, which was routed by unranked Oklahoma in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Tennessee jumped two spots to take Alabama’s place at No.2 after wins over Georgia and No.10 Texas in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The Volunteers were one of just three SEC teams to win their matchup against a Big 12 opponent.
Tennessee jumped Houston, which remained in the No.3 spot despite an undefeated week. Alabama dropped to No.4 with its loss to Oklahoma, while Arizona caps the top five.
The Big 12 continues to confirm it is the best basketball conference in the nation, with six of its ten members ranked — all inside the top 15. The Big East has the second most ranked teams among the conferences, with four teams in the poll but none higher than No.14 Marquette.
Kansas State leads the way among Big 12 teams, dropping two spots to No.7. The Wildcats suffered a narrow loss at No.13 Iowa State before bouncing back with a blowout of Florida on Saturday.
Kansas State will face No.8 Kansas on the road in a top-10 showdown Tuesday night. The Jayhawks lost to No.11 Baylor last week for their third consecutive loss, but they stopped their skid with a road win at Kentucky on Saturday.
Baylor was tied for the biggest rise in this week’s poll, moving up six spots to No.11 after the win over Kansas and a defeat of Arkansas on Saturday. No.17 Providence matched the Bears in moving up six spots.
Baylor will go on the road for a meeting with No.10 Texas on Monday. The Longhorns kept their spot at No.10, despite the road loss to Tennessee.
The meeting with Baylor will be the second of four straight matchups against highly ranked opponents for Texas. The Longhorns will follow their game against the Bears with road games against No.7 Kansas State on Saturday and No.8 Kansas the following Monday.
Kansas also has a streak of tough matchups, with a Saturday Road game at No.13 Iowa State sandwiched between its games against No.7 Kansas State and No.10 Texas.
TCU slid four spots to No.15, after an 81-74 overtime loss on the road to Mississippi State.
In other notes from the poll, Indiana returned to the rankings at No.22, with San Diego State also rejoining the Top 25 one spot behind. They are replacing Charleston, which fell out from No.18 after losing to Hofstra, and New Mexico, which fell from No.25 after losing to Nevada in double overtime last week.
No.25 Auburn suffered the biggest drop among teams still ranked, falling 10 places after losses to unranked Texas A&M and on the road to West Virginia. The Aggies of A&M have been surging with wins in eight of their last nine games, but it was not enough to crack the poll this week.
Texas A&M is listed as the 11th team in the “others receiving votes” section of the AP poll.
Full AP Top 25 (First-Place votes);
- Purdue (62) 21-1
- Tennessee 18-3
- Houston 20-2
- Alabama 18-3
- Arizona 19-3
- Virginia 16-3
- Kansas State 18-3
- Kansas 17-4
- UCLA 17-4
- Texas 17-4
- Baylor 16-5
- Gonzaga 18-4
- Iowa State 15-5
- Marquette 17-5
- TCU 16-5
- Xavier 17-5
- Providence 17-5
- Saint Mary’s 19-4
- Florida Atlantic 21-1
- Clemson 18-4
- Indiana 15-6
- San Diego State 17-4
- Miami (FL) 16-5
- UConn 16-6
- Auburn 16-5
Others receiving votes:
Missouri 74, Charleston 68, Illinois 56, Creighton 51, New Mexico 47, North Carolina 47, North Carolina State 39, Boise State 31, Duke 24, Rutgers 17, Texas A&M 16, Northwestern 13, Memphis 10, Arkansas 9, Pittsburgh 9, West Virginia 2, Nevada 2, Oral Roberts 2, Saint Louis 1
