The latest Associated Press (AP) Top 25 men’s basketball rankings were released Monday, March 7, with the top three teams remaining unchanged since last week.
Gonzaga is in the top spot for the fourth consecutive week and eighth week overall this season, including the preseason poll. Gonzaga received 52 of the 61 first-place votes.
Arizona is the second-ranked team for the third straight week, claiming six first-place votes.
The Baylor Bears sit at third place, with three first-place votes.
Baylor clinched a share of the Big 12 Conference title last week by defeating No.22 Texas on February 28, and Iowa State in the regular-season finale on March 5.
The Bears defeated the Longhorns 68-61 in Austin in the final game for Texas’ home arena, the Erwin Center.
The Longhorns basketball teams had played at the Erwin Center since 1977 and went 549-143 all-time in the building. Next season, Texas will play its basketball games at the new $340 million Moody Center, built across from the team’s old arena.
Baylor was happy to spoil the Longhorn’s farewell game at the Erwin Center and complete the season sweep over their rivals.
Adam Flagler and James Akinjo each scored 19 points for Baylor, which pulled away late for the tough win. Akinjo also had eight rebounds and seven assists.
The score was tied at 54 with just over five minutes remaining before Flagler and Akinjo combined to score the remainder of Baylor’s points for the game. A 9-0 run gave the Bears a 63-54 lead with just under two minutes remaining.
Baylor has won five games in a row over Texas on the basketball court and 11 of the last 12 meetings. The win over the Longhorns briefly moved Baylor to half a game behind the Kansas Jayhawks, who stayed at No.6 for the second consecutive week.
The Bears ended their regular season with a 75-68 home win over Iowa State.
Kansas had three games last week, including back-to-back matchups against the TCU Horned Frogs. The two teams were scheduled to play each other on New Year’s Day in the Big 12 season opener. However, that game was postponed until last week because of COVID-19 issues within TCU’s program.
In the teams’ first meeting on March 1 in Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs got their second-consecutive win over a top-ten opponent, defeating the Jayhawks 74-64. TCU had beaten then-No.9 Texas Tech three days earlier on February 26.
Mike Miles Jr. led TCU with 19 points and six assists as the team effectively clinched its spot in the NCAA tournament.
Miles provided a spark in the second half when he scored a layup and then a three-pointer on the subsequent possession, extending TCU’s lead to 59-49 with just over seven minutes remaining in the game.
The Horned Frogs had never defeated ranked opponents in back-to-back games in their program’s history. This season they have four wins overall against AP Top 25 teams, the most they have ever had in a single season.
The loss for the Jayhawks, coupled with Baylor’s win over Texas, temporarily dropped Kansas to second place in the Big 12.
Two days later, on March 3, the Jayhawks avenged their loss, defeating TCU 72-68 at home. The win moved Kansas into a tie with Baylor for first place in the conference.
For their third game in five days, the Jayhawks stayed at home to face the No.22 Texas Longhorns. It took overtime, but Kansas escaped with a 70-63 win in their regular-season finale.
The win meant Kansas and Baylor ended the season with identical conference records, and both teams shared the conference title.
Texas sent the Jayhawks to the free-throw line 36 times, where they made 28 shots. The Longhorns also committed 15 turnovers and were out-rebounded, 49-42.
Still, the score was tied at 57 to end regulation, and no team managed to lead by more than seven points.
Texas stayed in the game thanks to superb defense on Kansas’ leading scorer Ochai Agbaji, who had only two points on 0-of-10 shooting at the end of regulation. That was well below his average of just over 19 points per game.
Agbaji’s only successful shot came with 2:37 remaining in overtime to break a 61-61 tie. The Jayhawks would not relinquish the lead again, and secured their 39th consecutive win on senior night dating back to the 1983-84 season.
Texas dropped just one spot to No.22 despite going winless for the week; the AP voters did not punish them much for their losses to No.3 Baylor and No.6 Kansas.
The third highest-ranked team from the Big 12 is the No.14 Texas Tech Red Raiders. Tech dropped two spots from No.12 last week due to a 52-51 loss in their regular-season finale against an unranked Oklahoma State on the road.
The Red Raiders could have clinched a share of the Big 12 title with a win and then losses by Baylor and Kansas on March 5, none of which happened. The team struggled heavily to score the ball, making only 35.2% of their shot attempts.
Tech finishes the regular season at 5-8 in road games in contrast to 18-0 at home. The Red Raiders clinched the perfect record with a 73-68 win in their home finale over Kansas State on February 28. Tech has won 21 consecutive games at home, dating back to last season.
However, their struggles on the road do not bode well for the team as tournament play begins.
First, the Big 12 Conference tournament in Kansas City will begin this Thursday, March 10, with the national tournament starting a week after.
Tech will face the sixth-place conference finisher Iowa State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. Baylor will face the seventh-place finisher, Oklahoma. Fourth-place Texas and fifth-place TCU will also face off in the first round.