A slate of marquee games in the second full week of the college basketball season led to a significant shuffling in the Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll released Monday.
No.4 Texas climbed after a dominant win over now-No.6 Gonzaga, while Baylor stayed in the top 10 at No.7 despite a loss to now-No.5 Virginia.
North Carolina remained No.1, receiving 47 first-place votes from the 63-person media panel.
Houston moved up a spot to No.2 and received nine first-place votes. After opening the season at No.3, its highest preseason ranking since 1983, Houston reaches another high point, reaching No.2 for the first time since the same era.
Houston opened the season with four straight blowout wins, then made a statement in its first big test this season, winning 66-56 at Oregon on Sunday night.
The Cougars hold teams to an average of 46 points per game, and they have four players scoring in double figures, led by preseason All-American guard Marcus Sasser’s 16.8 points per game.
The defending national champions, No.3 Kansas, is the top-ranked Big 12 team and received one first-place vote.
Kansas passed its first significant test of the season, defeating now-No.8 Duke 69-64, before escaping with a closer-than-expected 82-76 win over Southern Utah.
Kansas’ Jalen Wilson has established himself as one of the best players in the nation in two weeks.
The Denton Guyer product finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists in Tuesday’s win against Duke and upped his game against Southern Utah on Friday, going for 33 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
No.4 Texas was the second biggest risers of the week, moving up seven spots and receiving five first-place votes after its 93-74 victory over then-No.2 Gonzaga.
No.5 Virginia received the other first-place vote and moved up 11 spots from No.16 after claiming the Continental Tire Main Event tournament championship with back-to-back wins over No.7 Baylor and No.16 Illinois in Las Vegas.
Virginia’s game against Baylor was the school’s first after football team members Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D’Sean Perry were fatally shot after a field trip to Washington.
The Cavaliers wore sweatshirts honoring the victims during warmups before playing Baylor and using a second-half run to pull away for an 86-79 win. Virginia used another second-half run to beat Illinois 70-61.
Baylor split its two games in Las Vegas to stay in the top 10, bouncing back from the loss to Virginia with an 80-75 victory over No.19 UCLA.
A veteran backcourt is powering the Bears in the early season. Junior LJ Cryer is healthy again after missing much of last season with injuries, totaling 67 points and shooting 11-for-20 from three-point range over the past three games.
Redshirt senior Adam Flagler had 22 points and four assists against UCLA, including a couple of tough buckets late to seal the win.
No.19 UCLA is tied for the biggest drop in the poll, falling 11 spots after back-to-back losses in Vegas to Illinois and Baylor. No.15 Kentucky also fell 11 places after losses to No.12 Michigan State and a 16-point loss to Gonzaga, with a win over South Carolina State in the middle.
Dropping out entirely from this week’s poll are TCU and Texas A&M.
TCU was the preseason No.14 team, its highest preseason ranking ever, but it had to scrape by in its first two games, barely surviving Arkansas-Pine Bluff 73-72 in the opener and struggling with Lamar before winning 77-66.
Then the Horned Frogs were stunned at home in a 64-63 loss to Northwestern State last Monday. They bounced back against Louisiana Monroe, winning 95-60, but this is not the team many expected to be a top 20 team in the nation.
Texas A&M found itself at No.24 in the second edition of this season’s AP poll, but it immediately suffered a two-game losing streak after earning its first Top 25 ranking since January 1, 2017.
The Aggies dropped an 88-79 game to Murray State, then lost to Colorado in blowout fashion, 103-75.
The last ranked Texas-based and Big 12 team is Texas Tech at No.21. The Red Raiders feasted on their first three opponents, all mid- and low-majors, and looked comfortable doing it.
But Tech may drop in next week’s poll as they failed their first temperature check of the season, falling 76-65 to No.10 Creighton in a Monday night game.
Full AP Top 25 (First-Place Votes):
- North Carolina (47) 4-0 Last Week: 1
- Houston (9) 4-0 Last Week: 3
- Kansas (1) 4-0 Last Week: 6
- Texas (5) 4-0 Last Week: 11
- Virginia (1) 4-0 Last Week: 16
- Gonzaga 3-1 Last Week: 2
- Baylor 4-1 Last Week: 5
- Duke 4-1 Last Week: 7
- Arkansas 4-0 Last Week: 9
- Creighton 5-0 Last Week: 10
- Indiana 4-0 Last Week: 12
- Michigan State 3-1 Last Week: NR
- Auburn 4-0 Last Week: 13
- Arizona 4-0 Last Week: 14
- Kentucky 3-2 Last Week: 4
- Illinois 4-1 Last Week: 19
- San Diego State 4-0 Last Week: 17
- Alabama 4-0 Last Week: 18
- UCLA 3-2 Last Week: 8
- UConn 5-0 Last Week: 25
- Texas Tech 3-1 Last Week: 23
- Tennessee 2-1 Last Week: 22
- Maryland 5-0 Last Week: NR
- Purdue 3-0 Last Week: NR
- Iowa 4-0 Last Week: NR
Others receiving votes: TCU 82, Saint Mary’s 59, Ohio State 56, Michigan 24, Xavier 22, Charleston 17, Toledo 16, Miami (FL) 10, Dayton 9, Villanova 7, Arizona State 5, Virginia Tech 5, Saint Louis 5, UNLV 5, Oregon 4, West Virginia 3, Texas A&M 2, Utah State 1, Penn State 1, Mississippi State 1.