While Gonzaga and Baylor remain firmly at the top of The Associated Press’ men’s basketball poll, Shaka Smart and fourth-place Texas are also pushing the top of the rankings.
The top-ranked Zags and second-placed Bears remained 1-2 in Monday’s last Top 25, as they have all season. But the Longhorns jumped four places after a lopsided weekend win in Kansas to earn the program’s highest rank under their sixth-year coach, as well as the first top-5 rankings since February 2011.
“If this is the highlight on January 2, it would be really, really disappointing,” said Smart after the 84-59 win against the Jayhawks. ‘It’s something we’ll talk about a lot. I asked the guys in the locker room if this was all they wanted. That is clearly a rhetorical question: they want more. ‘ Texas (8-1) started the year at number 19 and had not cracked the top 10 under Smart before this season. The Longhorns had not made the top five since they had been at number 3 for three weeks, followed by a week at number 5 in February 2011 under former coach Rick Barnes.
THE TOP TIER
Mark Few’s Bulldogs got 63 of the 64 first place votes in Monday’s poll, while Scott Drew’s Bears got the other vote. Gonzaga and Baylor have topped all seven polls so far this season.
Villanova climbed a spot to number 3 on the same day the program announced a break in team activities due to problems with the coronavirus.
Iowa, Kansas, Creighton, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Michigan completed the top 10, while No. 11 Houston and No. 14 West Virginia slipped out of last week’s group.
RISING
The Wolverines (9-0) had the biggest jump of the week, up six places after victories against Maryland and then No. 19 Northwest. Michigan has now cracked the top 10 in each of Juwan Howard’s two seasons as a coach, including last year’s meteoric rise from unranked to No. 4 after winning the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas.
Iowa, No. 16 Minnesota and No. 19 Virginia Tech each climbed five places, while No. 17 Oregon joined Texas and Creighton in four places.
In total, 10 teams have risen from last week’s rankings.
TO SLIDE
No. Florida State had its biggest fall of the week, dropping seven places after losing to Clemson and then postponing its game against No. 21 Duke due to coronavirus problems within the Seminoles program.
Houston and No. 23 Michigan State fell six places each, while No. 18 Texas Tech joined West Virginia with five places.
No. Kansas fell three places after losing to Texas, dropping the total number of teams from last week’s rankings to 11.
THE STATUS QUO
Gonzaga and Baylor were the only teams to hold their position from last week.
WELCOME
No. 19 Clemson was back in the poll for the second time this season, tying fellow Atlantic Coast Conference team Virginia Tech. The other new addition was Saint Louis, with the Billikens pegging Michigan State at number 23 to make their first AP Top 25 appearance since the 2013-14 season.
FAREWELL (FOR NOW)
Northwestern (No. 19) and Ohio State (No. 25) dropped out of the poll to make way for Clemson and Saint Louis.
CONFERENCE WATCH
The Big Ten still has the largest number of ranked teams, although the Big 12 has a strong showing in the top tier of the poll.
The Big Ten has seven ranked teams, including three in the top 10, along with No. 12 Illinois and No. 15 Rutgers. But the Big 12 has three of the top six teams in Baylor, Texas, and Kansas, and five teams in all.
The ACC also has five teams, but again it is a backloaded mess. The Tigers and Hokies are the highest of that quintet at No. 19, followed by Duke, No. 22 Virginia, and No. 25 FSU.
The Big East (Villanova and Creighton) and the Southeastern Conference (Tennessee and No. 13 Missouri) are the only other leagues with multiple ranked teams.