AP College Basketball Poll 2024: Complete Week 3 Men’s Rankings Released | News, results, highlights, stats and rumours

On By Littum

Bleacher Report

Purdue and Kentucky were among the biggest risers in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll thanks to big wins last week.

The boiler makers revolted then-No. 2 Alabama 87-78, which vaulted them from 13th up to sixth. The Wildcats earned their first signature win of the Mark Pope era, beating Duke 77-72, jumping to ninth from 19th.

Freshman phenom Cooper Flagg made quite an impression in his third college game. Unfortunately, it was not enough to lift his team to victory.

Flagg had 26 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks against Kentucky.

Three-point shooting was the difference as the Wildcats shot 10-of-25 from beyond the arc. The Blue Devils, on the other hand, made just four of their 24 long-range attempts.

Purdue took a very different approach to attacking Alabama. The Boilermakers scored 34 points in the paint and got to the free throw line 25 times. Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 26 points, while Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer each had 17 points.

The players change in West Lafayette, but the payoff remains the same.

Raphael Davis @RaphealDavis3

And all this time I thought Purdue was only good because of Zach Edey and the refs.

Wisconsin also carried the Big Ten flag with distinction as it caught fire and handed Arizona a 15-point defeat.

The Wildcats outrebounded the Badgers 52-28 and held a plus-22 advantage on the offensive glass. They also had 16 more points in the paint. But Wisconsin shot 48.1 percent from the field and hit 12 long-range jumpers to counter Arizona’s prowess inside.

Badgers senior John Tonje had a scoring streak that has to be seen to be believed. He had 41 points, 21 of which came from the charity stripe.

Evan Miyakawa @EvanMiya

Wisconsin’s John Tonje scored an even 41 points on just 14 shots. He was 21/22 from the line.
No Division I player has scored that many points on just 14 shots since at least 2011.

The officiating crew was liberal with the whistle. Arizona and Wisconsin combined for 63 personal fouls and 87 free throw attempts.

This wasn’t exactly for the purists.

Looking ahead to the upcoming week, Purdue won’t be resting on its laurels. The Boilermakers will face Marquette in Milwaukee on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET.

Another exciting matchup puts St. John’s vs. Baylor in the Bahamas Championship. The Red Storm have moved into the top 25 in the AP poll for the first time since 2018-19. A win over the Bears would be an early sign that the program can potentially approach the heights it hoped for when it hired Rick Pitino.

The marquee game of the week arrives Friday, when Arizona welcomes Duke to Tucson. The Wildcats were swept by the Blue Devils last year, heralding an up-and-down regular season for the latter.

Head coach Jon Scheyer will be eager to set a very different tone in the rematch.