Kansas remains No. 1 in AP poll; Wisconsin joins the rankings

Kansas strengthened its grip on the No. 1 in AP Top 25.

The rest of the top 10 became a jumble of teams trading places.

The Jayhawks received five first-place votes in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released Monday, receiving 49 from a 61-person media panel. No. 2 UConn had seven first-place votes, No. 3 Gonzaga received two and No. 4 Auburn three. Iowa State climbed two spots to round out the top five.

The mix started with No. 8 Alabama’s 87-78 loss to no. 6 Purdue, a game that dropped the Crimson Tide six spots and bumped the Boilermakers up seven. Losses by Duke and Arizona shook up the top 10 further.

Blue Devils no. 12 fell six places from last week after theirs 77-72 loss to no. 9 Kentucky. The Wildcats climbed 10 spots to their first top-10 finish this season. Arizona lost 103-88 on no. 19 Wisconsin and dropped eight spots to no. 17. The Badgers are ranked for the first time this season.

Kansas backed up its win over North Carolina in the opening week of the season by beating Michigan State and Oakland last week.

UConn continued to pounce in its bid for a third straight national championship, blowing out Le Moyne 90-49. Gonzaga crushed UMass Lowell, Auburn rolled over Kent State and Iowa State beat Kansas City by 26.

no. 7 Houston moved up one place and bounced back from one 74-69 loss to Auburn by blowing out Louisiana-Lafayette.

Build badgers

Wisconsin had to reload its roster after an upset loss to James Madison in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

Coach Greg Gard filled the gaps with some solid additions through the transfer portal, but the Badgers were still picked to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten.

The projections may have been off.

After rolling through three easy wins against smaller conference schools, Wisconsin made a few waves by running over Arizona. John Tonje scored 41 points, two shy of the school record, and the Badgers never trailed in a convincing win over a top-10 team that led to an impassioned speech after the game by Gard.

In and out

No. 25 Illinois joined Wisconsin as the only teams to move into the top 25. Illini knocked out Oakland 66-54 last week.

Ole Miss fell from No. 25 despite beating South Alabama and Colorado State last week. Ohio State fell from No. 21 after its 78-64 loss to no. 23 Texas A&M.

Rises and falls

Arizona had the biggest drop, losing eight spots. Alabama and Duke were next, each dropping six spots.

Kentucky had the biggest jump among teams already in the poll, climbing 10 spots, and Purdue was next at seven.

Conference clock

The Southeastern Conference led the way with seven ranked teams, including No. 11 Tennessee, no. 20 Arkansas and no. 21 Florida.

The Big 12 has six teams in the poll and the Big Ten five, followed by the Big East with four. The Atlantic Coast Conference has two, while the West Coast Conference has one.

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