Alabama is the brand new No. 1, rising to the highest spot in The Associated Press Top 25 males’s faculty basketball ballot for the first time in 20 years.
Purdue’s loss to Northwestern final week triggered a jumble on the prime of the AP Top 25 and that helped the Crimson Tide.
Alabama obtained 38 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel Monday, transferring up two spots to leapfrog No. 2 Houston. The Cougars had 22 first-place votes to stay at No. 2 and Purdue, all the way down to No. 3, nonetheless had two first-place votes.
UCLA and Kansas rounded out the highest 5.
Alabama has made a reputation for itself as greater than only a soccer college since coach Nate Oats arrived from Buffalo in in 2019. The Crimson Tide reached the NCAA (*20*)’s Elite Eight two years in the past and Oats pulled in one of many nation’s finest recruiting lessons final yr.
Alabama is No. 1 for the first time since spending two weeks atop the ballot halfway by means of the 2002-03 season. It is also the first college to be No. 1 in the AP soccer and basketball polls in the identical season since Ohio State in 2010-11.
Alabama (22-3, 12-0 Southeastern Conference) beat Auburn and Florida final week, with its solely loss since mid-December coming at Oklahoma in a nonconference recreation on Jan. 28.
“Our team is playing good basketball right now,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl mentioned after a 77-69 loss to the Crimson Tide on Saturday. “We’re playing well. We’re just not playing well enough to beat the best team in the country.”
BOUNCING BOILERMAKERS
Purdue managed to stay at No. 1 final week regardless of dropping to No. 14 Indiana. The Boilermakers weren’t so lucky after a 64-58 loss to Northwestern on Sunday.
The Wildcats swarmed 7-foot-4 Purdue middle Zach Edey, who had 24 factors however dedicated six turnovers. The Boilermakers shot 36% from the sphere and missed their closing 13 pictures from 3-point vary.
“Just got to show more poise and toughness than we did,” Purdue coach Matt Painter mentioned.
RISING/FALLING
No. 9 Baylor and No. 18 Creighton made the largest strikes of the week, every gaining 5 spots.
The Bears beat Oklahoma and picked up a street win at No. 22 TCU final week. The Bluejays beat Seton Hall and eked out a 56-53 win over No. 20 UConn to stretch their successful streak to eight video games to stay in rivalry for the Big East regular-season title.
No. 19 Iowa State had the largest drop, dropping eight locations following losses to West Virginia and Oklahoma State.
IN AND OUT
Florida Atlantic was the one group to maneuver into the ballot, returning at No. 25 after dropping out final week. The Owls beat Rice and Louisiana Tech final week after being ranked for the first time in college historical past earlier this season.
Rutgers fell out of the ballot for the second time this season, dropping from No. 24 after dropping to Indiana and Illinois.
CONFERENCE WATCH
The Big East and Big 12 conferences had essentially the most groups in this week’s ballot with 5 every. The ACC, SEC and Big Ten every had three ranked groups, with the Pac-12 and West Coast conferences two every.
Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference and American Athletic Conference had one apiece.
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AP faculty basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
put up credit score to (*1*)