Houston maintained its No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball rankings updated Monday, holding off transstate opponent Texas, who gained ground from Houston’s grip for the top spot but held on to No. 2. Houston received 37 first place finishes. Place votes to Texas ’14 after the gap was a 45-8 advantage in favor of the Cougars last week. No. 3 Virginia and No. 4 Purdue received three and eight first-place votes, respectively.
While Houston held onto its top spot, preseason No. 1 North Carolina’s decline in the latest rankings continued as it officially dropped out of the top 25, marking the earliest time a preseason No. 1 team had dropped out of the Ranking of AP Top fell out is 25 era. UNC opened its season 5-0 but has lost its last four, including on the road to Indiana and Virginia Tech last week. UCLA experienced a similar tumble in 1965-66 after the then-preseason No. 1 Bruins fell out of the ranks after just three weeks—back when only 10 teams were ranked.
The top of the AP poll this week — while the top three stayed the same — also has a new look. Purdue moved up one spot to No. 4, UConn and Kansas rose three spots to No. 5 and No. 6, Tennessee moved up from outside the top 10 to No. 7, and Alabama rose to No. 8 from No. 11. Arkansas, the last Also at No. 11 for the week with Alabama, Arizona rose to No. 9 while Arizona stayed in the top 10 at No. 10 despite a surprise loss to Utah on Thursday.
AP Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sunday, total scores based on 25 points for a first-place vote to one point for a 25th-place vote th place and last week’s ranking :
| rank | team | recording | Points | Before. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houston (37) | 8-0 | 1,502 | 1 |
| 2 | Texas (14) | 6-0 | 1,473 | 2 |
| 3 | Virginia (3) | 7-0 | 1,416 | 3 |
| 4 | Purdue (8) | 8-0 | 1,411 | 5 |
| 5 | UConn | 9-0 | 1,295 | 8th |
| 6 | Kansas | 8-1 | 1.131 | 9 |
| 7 | Tennessee | 7-1 | 1,046 | 13 |
| 8th | Alabama | 7-1 | 1,029 | T-11 |
| 9 | Arkansas | 7-1 | 1,021 | T-11 |
| 10 | Arizona | 7-1 | 1,013 | 4 |
| 11 | maroon | 8-0 | 853 | fifteen |
| 12 | Baylor | 6-2 | 841 | 6 |
| 13 | Maryland | 8-0 | 811 | 22 |
| 14 | Indiana | 7-1 | 759 | 18 |
| fifteen | duke | 8-2 | 745 | 17 |
| 16 | Kentucky | 6-2 | 596 | 19 |
| 17 | Illinois | 6-2 | 554 | 16 |
| 18 | gonzaga | 5-3 | 517 | 14 |
| 19 | UCLA | 7-2 | 479 | 21 |
| 20 | State of Iowa | 7-1 | 376 | 23 |
| 21 | Creighton | 6-3 | 346 | 7 |
| 22 | State of San Diego | 6-2 | 265 | 24 |
| 23 | State of Mississippi | 8-0 | 187 | NO |
| 24 | TCU | 6-1 | 113 | NO |
| 25 | State of Ohio | 6-2 | 81 | 25 |
Others get votes: Iowa 70, Charleston 54, Miami 29, Virginia Tech 27, Arizona St 20, Utah 16, Wisconsin 16, UNLV 14, Texas Tech 10, West Virginia 8, Marquette 7, Xavier 6, New Mexico 3, Michigan State 3, Memphis 3, Missouri 2, North Carolina 1, State of Kansas 1.