February has arrived, and college basketball’s two best teams have not yet buckled under the pressure of conference play. Auburn and Duke stood pat at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the latest AP Top 25 after holding serve on a weekend with double-digit losses elsewhere in the rankings.
The Tigers (20-1 overall, 8-0 in SEC play) remain a unanimous No. 1 after dispatching LSU and Ole Miss on the road since the last poll. The Blue Devils turned on the afterburners early against archrival North Carolina in an 87-70 win that pushed them to 11-0 in a struggling ACC and 19-2 overall.
Farther down the rankings, Texas Tech enjoyed the week’s biggest rise after taking down Houston 82-81 in overtime following the ejection of head coach Grant McCasland and leading scorer JT Toppin, good for a nine-spot jump to No. 13. And the Big Ten provided two of the week’s three Top 25 newcomers, as Maryland (No. 18) and Michigan (No. 24) returned to the rankings on the strength of perfect weeks to put their early-January stumbles in the rearview mirror.
Here’s the full poll, along with the ballot from The Athletic’s C.J. Moore:
AP Top 25: Feb. 3
| Rank | Team | Record | Prev | CJ’s vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
20-1 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
19-2 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
3 |
19-3 |
4 |
3 |
|
|
4 |
18-4 |
8 |
5 |
|
|
5 |
17-4 |
6 |
4 |
|
|
6 |
18-3 |
5 |
6 |
|
|
7 |
17-5 |
10 |
8 |
|
|
8 |
17-4 |
3 |
7 |
|
|
9 |
18-3 |
7 |
13 |
|
|
10 |
17-5 |
13 |
9 |
|
|
11 |
18-4 |
9 |
11 |
|
|
12 |
19-3 |
15 |
12 |
|
|
13 |
17-4 |
22 |
10 |
|
|
14 |
15-6 |
12 |
17 |
|
|
15 |
17-4 |
20 |
14 |
|
|
16 |
15-6 |
11 |
16 |
|
|
17 |
18-4 |
19 |
22 |
|
|
18 |
17-5 |
NR |
20 |
|
|
19 |
16-6 |
25 |
NR |
|
|
20 |
15-6 |
NR |
18 |
|
|
21 |
17-5 |
17 |
15 |
|
|
22 |
16-6 |
14 |
24 |
|
|
23 |
15-7 |
18 |
21 |
|
|
24 |
16-5 |
NR |
19 |
|
|
25 |
16-6 |
23 |
23 |
|
|
NR |
16-6 |
NR |
25 |
GO DEEPER
Men’s basketball Top 25: Duke’s defense, Bama’s offense and a blind resume test
We often see coaches start to show a decline as they age, but 72-year-old Rick Pitino is still as sharp as ever. St. John’s was No. 11 in my poll for the second straight week, moves up three spots to No. 12 in the poll and has a chance to crack the top 10 next week with two big opportunities for resume wins: home against Marquette on Tuesday and at UConn on Friday. Win those two, and the Johnnies could enter next week with a two-game lead in the Big East if Creighton drops a game — the Jays are at Providence and host Marquette. How significant would a Big East title be for St. John’s? Very. The Johnnies have not won the Big East since 1992.
GO DEEPER
Dan Hurley, college basketball villain? Actually, this sport could use more like him
The Terps return to my ballot following a five-week absence and come in at No. 18 in this week’s poll after winning their fourth straight game by knocking off Wisconsin. Maryland is up to 18 in adjusted efficiency margin at KenPom and 14 at Bart Torvik, and it has three wins against teams currently on my ballot. Former Belmont guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie has one of the best portal additions in the Big Ten. Gillespie is averaging 17.8 points and 6.8 assists over the winning streak and shooting 41.5 percent from 3 on the season.
GO DEEPER
Duke’s blowout over UNC shows Tobacco Road rivals are moving in opposite directions
Two teams thought to be Big 12 contenders but now desperately needing a win play each other Monday night in Lawrence. No. 8 Iowa State has lost two straight after a 17-2 start. They had terrible luck on the road last week at Arizona — burned by Caleb Love’s buzzer beater from beyond half court — and then no-showed at home against Kansas State. No. 16 Kansas, meanwhile, has lost on consecutive Saturdays when KenPom gave their opponent minimum win probabilities of 0.4 percent and 4.3 percent. The Jayhawks blew a 21-point lead at Baylor to lose by 11 over the weekend. It’s hard to see a path for Kansas to win the league, but Iowa State’s back half of the schedule presents the Cyclones with a chance at a rebound. A win at Allen Fieldhouse seems like a necessity now, though. If the Clones win in Lawrence and take care of business against TCU on Saturday at home, they’ll likely find themselves back in the top five next week.
(Photo of Texas Tech’s Darrion Williams: Maria Lysaker / Imagn Images)
