Florida Remains No. 1, followed by Wichita State and Arizona
The latest AP poll in NCAA men’s basketball has the Florida Gators on top. The No. 1 Gators received 46 of the 65 first place votes. Florida is 27-2 on the season and amidst a winning streak of 21 games. Following Florida at No. 2 and No. 3 were the Wichita State Shockers and the Arizona Wildcats respectively.
Wichita State has become the first time since the 2004 Saint Joseph’s squad to start its season-ending conference tournament undefeated. The Shockers are 31-0 and received No. 1 voting on 14 ballots, while Arizona at 27-2 was on five first place ballots.
Duke moved into the No. 4 spot. The Blue Devils moved up from No. 6 last week. Virginia, which earned its first ACC title outright since 1981 moved from No. 12 to No. 5. This is the first time in 13 seasons the Cavaliers have been in the top 10.
The Cavaliers won their last outright ACC championship when Ralph Sampson, the national player of the year for three years, played and the team was ranked in the top 10 all season.
In the preseason poll this season, Virginia was voted as No. 24. Following Virginia was Villanova at No. 6. Rounding out the top 10 were the Syracuse Orange, Kansas Jayhawks, Wisconsin Badgers and San Diego State Aztecs.
Oklahoma and Connecticut were back in the Top 25 replacing Texas and Ohio State. UConn, which is 6-1 over its past 7 games, had a big win over Cincinnati who at the time was No. 11. The Huskies are No. 19 in the poll.
Oklahoma is No. 23 after falling out of the poll for the past three weeks. Oklahoma has won three of its past four overall and defeated Texas in their last game.
The Buckeyes lost twice to Indiana and Penn State to fall out of the rankings. Ohio State has been ranked as high as third in the nation. The Buckeyes started the season ranked No. 11.
Texas was No. 24 a week ago but has lost three of its past four overall including the loss to Oklahoma.
Eight games this week will feature ranked teams playing one another. Half of the eight will be in the American Athletic Conference. Louisville, ranked No. 11 will play SMU ranked No. 18 on Wednesday. Memphis ranked No. 20 will play Cincinnati ranked No. 15 on Thursday. SMU will plays Memphis and Louisville hosts Connecticut over the weekend.
On Thursday in the Big 10, Iowa visits Michigan, while on Saturday in the SEC Kentucky plays Florida. The ACC will feature North Carolina visiting Duke, while the Mountain West features San Diego State hosting New Mexico.
Friday could determine the first of the 68 teams in the NCAA tournament if Harvard defeats Yale on the road. The Ivy League is the only conference out of 32 with an automatic bid that does not have a season ending tournament.
The Crimson clinched a tie for the title. Harvard can win their fourth straight outright with a win on Friday.
Thirteen of 31 conference tournaments start this week.
