There’s a new No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll for the first time this season as Tennessee moved into the top spot and supplanted Kansas following a wild week in which the Jayhawks lost twice. The Vols jumped two spots from No. 3 and leapfrogged both KU and Auburn, which suffered its first loss of the season Wednesday to Duke and remained No. 2. It’s the first time since February 2019 that Tennessee has been ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll.
This marks the sixth time Tennessee has been ranked No. 1 in the weekly AP Top 25 poll with four of the previous instances spanning Weeks 12-15 in the 2018-19 season, when the Vols began the season 23-1 and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The previous instance came in Week 17 of the 2007-08 season after opening the season 25-2 under current Auburn coach Bruce Pearl.
Coach Rick Barnes has the Vols off to their best start since his tenure began in 2015 with an 8-0 record that includes wins over Louisville, Virginia, Baylor and most recently Syracuse. They own the No. 2 defense and No. 9 offense in adjusted efficiency ratings at KenPom.com and are No. 1 in scoring margin among all 364 Division I teams at +26.8 ppg.
AP voters gave Tennessee 58 of 62 first-place votes on the week after Kansas and Auburn split all the first-place votes last week. Kansas after its two losses this week moved from the No. 1 spot it occupied since the preseason down to No. 10. The movement spurred wholesale changes in the top 10 led by Iowa State’s rise to No. 3 and Duke’s leap up to No. 4 after beating Auburn and Louisville last week.
AP Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sunday, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
Others receiving votes: Baylor 150, Arizona St 143, Memphis 123, Missouri 119, Penn St. 90, Arkansas 89, Drake 67, Pittsburgh 62, Utah St. 57, Illinois 47, St. John’s 43, Maryland 39, Dayton 38, Creighton 32, Indiana 30, West Virginia 30, North Carolina 24, Georgia 21, Saint Mary’s 20, Texas 8, Rhode Island 3, Loyola Chicago 1.
Iowa State reaches high of modern era
Iowa State climbed three spots to No. 3 in this week’s poll, marking a new high for the Cyclones in the rankings since the 1956-57 season. They’ve opened the season 7-1 and made the leap into the top five this week after an 81-70 home win over Marquette.
An important historical poll
Every single national champion in college basketball since 2004 was ranked somewhere in the top 12 of the Week 6 AP Top 25. So if the last two decades are any indicator of this season, one of these 12 will win the championship this April:
1. Tennessee
2. Auburn
3. Iowa State
4. Duke
5. Kentucky
6. Marquette
7. Alabama
8. Gonzaga
9. Florida
10. Kansas
11. Purdue
12. Oregon
Auburn cashes in goodwill
I didn’t give AP voters enough credit this week — I thought they’d move Auburn down after a close loss on the road to Duke — but I was wrong. Voters instead kept the Tigers at No. 2 despite the loss, their first on the season, while course-correcting with a bump for Duke from No. 9 to No. 4. Keeping Auburn put seemed like the right move for a team that has looked like the best in the sport for the better part of the last month and has in the process collected one of the better resumes. Coming off an impressive Maui Invitational title last month, it clearly earned some goodwill from voters.
