The opening week of the 2024-25 college basketball season is complete, featuring four marquee ranked-on-ranked matchups that could significantly shuffle the top 10 of the AP Top 25 poll on Monday.
Auburn was the biggest winner of the week. The Tigers played a neutral-site game against Houston in a hostile environment on Saturday and came away with a 74-69 victory. Just hours before Auburn earned a signature win for its résumé, Baylor defeated John Calipari’s Arkansas team 72-67, rebounding from a blowout loss to Gonzaga days earlier.
Kansas survived a furious comeback attempt from North Carolina to secure a 92-89 win. The Tar Heels rallied from a 20-point deficit in the first half to take a late lead before Kansas All-America big man Hunter Dickinson scored a go-ahead layup with just over a minute remaining, capping off an early candidate for the best game of the season.
Not every team in the rankings survived an upset bid. No. 22 UCLA fell to New Mexico 72-64, and UCF knocked off No. 13 Texas A&M 64-61 on opening night. Ohio State defeated No. 19 Texas 80-72 to start Year 1 of the Jake Diebler era with a bang.
Here’s how we project the new AP Top 25 poll to look on Monday after games played Nov. 4-10.
1. Kansas (Last week — 1): Kansas remains at No. 1 after recording a thrilling 92-89 win over North Carolina at home. The Jayhawks led by as many as 20 points in the first half before the Tar Heels came back to take a late lead. Kansas star Hunter Dickinson scored a go-ahead bucket with 1:07 left and knocked down a free throw in the final moments to seal the win. It wasn’t pretty, but Kansas passed its first test as the No. 1 team.
2. Alabama (2): Alabama opened the season with a dominant 110-54 win over UNC Asheville and held off a late rally from Arkansas State later in the week for an 88-79 victory. The Crimson Tide should hold firm at No. 2 next week.
3. UConn (3): The reigning champions remain No. 3 after firing off wins over Sacred Heart and New Hampshire in dominant fashion. The first test — and opportunity to move up from this spot — will come during the Maui Invitational later this month.
4. Auburn (11): Auburn holds the best win of any team this season — a 74-69 triumph over Houston in the Cougars backyard. The Tigers rallied behind a huge performance from freshman Tahaad Pettiford off the bench. The Tigers should get the biggest bump in the rankings of any team this week.
5. Gonzaga (6): The Bulldogs made a statement with the 101-63 win over Baylor during the opening night and looked like one of the best teams in the country in the process. The Bulldogs used a balanced scoring attack and incredible defense to blitz Baylor.
6. Iowa State (5): Iowa State opened the season with a blowout 83-44 win over Mississippi Valley State. With Gonzaga taking care of business against a top-10 opponent, we’re projecting voters will give Mark Few’s squad a bump in the rankings, which would drop the Cyclones a spot.
7. Duke (7): The Blue Devils took care of business against Maine and Army during the opening week. The real test(s) will come during the next month with games against Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas and Auburn on the horizon.
8. Houston (4): Houston should be the highest-ranked one-loss team — ahead of North Carolina and Baylor — come Monday. The Cougars recorded a 57-point victory over Jackson State in the opener and lost to Auburn by five. That should keep them in the top 10.
9. Arizona (10): Arizona started the season strong with blowout wins over Canisius and Old Dominion. The Wildcats face Wisconsin in Madison next week, which should serve as an opportunity to jump higher in the rankings.
10. Tennessee (12): Life without All-American guard Dalton Knecht started with victories over Gardner-Webb and Louisville. The 77-55 win over the Cardinals on the road should help the Vols jump into the top 10.
11. North Carolina (9): Don’t expect voters to drop North Carolina far because there’s no shame in losing by three to the top-ranked team in the country on the road. The Tar Heels struggled in their opener against Elon and looked sluggish in the first 20 minutes against Kansas before flipping the switch in the second half.
12. Baylor (8): Baylor’s season started with a blowout loss to Gonzaga in Spokane, but Scott Drew’s squad rebounded in a big way with a 72-67 win over Arkansas in Dallas. The win over the Razorbacks should help Baylor stay in the top 15.
13. Purdue (14): The post-Zach Edey era started with double-digit wins over Texas A&M-CC and Northern Kentucky. Purdue star guard Braden Smith recorded 23 assists to get his Big Ten Player of the Year campaign is off to a good start. The Boilermakers should get a bump with teams in the middle of the rankings losing.
14. Creighton (15): Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 49 points in Creighton’s opener against UT-Rio Grande Valley. Kalkbrenner made 20 of his 22 shot attempts and scored the third-most points by a power conference player since the 2010-11 season. The loss by Texas A&M should help the Bluejays move up.
15. Indiana (17): Indiana outscored Eastern Illinois 54-18 in the second half on Sunday for a 90-55 win. The Hoosiers trailed 37-36 at halftime before pulling away in the second half for a blowout win. Indiana struggled in its opener against SIUE but came away with an 80-61 victory.
16. Marquette (18): Marquette opened with wins over Stony Brook and George Mason to improve to 2-0. The Golden Eagles should be slotted just ahead of Arkansas.
17. Arkansas (16): Arkansas shouldn’t drop too far in the rankings after losing to Baylor in a nail-biter. The Razorbacks should be the fourth-highest-ranked one-loss team behind Houston, North Carolina and Baylor.
18. Cincinnati (20): Cincinnati knocked off Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Morehead State in its first two games. Similar to other teams near the bottom of the rankings, the Bearcats are in position for a small bump.
19. Florida (21): Florida opened with a 98-83 win over South Florida and followed it up with a 21-point win over Jacksonville. The Gators should move up a few spots due to the shuffling in the middle of the rankings.
20. Kentucky (23): Mark Pope’s tenure at Kentucky is off to a good start. The Wildcats scored more than 100 points in each of their first two games against Wright State and Bucknell. The first real test will come against Duke next week in the Champions Classic.
21. Ohio State (NR): After recording an 80-72 win over Texas in Las Vegas, Ohio State should enter the rankings. The Buckeyes received the seventh-most votes among unranked teams in the preseason poll, and a win over a top-20 opponent should be enough to vault Ohio State into the top 25.
22. Texas A&M (13): The Aggies opened the season with a 64-61 loss on the road to UCF. While a loss to an unranked opponent is far from ideal, Texas A&M should remain in the rankings because of their high preseason billing. Texas A&M knocked off East Texas A&M to improve to 1-1.
23. Rutgers (25): No Ace Bailey? No problem. Rutgers cruised to a 75-52 win over Wagner behind a big performance from guard Dylan Harper. The first test of the season will come later in the month against Alabama.
24. Ole Miss (24): Ole Miss didn’t really do anything to improve its ranking. The Rebels needed a late rally to pull away from Grambling State for a 66-64 win at home. A loss would’ve certainly dropped Ole Miss out of the poll, but for now, the Rebels remain.
25. New Mexico (NR): New Mexico made a statement and showed they could be the team to beat in the Mountain West with a 72-64 win over UCLA. The Lobos didn’t receive votes from voters in the preseason poll but should be a popular choice to enter the rankings after the 2-0 start.
Projected to drop out: No. 19 Texas, No. 22 UCLA