Alabama moved up one spot in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll Monday from No. 4 to No. 3 after a perfect week in SEC play that included a road win over No. 14 Mississippi State and a home win over Georgia to improve to 8-1 in conference play. The Crimson Tide’s rise was aided by a loss by Iowa State, which had been ranked No. 3 for two consecutive weeks, after it stumbled twice this week in Big 12 play with losses to Arizona and Kansas State and fell to No. 8.
Alabama began the season ranked No. 2 and fell in the poll each of the first four weeks of the regular season to as far as No. 10 after a 6-2 start to the season that included losses to Purdue and Oregon. Since December, however, it has won 13 of its last 14 games led by the highest-scoring offense in college basketball.
Bama’s rise has been one of the biggest storylines in the SEC this season, overshadowed only by rival Auburn’s dominance all season. Auburn remained at No. 1 in the AP poll Monday for a fourth consecutive week and is the unanimous No. 1 for a third consecutive week after earning all 62 first-place votes.
Duke, on the heels of an 87-70 win over rival North Carolina over the weekend, remained at No. 2 for a third consecutive week, extending its stay in the top five to nine weeks. The Blue Devils did not pick off any first-place votes from the No. 1 Tigers but earned a season-high 1,488 points in the poll, up from 1,484 a week ago.
AP Top 25
- Auburn (62)
- Duke
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Houston
- Florida
- Purdue
- Iowa State
- Michigan State
- Texas A&M
- Marquette
- St. John’s
- Texas Tech
- Kentucky
- Missouri
- Kansas
- Memphis
- Maryland
- UConn
- Arizona
- Wisconsin
- Mississippi State
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Ole Miss
Also receiving votes: Clemson 182, Saint Mary’s 136, Louisville 86, Creighton 50, Oregon 39, UCLA 26, New Mexico 23, Drake 18, Gonzaga 11, Utah St. 8, Vanderbilt 4, Baylor 3, George Mason 3, Texas 1, Oklahoma 1.
