Kansas holds off Auburn for No. 1

Kansas held off Auburn for the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday as Southeastern Conference teams grabbed three of the top four spots and two-time reigning national champion UConn nearly fell out entirely after an 0-3 week at the Maui Invitational.

The Jayhawks earned 35 of 61 first-place votes in the poll, while the Tigers got the remaining 26 and climbed two spots to No. 2 after wining the Maui title. The Huskies fell all the way to No. 25, barely avoiding becoming only the second team to go from No. 2 to unranked in a week in nearly four decades.

It was part of a turbulent week with holiday-week tournaments, leading to six new teams entering the rankings headlined by No. 12 Oregon and No. 16 Memphis.

Kansas (7-0), which beat Duke last week, had increased its margin on the No. 2-ranked team each week since the preseason poll and had a 107-point margin on the Huskies last week. But with the Tigers — ranked No. 1 in KenPom’s metrics — beating ranked Iowa State and North Carolina teams in the Maui title run, that margin is just nine points this week.

Auburn was joined by fellow SEC schools No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Kentucky, with each team climbing four spots. Marquette was next at No. 5, followed by Iowa State, Gonzaga, Purdue, Duke and Alabama to round out the top 10.

UConn’s slide

The Huskies (5-3) had won 17 straight games entering the Maui Invitational, but things quickly went awry with an opening-round overtime loss to Memphis in a game that had coach Dan Hurley fuming about officiating. UConn lost the next day to Colorado, then lost to Dayton in the seventh-place game to finish last in the prestigious tournament.

It was reminiscent of No. 2 Arizona’s 0-3 crash at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas in November 2017. But the Huskies avoided the same poll fate as the Wildcats, who became the first team to go from No. 2 to unranked in a week since Louisville in November 1986 after its tournament flop in the Great Alaska Shootout.

Welcome

Oregon led the week’s six new teams after beating Alabama to win the Players Era Festival championship, followed by Memphis after finishing second to Auburn in Maui.

No. 18 Pittsburgh, No. 19 Illinois, No. 21 Oklahoma – which won the Atlantis title – and San Diego State were the week’s other new additions.

Rising and falling

While Oregon jumped 26 spots to enter the AP Top 25, Marquette, Purdue and No. 13 Florida had the week’s biggest climbs within the poll, each rising five spots. No. 11 Wisconsin joined Tennessee and Kentucky with four-spot jumps as 10 teams rose from their spots in last week’s poll.

In all, seven teams fell from last week’s poll.

While UConn’s tumble stood out, No. 17 Houston fell 11 spots after losses to Alabama and now-No. 24 San Diego State in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

North Carolina also had a big fall, sliding eight spots to No. 20 after losses to Auburn and Michigan State in Maui. Gonzaga tumbled four spots to seventh after losing its Battle 4 Atlantis opener to West Virginia.

Status quo

No. 23 Mississippi joined Kansas as the only teams to hold their position from last week.

Farewell (for now)

Indiana (No. 14), Arkansas (No. 19), Creighton (No. 21), Xavier (No. 22), Arizona (No. 24) and Mississippi State (No. 25) fell out of the poll.

Conference watch

The SEC led all conferences with eight ranked teams, followed by the Big 12 with five. The Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conference each had three ranked teams, while the West Coast, American Athletic and Mountain West conferences each had one.