The AP Top-25 Poll for men’s college basketball was released on Monday, and the Auburn Tigers hold onto the No. 1 ranking despite losing to the No. 3 Florida Gators. The No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide will have a chance to take over the top spot from Auburn on Saturday as the Crimson Tide host the Tigers in a highly anticipated matchup.
On the other side of the top-25 poll, the Oregon Ducks, UConn Huskies, and Illinois Fighting Illini are all on the outside looking in of the top 25 teams.
Led by coach Dan Hurley, the previously ranked No. 19 UConn Huskies fell out of the top-25 for the first time of the season. The back-to-back defending national champions have had a tumultuous season, most recently losing at home to No. 9 St. Johns.
Then-ranked No. 23 Illinois lost on the road against Rutgers, and the Fighting Illini have struggled as of late, losing four out of their last seven games. Illinois also has one of the toughest remaining schedules in the country, with five more regular season games against ranked opponents remaining: No. 11 Michigan State, No. 16 Wisconsin, No. 3 Duke, No. 20 Michigan, and No. 7 Purdue.
The Ducks fell out of the rankings on Feb. 3 and subsequently lost two ranked matchups on the road to Michigan and Michigan State. Oregon coach Dana Altman and his team have now lost five consecutive games, and they are expected to be unranked for a second consecutive week.
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The Auburn Tigers suffered their second loss of the season, and their first loss in SEC conference play against then-ranked No. 6 Florida Gators at home. Prior to the weekend, Auburn’s only loss of the season was a six-point defeat to the Duke Blue Devils, and the Tigers were voted as the unanimous No. 1 team in the country by the AP voters.
After defeating the consensus No. 1 team, the Gators moved up three spots to a tie at No. 3 with the Duke Blue Devils.
Duke was upset by Clemson on the same day that Auburn fell to Florida, making way for Alabama to climb to the top of the rankings. Auburn still holds the best record in the country with only two losses, while Duke joins Alabama, Florida, and St. John’s as the few three-loss teams remaining.
AP Top-25 Poll:
1 Auburn
2 Alabama
3 Florida
3 Duke
5 Tennessee
6 Houston
7 Purdue
8 Texas A&M
9 St. John’s
10 Iowa State
11 Michigan State
12 Texas Tech
13 Arizona
14 Memphis
15 Kentucky
16 Wisconsin
17 Kansas
18 Marquette
19 Ole Miss
20 Michigan
21 Missouri
22 Mississippi State
23 Clemson
24 Creighton
25 Maryland
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