After exacting revenge on North Carolina on Saturday to complete a 29-2 regular season, Duke kept its hold on the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press men’s basketball Top 25 on Monday, receiving 56 of 61 first-place votes.
The Blue Devils, winners of 18 of their last 19, are the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament and in line to be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 68-team bracket will be revealed Sunday.
Behind Duke came the other three likely 1-seeds: No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Arizona and No. 4 Florida. The Gators have made a late surge and appear poised to secure the final spot on the top line after winning the SEC outright by three games.
Houston, UConn, Iowa State, Michigan State, Illinois and Virginia formed the rest of the top 10. For Virginia, the No. 10 ranking is its highest this season, and the first time the Cavaliers have been a top-10 team since February 2023.
St. John’s was the week’s biggest riser, climbing five spots to No. 13, while Texas Tech fell six spots to No. 16.
Here’s the full poll, along with the ballot of The Athletic’s C.J. Moore:
Rank
Team
Record
Prev
CJ’s vote
1
29-2
1
1
2
29-2
2
3
3
29-2
3
2
4
25-6
5
4
5
26-5
7
6
6
27-4
4
5
7
25-6
6
9
8
25-6
8
7
9
24-7
11
8
10
27-4
13
14
11
26-5
9
10
12
28-3
12
13
13
25-6
18
15
14
22-9
14
16
15
23-8
16
11
16
22-9
10
17
17
23-8
20
18
18
23-8
15
12
19
24-7
17
19
20
31-0
19
NR
21
27-4
21
21
22
24-7
24
22
23
22-9
NR
20
24
22-9
NR
24
25
21-10
23
23
NR
21-10
NR
25
Others receiving votes: Miami 60 (Fla.), TCU 19, BYU 18, Saint Louis 12, High Point 11, Georgia 10, Villanova 10, UCLA 3, VCU 3, Stephen F. Austin 2, Utah State 2, Ohio State 2, Missouri 2, Akron 1.
Florida’s steady climb
Florida moved up to No. 4 this week, swapping places with UConn on my poll, and what really matters is that Florida is now the favorite for the final No. 1 seed. UConn has the head-to-head advantage, but Florida now ranks higher in six of the seven rankings listed on the NCAA’s team sheets. Florida also has four more Quad-1 wins. UConn’s two sub-80 losses — Creighton and Marquette — could be too much to overcome, even if UConn wins the Big East tournament and Florida fails to win the SEC tournament.
Also rising: Alabama
Alabama is now in a position to grab a No. 3 seed. I ranked the Crimson Tide every week this season, but they fell out of the AP poll for the first two weeks of February. Alabama has won nine of 10, has no bad losses all season and will be a team I’d consider for a Final Four run if the matchups are right. Nate Oats once again has one of the best offenses in college hoops. Labaron Philon Jr. and Aden Holloway are a nightmare to guard in space, and Oats has plenty of shooting surrounding them. The defense and rebounding are questionable, but this team has dealt with injuries throughout the season and seems to finally be healthy.
Why I ranked UCLA
UCLA is another team I’ll be considering for a surprising run in my bracket and I picked the Bruins at No. 25 this week. As I mentioned in my weekly rankings column, UCLA is one of only nine teams with three wins (Purdue, Illinois and Nebraska) against the top 15 in my rankings. The Bruins now rate as the 25th-best team in the composite quality metrics on the team sheets. Those predictive systems are my justification for continuing not to rank Miami (Ohio), which ranks 92 at BPI, 91 at KenPom and 85 at Bart Torvik. The RedHawks are one of the best stories in the sport, but I don’t believe they’re one of the best 25 teams. I’ll happily eat crow if they go on a run to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.