Taking advantage of upset losses by the two top-ranked teams last week, defending national champion UConn reached No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since the 2008-09 season, according to the latest poll released Monday.
Meanwhile, Gonzaga (11-5), which lost 77-76 to Santa Clara on Thursday, tumbled out of the rankings for the first time in eight years. The topsy-turvy week also saw five teams enter the poll.
UConn (15-2), which was No. 4 last week, garnered 39 of 63 first-place votes to climb over previous No. 1 Purdue. The Boilermakers (15-2) received 20 first-place votes and fell one spot to No. 2.
Kansas (14-2) held on to the No. 3 position, followed by North Carolina (13-3), which jumped three spots. Houston (14-2) rounded out the top five after dropping three places following two losses to unranked teams — a 68-67 loss to TCU on Saturday and a 57-53 loss to Iowa State on Tuesday.
No. 6 Tennessee (12-4) leads the next five, followed by No. 7 Duke (13-3), No. 8 Kentucky (12-3), No. 9 Baylor (14-2) and Memphis (15-2).
Baylor was the biggest riser of the week, climbing five places in the poll. No. 15 Oklahoma (13-3) and No. 17 Marquette (11-5) each plummeted six spots.
Added to the rankings this week are No. 19 TCU (13-3), No. 21 Dayton (13-2), No. 22 Ole Miss (15-1), No. 24 Iowa State (13-3) and No. 25 Texas Tech (14-2).
In addition to Gonzaga, Texas, Clemson, San Diego State and Colorado State dropped out of the Top 25.
The rest of the top 25:
11. Wisconsin
12. Arizona
13. Auburn
14. Illinois
15. Oklahoma
16. Utah State
17. Marquette
18. Creighton
19. TCU
20. BYU
21. Dayton
22. Ole Miss
23. Florida Atlantic
24. Iowa State
25. Texas Tech
–Field Level Media
