Arizona strengthens hold on No. 1 in AP Top 25; Vanderbilt cracks top 10

Arizona tightened its hold on the top spot in The Associated Press Top 25 men's college basketball poll on Monday while Vanderbilt's unbeaten season has landed the Commodores in the top 10. A week ago, Arizona led then-No. 2 Michigan by a single point for the top spot to barely avoid what would have been only the second-ever tie at No. 1 in the poll's 78-year history. But with Wisconsin handing the Wolverines their first loss, the Wildcats (16-0) became the easy choice at the top by earning 60 of 61 first-place votes in the latest poll. Iowa State got the other first-place vote and moved up one spot to No. 2, followed by UConn. Michigan fell two spots to No. 4, though the metrics analysts still prefer Michigan. The Wolverines held the top spot in a 1-2 pairing with the Wildcats in analytics rankings by KenPom, Bart Torvik and Evan Miyakawa on Monday afternoon. The top tier No. 5 Purdue, No. 6 Duke and No. 7 Houston held their spots from last week, followed by the latest highlights for surprise unbeatens Nebraska and Vanderbilt. Nebraska (16-0) spent a second straight week in the top 10 and continued its season-long climb by moving up two spots to No. 8, matching that program's all-time highest ranking set in February 1966. Gonzaga was ninth, followed by the Commodores to round out the top 10. Vanderbilt (16-0) has not been in the top 10 since the 2011-12 preseason poll. Rising Virginia (14-2) continued its successful first run under Ryan Odom by making the week's biggest rise, jumping seven spots to No. 16 after home wins against California and Stanford in Atlantic Coast Conference play. No. 13 Illinois and No. 14 North Carolina each climbed three spots, while a total of seven teams moved up from last week's position. Falling Alabama (11-5) had the week's biggest fall, tumbling five spots to No. 18 after a loss at Vanderbilt followed by a home stumble against Texas. No. 21 Georgia and No. 24 Tennessee each slid three spots. In all, eight Top 25 teams dropped from last week's poll. Welcome to the poll Defending national champion Florida is back in the poll at No. 19, coming after the preseason No. 3-ranked team spent one week out of the rankings. The Gators joined three other new additions to the poll in No. 22 Clemson, No. 23 Utah State and No. 25 Seton Hall. Clemson and Utah State are in the poll for the first time this season after each cracked the AP Top 25 last year. It is Seton Hall's first AP Top 25 appearance since it was No. 20 in January 2022. Farewell (for now) Kansas fell out of the poll for a second time this season. The Jayhawks were ranked No. 19 in the preseason and were unranked for one week in November, then fell out again from No. 22 after a weekend loss at West Virginia. Iowa (No. 19), SMU (No. 24) and UCF (No. 25) were the other three teams to fall out of the poll. Conference watch The Southeastern Conference had a national-best six ranked teams, with five ranked 17th or lower. The Big 12, Big Ten and ACC each had five ranked teams, with the Big 12 and Big Ten each having all their teams inside the top 15. The Big East was next with two ranked teams, following by one each for the West Coast and Mountain West conferences.