Gonzaga is No. 1 for the third straight week in The Associated Press college basketball poll.
The Oregon Ducks (22-4, 11-2 Pac-12), who reached as high as No. 5 this season and were there as recently as last week, fell to No. 7 after squandering a 19-point lead Thursday night at UCLA in the 82-79 loss.
The Zags (26-0), the lone unbeaten team in Division I, received 60 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel on Monday.
Villanova (24-2), which received the other five first-place votes, and Kansas held second and third, while Baylor moved from sixth to fourth.
The top four teams match those announced Saturday as the preliminary No. 1 seeds by the NCAA Tournament selection committee, although its order was Villanova, Kansas, Baylor and Gonzaga.
Arizona jumped from ninth to fifth and was followed by fellow Pac-12 members UCLA and Oregon, while Louisville, West Virginia and North Carolina round out the top 10.
Notre Dame returns to the poll at No. 25 after being out for one week. The Fighting Irish replace Xavier.
Wisconsin dropped from seventh to 11th and was followed by Duke, Kentucky, Virginia, Florida, Purdue, Florida State, Cincinnati, SMU and Creighton.
The last five ranked teams were South Carolina, Saint Mary’s, Maryland, Butler and Notre Dame.
It was another week of losses by ranked teams, with 12 of the Top 25 losing last week.
The week’s biggest jump and fall came from the same game. SMU moved from 25th to No. 19 and Cincinnati dropped from 11th to No. 18 after the Mustangs ended the Bearcats’ 15-game winning streak on Sunday. Duke, which beat North Carolina and Clemson last week, also moved up six places, from 18th to No. 12.
Notre Dame, which was ranked for nine weeks before dropping out last week, returns to the poll after beating Florida State on Saturday.
Xavier, which has been beset by injuries, dropped out from 24th after losing to Villanova. The Musketeers were ranked seventh in the preseason poll and returned last week after being out of one poll.
The Atlantic Coast Conference leads the way with six ranked teams while the Big East, Big 12, Pac-12, Big Ten and Southeastern Conference all have three.
Kansas will have two games against ranked teams this week, Monday against West Virginia and Saturday at Baylor.
Other double-ranked games are Duke at Virginia on Wednesday, Virginia at North Carolina on Saturday and Maryland at Wisconsin on Sunday.
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 12, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
RecordPtsPrv 1. Gonzaga (60) 26-0 1620 1 2. Villanova (5) 24-2 1564 2 3. Kansas 22-3 1493 3 4. Baylor 22-3 1394 6 5. Arizona 23-3 1301 9 6. UCLA 23-3 1276 10 7. Oregon 22-4 1229 5 8. Louisville 20-5 1204 4 9. West Virginia 20-5 1012 13 10. North Carolina 21-5 1005 8 11. Wisconsin 21-4 868 7 12. Duke 20-5 857 18 13. Kentucky 20-5 854 15 14. Virginia 18-6 825 12 15. Florida 20-5 717 17 16. Purdue 20-5 682 16 17. Florida State 21-5 665 14 18. Cincinnati 22-3 634 11 19. SMU 22-4 415 25 20. Creighton 21-4 298 23 21. South Carolina 20-5 296 19 22. Saint Mary’s 22-3 269 20 23. Maryland 21-4 136 21 24. Butler 19-6 129 22 25. Notre Dame 19-7 122 —
Others receiving votes: Wichita State 87, Xavier 72, Northwestern 60,Southern Cal 16, VCU 14, Dayton 4, Middle Tennessee 3, Monmouth 2, Oklahoma State 1, Vermont 1.
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