Villanova latest No. 1 in AP poll

The Wildcats are the sixth team this season to occupy the top spot in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

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Villanova joined an exclusive club Monday. The Wildcats are now among the 57 schools to have been ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press college basketball poll. The Wildcats had been ranked No. 2 seven times — last time the final poll of last season — but had never made that one step up.

“There’s still a lot of basketball left to be played and handling this will be another challenge for our team,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “We look forward to it.”

There are eight schools to have held the top spot for one — and only one — week. The most recent was Tennessee in 2007-08 and Wisconsin the year before.

UCLA is the all-time leader with 134 weeks at the top — the last in 2006-07 — and Duke is next at 127, the last in 2012-13.

The only other schools to have spent over 100 weeks at the top are Kentucky (115) and North Carolina (113).

As far as the most weeks spent at No. 2 without reaching No. 1 is this week’s No. 2, Maryland. The Terrapins are in the runner-up spot for the 26th time. The only other school in double figures is Purdue at 10 weeks. Dayton and St. Bonaventure, both at seven weeks, were the only other schools above Villanova on the list.

Who’s No. 1

Villanova becomes the sixth school to hold the No. 1 spot this season, just one off the record.

North Carolina and Kentucky were both No. 1 for two weeks. Michigan State held it for three, Kansas two and Oklahoma three.

There were seven teams ranked No. 1 in 1982-83: Houston, Indiana, Memphis, UNLV, North Carolina, UCLA, Virginia.

There have been six No. 1s in five other seasons, the last in 2008-09: North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Duke, Connecticut, Louisville.

New guy

Texas moves in at No. 24, the Longhorns’ first ranking since last season. They were ranked for the first 13 weeks of 2014-15, reaching as high as sixth. This is their first ranking under firstyear coach Shaka Smart. Texas (16-7) comes in on a four-game winning streak and the Longhorns have won seven of eight with the only loss at Kansas.