Houston becomes fifth team to reach No. 1 in AP Top 25
Now it is Houston's turn at the top of The Associated Press Top 25 men's college basketball poll.
The Cougars moved to No. 1 for the first time this season in Monday's latest poll, climbing one spot to end the six-week stay of reigning national champion Connecticut. Houston (243) became the fifth team to hold the top spot this season.
Purdue rose one spot to No. 2, while the Huskies' loss to Creighton dropped them to third in a poll that included South Florida cracking the rankings for the first time in program history.
Kelvin Sampson's Cougars spent seven weeks at No. 1 last year, their first stint at the top since the “Phi Slama Jama” days during the 1982-83 season with a team featuring future NBA greats like Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Now they're back, playing in a new conference (the Big 12) with the same defense-first formula that has Houston leading the country in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency (87.1 points allowed per 100 possessions).
“Our guys are tough,” Sampson said after an overtime win at Baylor. “We're not always pretty. But last time I checked this is not a beauty contest.”
The top 10 featured the same universe of teams, though in reshuffled order.
Tennessee moved up a spot to No. 4 for its highest ranking of the season, followed by Marquette. Arizona, Kansas, Iowa State, North Carolina and Duke rounded out the top 10. WOMEN'S AP TOP 25 >> Texas rose to its highest ranking in more than a year in The AP Top 25 women's poll after another week of shakeups amongst the top teams.
The Longhorns moved up two spots to No. 3 after four of the top seven teams lost at least one game last week. Texas hadn't been this high in the Top 25 since the school was also third on Nov. 14, 2022. Texas has won seven straight games and closes out the regular season this week against No. 20 Oklahoma and BYU. The Longhorns are a game behind the Sooners for first place in the Big 12.
South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 team, receiving all 35 votes from the national media panel, after routing Alabama and Kentucky. The Gamecocks clinched their third consecutive outright Southeastern Conference regular-season championship and eighth in 11 years. They visit Arkansas on Thursday night before hosting Tennessee in the regular-season finale on Sunday.
Ohio State was second in the poll. The Buckeyes clinched a share of the Big Ten title with their 14th consecutive win on Sunday.
Stanford was fourth after splitting a pair of home games against Arizona and Arizona State. Despite the loss to the Wildcats, the Cardinal clinched at least a share of their 27th Pac-12 regular-season championship.
Virginia Tech moved up three spots to fifth. The Hokies have won 10 consecutive games and earned at least a share of their first ACC regular-season title at 14-2.
Iowa, USC and UCLA followed the Hokies. LSU moved up four places to ninth and UConn climbed five spots to 10th. It's the first time that UCLA, LSU and UConn — which were in the top five in the preseason poll — are all in top 10 in a month.
OLD DOMINION COACH JONES ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT >> Old Dominion basketball coach Jeff Jones, who stepped away from his job last month following a heart attack and amid prostate cancer, announced his retirement.
Jones, 63, fought back tears during a 40-minute news conference in front of family, friends, staff members and current and former players. He tried to avoid making eye contact with several people close to him.
“I knew at some point it would happen,” said Jones, who suffered a heart attack at a tournament in Honolulu a few days before Christmas. “Dec. 20 kind of changed stuff. It gave me an opportunity to think about how grateful I am and what really matters. I've been so fortunate. Forty-one years. That's a long time. But the number of people I've been associated with over those years is just amazing . ... I feel like I'm a really lucky person.”
While Jones was home recovering, he learned he will need treatment for prostate cancer for a fourth time.
Jones finishes his 32-year coaching career with a record of 560-418, with eight NCAA Tournament appearances. He led his alma mater, Virginia, to an Elite Eight appearance in 1995 and an NIT championship in 1992. Jones said his health has improved.
IN MEN'S TOP25 GAMES ...
NO. 9 NORTH CAROLINA 75, MIAMI 71 >> RJ Davis poured in four straight 3-pointers during a riveting secondhalf stretch on his way to a careerhigh 42 points, and the Tar Heels (22-6, 14-3 Atlantic Coast) held off the skidding Hurricanes (15-14, 6-12) in Chapel Hill, N.C. Davis, a senior guard who set a Smith Center scoring record, had 21 points in each half. NO. 15 BAYLOR 62, TCU 54 >> Ja'Kobe Walter scored 13 of his 16 points after halftime, and the freshman started and capped a game-turning spurt by the Bears (20-8, 9-6 Big 12) against the Horned Frogs (19-9, 8-7) in Fort Worth, Texas.