Gonzaga, Baylor remain atop AP poll
Trio of Big Ten teams rounds out top five
Gonzaga’s bid for a wire-to-wire run at No. 1 keeps chugging along.
Baylor is still right there with the Zags.
Gonzaga received 60 first-place votes from a media panel in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released on Monday, picking up one vote from last week. The second-ranked Bears received the other four first-place votes in a week of little change.
Gonzaga and Baylor have been 1-2 all season.
Michigan, Ohio State and Illinois rounded out the top five for the second straight week. The Buckeyes held their ground despite losing 92-87 to the Wolverines on Saturday.
The Zags (22-0, 13-0 West Coast Conference) ran over Saint Mar y’s and San Diego last week in their bid to become the first wireto-wire No. 1 since Kentucky in 2014-15.
Gonzaga has won 26 consecutive games after blowing out San Diego 106-69 on Saturday and hasn’t really been tested despite playing one of the nation’s toughest schedules.
Baylor (17-0, 9-0 Big 12) held its season-long spot at No. 2 despite having three more games postponed due to COVID-19 issues.
The Bears have not played since beating Texas on Feb. 2 and have had eight games postponed
so far this season.
Baylor is scheduled to play Iowa State on Tuesday.
Rising Tide
Alabama moved up two spots to No. 6 this week, its highest ranking since reaching No. 4 in 2006-07.
The Crimson Tide have won three in a row since losing by three to No. 24 Missouri.
Alabama is within reach of its first Southeastern Conference regular-season title in 19 years after rallying to beat Vanderbilt 8278 on Saturday.
Top 10 return
No.9iowaandno.10westvirginia returned to the top 10 this week.
The Hawkeyes, the preseason No. 5, dropped out of the top 10 for the second time this season on Feb. 8 but moved back in this week thanks to a four-game winning streak. Iowa beat No. 23 Wisconsin and Penn State last week.
The Mountaineers spent three weeks in the top 10 before dropping out on Dec. 28. West Virginia knocked of f No. 14 Texas 84-82 on Saturday to move up three spots in this week’s poll.
Jayhawks climb
Kansas is climbing after seeing its record run in the AP Top 25 end two weeks ago.
The Jayhawks have won five in a row, including a six-point win over No.18texastechlastweek,and moved up six spots to No. 17 in this week’s poll. Kansas returned to the poll last week after dropping out on Feb. 8, ending a stretch of 231 consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25.