SMU, Texas A&M ranked in new men's basketball Top 25 poll
Kentucky is back in a very familiar spot — on top of The Associated Press college basketball poll.
The Wildcats, who were No. 1 every week last season, moved up one spot Monday following North Carolina's loss to Northern Iowa. Kentucky (4-0) beat then-No. 5 Duke in the Champions Classic last week and the Wildcats received 59 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel.
Maryland (3-0) moved up one spot to second and received the other six first-place votes.
Michigan State, which beat then-No. 4 Kansas in the Champions Classic, jumped from 13th to third. The Spartans were followed in the top 10 by Iowa State, Kansas, Duke, Oklahoma, Villanova, North Carolina and Gonzaga.
Miami entered the poll at No. 15 after wins over Utah and Butler in taking the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The other four newcomers are from two cities Xavier and Cincinnati at No. 23 and 24, and Texas A&M and SMU, which tied for 25th.
Utah, Baylor, Butler and Michigan dropped out.
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1. Kentucky (59) 4-0 1,619 2
2. Maryland (6) 3-0 1,518 3
3. Michigan St. 3-0 1,448 13
4. Iowa St. 2-0 1,297 7
5. Kansas 1-1 1,243 4
6. Duke 4-1 1,238 5
7. Oklahoma 2-0 1,210 8
8. Villanova 4-0 1,153 11
9. North Carolina 3-1 1,141 1
10. Gonzaga 2-0 1,138 10
11. Arizona 4-0 970 12
12. Virginia 4-1 872 6
13. Indiana 3-0 846 14
14. California 3-0 746 15
15. Miami 5-0 724 --
16. Purdue 5-0 550 21
17. Notre Dame 3-0 480 18
18. UConn 3-0 432 19
19. Vanderbilt 3-0 431 17
20. Wichita St. 2-1 423 9
21. Oregon 4-0 369 25
22. LSU 3-0 285 23
23. Xavier 3-0 143 --
24. Cincinnati 4-0 110 --
25. SMU 3-0 100 --
25. Texas A&M 4-0 100 --