Louisville Remains No. 1; Ohio State Jumps Into Top Three in New AP Poll

Louisville, Kansas and Ohio State top the latest Associated Press NCAA basketball Top 25 rankings.

Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

Louisville and Kansas finally provided some consistency to what has been a volatile Top 25 poll this season, while perennial bluebloods Michigan State and North Carolina continued to tumble after another wave of defeats.

The Cardinals solidified their place at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 released Monday by routing then-No. 4 Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and breezing past Pittsburgh over the past week. The Jayhawks stayed at No. 2 after returning from their Maui Invitaitonal title to thump former Big 12 member Colorado.

''I think it's two games in a row, where we got stops,'' Louisville coach Chris Mack said. ''We didn't allow second shots. We ran the clock on offense. We got great looks. We got layups, and that's a killer.''

Ohio State jumped from sixth to third following its 74-49 rout of then-No. 7 North Carolina and a Big Ten blowout of Penn State. Maryland dropped one spot to fourth despite continuing to pile up wins, while Michigan slid one spot to round out the top five after Juwan Howard's bunch ran into the Louisville buzzsaw for their first loss of the season.

The Spartans continued their fall from preseason No. 1 after losing to Duke, this time dropping from 11th to No. 16. The Tar Heels tumbled 10 spots to No. 17 after getting crushed by Ohio State and losing to No. 9 Virginia.

San Diego State joined the rankings at No. 25.

Full Men's AP Top 25 Rankings:

1. Louisville
2. Kansas
3. Ohio State
4. Maryland
5. Michigan
6. Gonzaga
7. Duke
8. Kentucky
9. Virginia
10. Oregon
11. Baylor
12. Auburn
13. Memphis
14. Dayton
15. Arizona
16. Michigan State
17. North Carolina
18. Butler
19. Tennessee
20. Villanova
21. Florida State
22. Seton Hall
23. Xavier
24. Colorado
25. San Diego State

Others Receiving Votes: Utah State 160, Washington 144, Purdue 130, Indiana 13, Marquette 11, Liberty 9, Saint Mary's 8, Texas 6, Florida 5, Penn State 5, Georgia 4, West Virginia 3, Richmond 3, LSU 2, Duquesne 1, DePaul 1, VCU 1