Alabama Basketball Continues Climb in Polls

The Crimson Tide moved up in both polls after an undefeated start with big challenges lying ahead.

Alabama basketball continued its dominant start to the season with wins over South Alabama and Mercer. The Crimson Tide kept putting up big numbers on offense, but the defense showed signs of improvement in the second week of the season. 

The team's performance reflected in the rankings. Alabama moved up five spots in the AP poll to No. 17 and seven spots in the Coaches poll to No. 15.

Here are this week's college basketball rankings:

College Basketball AP Poll- Week 3

(Ranking, team, first-place votes, points received, record)

1. Kansas (52), 1508, 3-0

2. Purdue (5), 1440, 3-0

3. Arizona (3), 1364, 5-0

4. Marquette, 1316, 3-0

5. UConn (1), 1299, 4-0

6. Houston, 1191, 6-0

7. Tennessee, 1136, 3-0

8. Creighton, 1119, 4-0

9. Duke, 1084, 3-1

10. Miami, 920, 5-0

11. Gonzaga, 902, 2-0

12. Texas A&M, 867, 4-0

13. Baylor, 774, 4-0

14. North Carolina, 655, 3-0

15. Texas, 650, 4-0

16. Kentucky, 617, 3-1

17. Alabama, 516, 4-0

18. Colorado, 241, 3-0

19. Florida Atlantic, 229, 2-1

20. Arkansas, 224, 3-1

21. Michigan State, 222, 3-2

22. James Madison, 217, 4-0

23. USC, 165, 3-1

24. Virginia, 164, 4-0

25. Mississippi State, 163, 5-0

Others receiving votes:

Memphis 149, BYU 138, Illinois 138, San Diego St. 77, UCLA 75, TCU 69, Iowa St. 67, Villanova 44, Auburn 28, Clemson 12, Oklahoma 10, Princeton 10, Michigan 10, Liberty 7, South Carolina 3, Chattanooga 2, Nevada 1, Drake 1, Colorado St. 1

College Basketball Coaches Poll- Week 3

(Ranking, team, first-place votes, points received, record)

1. Kansas (25), 789, 3-0

2. Purdue (5), 757 3-0

3. Arizona (2), 719, 5-0

4. UConn, 668, 4-0

5. Marquette, 664, 3-0

6. Houston, 651, 6-0

7, Creighton, 593, 4-0

8. Tennessee, 584, 3-0

9. Duke, 541, 3-1

10. Gonzaga, 470, 2-0

11. Miami, 469, 5-0

12. Baylor, 435, 4-0

13. Texas A&M, 432, 4-0

14. North Carolina, 321, 3-0

15. Alabama, 318, 4-0

16. Kentucky, 278, 3-1

17. Texas, 255, 4-0

18. Virginia, 162, 4-0

19. Michigan State, 160, 3-2

20. Florida Atlantic, 126, 2-1

21. Colorado, 119, 3-0

22. Illinois, 102, 4-1

23. Memphis, 101, 3-0

24. UCLA, 98, 3-0

25. Mississippi State, 5-0, 89

Schools Dropped Out

No. 14 Arkansas; No. 20 USC; No. 21 Villanova; No. 24 Saint Mary's;

Others Receiving Votes

Arkansas 83; USC 75; James Madison 60; Villanova 50; TCU 40; Iowa State 35; San Diego State 30; Clemson 30; Auburn 29; BYU 27; Nevada 12; Princeton 11; South Carolina 7; Oregon 2; Liberty 2; Kansas State 2; Florida 2; North Carolina State 1; Iowa 1;

Takeaways from Alabama Basketball's Win Over Mercer