AP Top 25 Poll: Houston Cougars move up in college basketball rankings
Two weeks into the 2024-25 college basketball season, the Big 12 is down to three teams in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 Poll: No. 1 Kansas, No. 5 Iowa State (up two spots) and No. 7 Houston (up one spot).
The other three Big 12 teams in the rankings — No. 13 Baylor, No. 17 Arizona and No. 18 Cincinnati — all dropped this week. Arizona took the biggest hit, dropping eight spots after a 103-88 loss to Wisconsin.
Surprisingly, Arizona State (4-1) only received two votes after an impressive 87-76 win over a loaded Grand Canyon team.
Texas Tech, BYU, UCF and Kansas State all received votes, giving the Big 12 Conference 11 teams who received votes (six ranked teams; five in the "others" category).
Baylor and Arizona will get opportunities to move back into the top 10 next week. The Bears face No. 22 St. John's on Thursday, and the Wildcats face No. 12 Duke on Friday.
Here is the latest AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll heading into week three of the 2024-25 season:
AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll
Nov. 18, 2024
1. Kansas
2. UConn
3. Gonzaga
4. Auburn
5. Iowa State
6. Purdue
7. Houston
8. Alabama
9. Kentucky
10. North Carolina
11. Tennessee
12. Duke
13. Baylor
14. Creighton
15. Marquette
16. Indiana
17. Arizona
18. Cincinnati
19. Wisconsin
20. Arkansas
21. Florida
22. St. John's
23. Texas A&M
24. Rutgers
25. Illinois
Others receiving votes: Texas Tech 109, Mississippi 103, Xavier 89, BYU 27, UCF 21, Texas 17, VCU 17, Michigan St. 16, Mississippi St. 15, Ohio State 13, Miami 10, Pittsburgh 9, Oregon 7, Memphis 6, Penn State 4, Providence 4, Utah State 3, Kansas State 3, Clemson 2, Furman 2, Arizona State 2, Michigan 1, Hofstra 1, Maryland 1.
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.