AP Top 25 Poll: Houston moves up, Arizona falls in college basketball rankings
Welcome to the biggest week of the nonconfence college basketball season.
From the Maui Invitational to the Battle 4 Atlantis — and many tournaments in the middle — Thanksgiving week is filled with high-level college basketball.
Kansas enters the week as the top men's basketball team in the country in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, but the Jayhawks will be tested by Cooper Flagg and No. 11 Duke on Tuesday in the Terry's Chocolate Vegas Showdown.
No. 2 UConn is playing in the Maui Invitational, along with No. 4 Auburn and No. 5 Iowa State, who play each other Monday night.
No. 3 Gonzaga is playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, along with No. 14 Indiana and No. 24 Arizona. The Wildcats were ranked No. 9 two weeks ago, but have tumbled after losses to Wisconsin and Duke.
No. 6 Houston and No. 9 Alabama remain the only one-loss teams in the top 10 — and they will meet on Tuesday in the opening round of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.
Here's the full AP Top 25 Poll entering week 4 of the 2024-25 college basketball season:
College Basketball AP Top 25 Poll
Nov. 25, 2024
1. Kansas (51)
2. UConn (6)
3. Gonzaga (2)
4. Auburn
5. Iowa State
6. Houston
7. Tennessee
8. Kentucky
9. Alabama
10. Marquette
11. Duke
12. North Carolina
13. Purdue
14. Indiana
15. Wisconsin
16. Cincinnati
17. Baylor
18. Florida
19. Arkansas
20. Texas A&M
21. Creighton
22. Xavier
23. Ole Miss
24. Arizona
25. Mississippi State
Others receiving votes: BYU 70, Pittsburgh 62, Texas 57, Ohio St. 55, Saint Mary's 52, Illinois 50, Memphis 38, Texas Tech 31, Drake 29, Nebraska 21, Michigan St. 14, Georgia 11, St. John's 10, Oregon 10, Penn St. 9, Utah St. 6, Vanderbilt 6, Nevada 5, UCLA 5, Arizona St 5, Maryland 4, Providence 3, Furman 2, Florida St. 1, Columbia 1.
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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.