College Basketball AP Top 25 Week 18: Top Three Unchanged Entering Championship Week

Breaking down the latest AP men's basketball Top 25 poll

The Associated Press released its week 18 men's basketball top 25 poll on Monday.

As we enter Championship Week, the top three teams in the AP poll remained unchanged with No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 2 Arizona, and No. 3 Baylor holding onto their positions. Duke dropped to No. 7 from No. 4 after losing to North Carolina on Saturday. The Tar Heels entered the top 25 at No. 25, giving the ACC multiple teams in the poll for the first time since November. 

No. 4 Auburn and No. 5 Kentucky fill out the top five. Purdue and Tennessee each received 967 votes, so both the Boilermakers and the Volunteers are No. 9 in this week's poll. 

Biggest movers: No. 9 Tennessee (up four), No. 13 UCLA (up four), No. 16 Illinois (up four), No. 18 Houston (down four), No. 21 USC (down five)

Newcomers: No. 23 Colorado State, No. 25 North Carolina

Dropped Out: Ohio State, Alabama

READ MORE: Brackets and Schedules for Every Major Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

Conference Tally

Big Ten: four teams

SEC: four teams

Big 12: four teams

Big East: three teams

Pac-12: three teams

WCC: two teams

ACC: two teams

AAC: one team

OVC: one team

MWC: one team

Associated Press Top 25 College Basketball Poll

1. Gonzaga (24-3)

2. Arizona (28-3)

3. Baylor (26-5)

4. Auburn (27-4)

5. Kentucky (25-6)

6. Kansas (25-6)

7. Duke (26-5)

8. Villanova (23-7)

9. Purdue (25-6)

9. Tennessee (23-7)

11. Providence (24-4)

12. Wisconsin (24-6)

13. UCLA (23-6)

14. Texas Tech (23-8)

15. Arkansas (24-7)

16. Illinois (22-8)

17. Saint Mary's (24-6)

18. Houston (26-5)

19. Murray State (30-2)

20. Connecticut (22-8)

21. USC (25-6)

22. Texas (21-10)

23. Colorado State (24-4)

24. Iowa (22-9)

25. North Carolina (23-8)

Others receiving votes: Boise State (49), South Dakota State (32), Memphis (26), San Diego State (24), LSU (22), Loyola Chicago (16), Ohio State (16), Seton Hall (9), San Francisco (9), Rutgers (8), Alabama (7), Notre Dame (4), Vermont (3), Davidson (1), Longwood (1)