NCAA Basketball Rankings: Ohio State Regains Top Spot In AP Top 25 Poll

NCAA Basketball Rankings: Ohio State Regains Top Spot In AP Top 25

The Ohio State Buckeyes are back on top in the latest AP Top 25 poll after a week in which many of the top teams fell. The Buckeyes leaped ahead of Kansas by just four points, jumping from No. 3 to No. 1 after blowout wins over Illinois and Indiana. The Buckeyes got 45 first-place votes compared to 14 for the Jayhawks, and had 1602 points to 1554 for Kansas.

The Jayhawks were poised to take over the No. 1 ranking after Duke lost to Virginia Tech on Saturday, but the voters obviously felt Ohio State's wins were more impressive. Instead, Kansas will remain at No. 2, despite double-digit wins over Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.

Duke falls to No. 4 following its loss to Virginia Tech, while BYU jumps from No. 7 to No. 3 after yet another win over San Diego State. The Aztecs fall from No. 6 to No. 9 with the loss to BYU, with Pittsburgh jumping into a tie with Duke at No. 4. 5. Texas, who was at No. 5, falls to No. 7 after losing to Colorado on Saturday.

The only newcomer to the poll is Utah State, who jumped up to No. 25.

Here is the complete poll, with first-place votes in parenthesis:

1. Ohio State (45)
2. Kansas (14)
3. BYU (6)
4. Duke (1)
5. Pittsburgh (tied for fourth)
6. Purdue
7. Texas
8. Notre Dame
9. San Diego State
10. Wisconsin
11. Louisville
12. Syracuse
13. North Carolina
14. Florida
15. St. John's 
16. Connecticut
17. Georgetown
18. Arizona
19. Villanova
20. Kentucky
21. Vanderbilt
22. Missouri
23. Xavier
24. Texas A&M
25. Utah State 

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: George Mason(25-5) 120; Temple(22-6) 120; UCLA(21-8) 75; Kansas State(20-9) 31; West Virginia(18-10) 28; Virginia Tech(19-8) 22; Cincinnati(22-7) 12; Alabama(19-9) 5; UNLV(22-7) 4; Butler(21-9) 3; Missouri State(23-7) 3; Belmont(27-4) 1; LIU-Brooklyn(24-5) 1; Old Dominion(24-6) 1