Gonzaga, Arizona and Baylor held steady as the top three teams in the Associated Press Top 25 men’s basketball poll released Monday.
Kentucky moved into the top 5, Tennessee cracked the top 10 and North Carolina returned to the poll for the first time since November.
Gonzaga (24-3) received 52 of the 61 first-place ballots, with #2 Arizona (28-3) getting six votes and #3 Baylor (26-5) the other three.
#4 Auburn (27-4) moved up one spot and #5 Kentucky (25-6) climbed two, followed by Kansas (25-6), Duke (26-5), Villanova (23-7), Purdue (25-6) and Tennessee (23-7). The Boilermakers and Volunteers are tied at #9.
Tennessee, #13 UCLA (23-6) and #16 Illinois (22-8) each rose four places, tied for the week’s biggest leap.
#21 Southern California (25-6) took the biggest tumble, falling five spots after losing to Arizona and UCLA.
#23 Colorado State (24-4) entered the poll along with the Tar Heels (23-8), who spoiled coach Mike Krzyzewski’s home finale with a 94-81 win at Duke on Saturday.
Ohio State and Alabama dropped out of the Top 25.
