KU up one spot to No. 4, Wichita State drops out of latest AP men’s basketball poll
Thanksgiving Week usually shakes up the Top 25 and this year was no different.
There are five newcomers to the poll and because there was a tie for 25th last week, six teams, including Wichita State, dropped out.
Kansas led five Big 12 teams in the Top 25 at No. 4, moving up one spot from No. 5 after winning the Maui Invitational. The Atlantic Coast Conference put six teams in the poll and both leagues are top heavy.
The Big 12 has Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma at Nos. 4-6. The ACC has Duke, North Carolina and Virginia in the Top 10.
The Big Ten and Big East both have three teams ranked. Three conferences — Southeastern, Pac-12 and American Athletic — have two teams each.
Syracuse was the highest of the newcomers at 14th. The Orange, who beat ranked teams Connecticut and Texas A&M in winning the Battle 4 Atlantis, is the 14th team to enter the poll at that position or higher since the poll expanded to 25 in 1989-90.
The other newcomers this week are: No. 20 West Virginia, No. 23 Providence, No. 24 Louisville and No. 25 Baylor, which returned to the rankings after being out for one week.
Wichita State dropped to 2-4 with losses to Southern California, Alabama and Iowa in the AdvoCare Invitational. That sent the Shockers out of the Top 25 from their perch at No. 20. The Shockers had the fourth-longest current streak of consecutive poll appearances at 42, a run that started with the preseason Top 25 of 2013-14. The Shockers were ranked was No. 2 for four weeks in that season.
Indiana, which lost to Wake Forest and UNLV at Maui, had the biggest drop, falling out from No. 13. California, which lost to San Diego State and Richmond in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic, dropped out from 14th, while Notre Dame, which lost to Monmouth and Alabama in the AdvoCare Invitational, fell out from 17th.
Connecticut lost to Syracuse and Gonzaga in the Battle 4 Atlantis and fell out of the poll from 18th. The other team to fall out of the Top 25 was No. 22 LSU, which lost to Marquette and North Carolina State in the NIT Season Tip-Off.
AP Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 29, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record | Pts. | Prv. | |
1. Kentucky (59) | 6-0 | 1,619 | 1 |
2. Maryland (4) | 6-0 | 1,512 | 2 |
3. Michigan State (2) | 7-0 | 1,510 | 3 |
4. Kansas | 4-1 | 1,342 | 5 |
5. Iowa State | 5-0 | 1,338 | 4 |
6. Oklahoma | 4-0 | 1,269 | 7 |
7. Duke | 6-1 | 1,253 | 6 |
8. Villanova | 6-0 | 1,218 | 8 |
9. North Carolina | 5-1 | 1,155 | 9 |
10. Virginia | 5-1 | 965 | 12 |
11. Purdue | 6-0 | 904 | 16 |
12. Xavier | 7-0 | 801 | 23 |
13. Gonzaga | 4-1 | 788 | 10 |
14. Syracuse | 6-0 | 696 | — |
15. Oregon | 5-0 | 628 | 21 |
16. Vanderbilt | 5-1 | 587 | 19 |
17. Cincinnati | 7-0 | 551 | 24 |
18. Texas A&M | 6-1 | 522 | 25 |
19. Arizona | 6-1 | 504 | 11 |
20. West Virginia | 6-0 | 363 | — |
21. Miami (Fla.) | 5-1 | 289 | 15 |
22. SMU | 4-0 | 256 | 25 |
23. Providence | 6-1 | 247 | — |
24. Louisville | 5-0 | 173 | — |
25. Baylor | 4-1 | 162 | — |
Others receiving votes: Connecticut 153, Utah 72, Butler 62, George Washington 45, Indiana 26, Northern Iowa 25, Notre Dame 22, California 19, Pittsburgh 11, Dayton 8, San Diego State 5, South Carolina 5, Georgetown 4, UTEP 3, Iowa 2, LSU 2, Northwestern 2, Arkansas-Little Rock 2, Colorado State 1, Davidson 1, Louisiana Tech 1, Monmouth (N.J.) 1, Northeastern 1.
Tod Palmer’s ballot: 1. Kentucky, 2. Maryland, 3. Villanova, 4. Michigan State, 5. Iowa State, 6. Oklahoma, 7. Kansas, 8. North Carolina, 9. Duke, 10. Virginia, 11. Purdue, 12. Providence, 13. Arizona, 14. Xavier, 15. Oregon, 16. Syracuse, 17. Vanderbilt, 18. Cincinnati, 19. Gonzaga, 20. SMU, 21. Connecticut, 22. Texas A&M, 23. Miami (Fla.), 24. Louisville, 25. George Washington
This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 1:26 PM with the headline "KU up one spot to No. 4, Wichita State drops out of latest AP men’s basketball poll."