Villanova, top 11 remain the same in AP men's hoops poll

By AP
Published

Villanova remained on top of The Associated Press college basketball poll on Monday while Southern Cal made its first appearance this season and Florida State returned to the rankings.

The Wildcats (10-0) received 56 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel to stay No. 1 for a second straight week.

The top 11 teams remained the same from last week, with UCLA (10-0) second with three first-place votes.

Florida dropped out from 21st after losing to Duke and Florida State. Iowa State, which was 25th, lost to Iowa last week and also dropped out of the rankings. The Cyclones had been ranked for 61 consecutive polls, the third-longest active streak behind Kansas (148) and Arizona (84).

Kansas was third followed by Baylor (8-0), which got the other six first-place votes, Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Gonzaga, Indiana, Creighton and Louisville.

West Virginia moved up three places to 12th and was followed by Virginia, Wisconsin, Purdue, South Carolina, Xavier, Butler, Arizona and Saint Mary's, which dropped eight spots to 20th after losing to Texas-Arlington.

The last five ranked teams were Notre Dame, Oregon, Florida State, Southern Cal and Cincinnati.

Florida State was tied for No. 25 in the Week 3 poll after a 4-0 start, then fell out the next week after a Thanksgiving Day loss to Temple. The Seminoles returned to this week's poll after beating then-No. 21 Florida on Sunday.

Southern Cal was ranked for two weeks last season.

There are three double-ranked games on Saturday. Kentucky and North Carolina play in Las Vegas while a doubleheader in Indianapolis features Indiana against Butler and Purdue facing Notre Dame.

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