Cincinnati enters men's basketball AP Top 25

By foxsports
Published

Duke held onto its comfortable lead in The Associated Press college basketball poll while Cincinnati and California are newcomers in the first regular-season poll.

The Blue Devils (2-0) received 58 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel Monday, keeping their large lead over Kentucky, which was No. 1 on one ballot.

Defending champion Villanova received five first-place votes and moved up one place to third, replacing Kansas, one of three ranked teams that lost last week. Oregon and North Carolina both moved up one spot to fourth and fifth, while Indiana, which beat Kansas 103-99 in overtime, jumped from 11th to sixth. The Hoosiers were No. 1 on one ballot.

Kansas was seventh followed by Virginia, Wisconsin and Arizona, which beat then-No. 12 Michigan State.

Xavier, which was ranked seventh, fell to 11th following an 84-81 victory over Lehigh. Michigan State fell to No. 13.

The only ranked team to lose to an unranked team was Connecticut, which dropped out of the poll from 18th following its loss to Wagner . Maryland, which beat American 62-56 , dropped out from 25th. No. 24 Cincinnati and No. 25 California were both ranked for six weeks last season.

There will be more ranked losses on Tuesday when Duke meets Kansas and Kentucky faces Michigan State in the State Farm Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden.