The Oklahoma Sooners climbed to the top of the AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball poll for the first time since 1990. While former No. 1 Kansas fell at No. 6 West Virginia, Oklahoma (15-1) managed to avoid upsets twice, edging both Oklahoma State and West Virginia at home by two points over the past week.
There is no controversy. The Sooners received all 65 first place votes.
North Carolina (16-2) moved up to the No. 2 position after remaining unbeaten in Atlantic Coast Conference play with a win over North Carolina State. Kansas, Villanova and Xavier round out the top 5.
Miami (13-3) is the only Florida team represented in the poll, coming in at No. 15. They were ranked eighth last week, but lost at Clemson and at No. 13 Virginia.
Despite losing to Florida State on Sunday, Virginia maintained their position from a week ago. Some thought Florida State might get a vote or two for No. 25 after their impressive 69-62 takedown of the Cavaliers, but it was not to be.
If the Seminoles (14-5) can play as they have during their past two wins, especially on defense, over North Carolina State and Virginia, they may join the top 25 soon. Many of their early losses are looking better than they did at the time they occurred.
After a November loss to Hofstra, they lost in December to Iowa in overtime on the road, 78-75. Iowa is now 14-3 and ranked No. 9.
FSU’s loss to Clemson in their first conference game in January was thought to be a bad loss, but the Tigers also beat No. 20 Duke and Miami this week and are 5-1 in conference play. The Seminoles other two losses were to North Carolina and Miami.
The only remaining unbeaten team is the SMU Mustangs at 17-0. SMU came in at No. 8, but are ineligible for the NCAA tournament in March due to recruiting violations.
The Big 12, ACC and Big 10 each placed 5 teams in the top 25. The Big East had 4; the SEC had 3 while the Pac 12 placed 2 and the American Athletic Conference had one representative.
The full poll can be found here.
