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Duke supplanted Florida at No. 2 in the latest AP Top 25 men’s college basketball rankings Monday after a statement win Saturday inside Madison Square Garden in which it defeated Illinois, 110-67, to improve to 24-3 on the season. The Gators moved up to No. 2 last week and earned the only first-place vote not cast for Auburn, but dropped one spot this week as voters impressed by the Blue Devils on a big stage flipped Florida and Duke in the rankings..
St. John’s and Michigan State were also among the big movers in Monday’s rankings after both scored big conference wins this weekend over UConn and Michigan, respectively. The Johnnies jumped three spots to No. 7, while the Spartans moved up six spots.
It’s the highest standing for St. John’s in the AP poll since climbing to No. 7 in 1991 as it moved one step closer to securing its first outright Big East title since 1986. After beginning the season unranked in the AP poll and picked in the preseason media poll to finish fifth in the conference, it now holds a commanding three-game lead in the regular season race following Sunday’s 89-75 win over UConn at Madison Square Garden.
Michigan State, meanwhile, is in familiar territory after spending most of January and the early part of February as a top-12 ranked team. It opened the month of February with two losses in its first three outings but has ridden a three-game winning streak to take back control of the Big Ten.
Elsewhere in the latest rankings, voters made no major changes with respect to the top team, Auburn, which once again held at No. 1 for a seventh consecutive week, and also regained its status as the unanimous No. 1 team. It was unanimously voted No. 1 from Weeks 12-14 in the AP poll before a loss to Florida stripped it of unanimous standing last week. The Tigers have won four-straight since falling to the Gators and defeated Arkansas and Georgia this week. They now lead the SEC regular season race by two games.
AP Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sunday, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
Also receiving votes: Creighton 53, Mississippi 28, Kansas 25, New Mexico 23, VCU 20, Oregon 20, UCLA 14, Drake 12, UC San Diego 8, Gonzaga 3, High Point 3, Illinois 3, Vanderbilt 2, Utah St. 1, Yale 1.
1. Preseason No. 1 Kansas drops out of poll
The preseason No. 1 Jayhawks dropped out of the poll Monday, snapping an 80-week poll run that spanned more than four years. KU suffered a stunning 34-point loss this week at BYU which tied for its largest margin of defeat ever in a game under Bill Self. They are 3-4 in the month of February and hit a new low this week with the BYU loss, though a decisive win at home over Oklahoma State on Saturday did get them back into the win column.
2. Duke dominance on display
With all eyes on Madison Square Garden on Saturday night in a primetime rare February nonconference matchup, Duke dismantled Illinois to the tune of 110-67 and looked the part of the most talented team in the sport. The win was so emphatic that the tabulation of voters’ ballots moved it past Florida despite Florida having a perfect 2-0 week with two double-digit victories. Duke’s points total in the poll narrowly edged Florida, 1,406 to 1,397, and Florida’s edge was just five total points last week.
3. Alabama falls out of top five
A 96-83 home win over Kentucky on Saturday wasn’t enough to keep Alabama — fresh off of two consecutive losses in SEC play — from bumping out of this week’s top five. The Crimson Tide dropped to No. 6, marking the first time since Dec. 16, 2024, it has been ranked outside the top five in the poll. They fell in consecutive games to Auburn and Missouri in the last two weeks but remain 11-3 in SEC play, tied for second with Florida and two games off of Auburn’s first place pace.
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