After three weeks of not being No. 1, Kansas moved back to the top of The Associated Press’ college basketball poll.
The Jayhawks (20-1) were No. 1 in the preseason Top 25 and for the first eight weeks of the regular season. They moved back into the top spot Monday, receiving 54 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel.
The other three Division I teams with just one loss — Villanova, Syracuse and Kentucky — were second through fourth.
Villanova and Syracuse both moved up one place to second and third. The Wildcats (19-1) received four first-place votes while the Orange (21-1) got six.
Kentucky was a unanimous No. 1 last week but dropped to fourth after losing to South Carolina, its first loss of the season. The Wildcats (20-1) had one first-place vote.
Kansas fell from No. 1 to third after losing at Tennessee. Since then, the Jayhawks have won six straight, including Saturday’s dramatic 81-79 overtime victory at Kansas State.
Michigan State was fifth, followed by West Virginia, Georgetown, Purdue and Texas, which dropped from sixth to ninth. The Longhorns (18-3) were No. 1 for two weeks before dropping to sixth last week.
Their 80-77 overtime loss to Baylor on Saturday was their third in four games.
Duke and Kansas State tied for 10th. BYU was 12th followed by Ohio State, Tennessee, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Vanderbilt, Temple and Baylor.
The last five ranked teams were Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Butler, Northern Iowa and
Mississippi.
Butler and Northern Iowa returned to the poll this week, replacing Connecticut and UAB.
Butler (18-4) was 11th in the preseason poll but dropped out for five weeks. The Bulldogs have
won 10 straight games and are 11-0 in the Horizon League.
