Auburn rises to No. 2 and Alabama falls to No. 10 in the AP Top 25 college basketball poll

Auburn center Dylan Cardwell (44) celebrates with guard Miles Kelly (13) during a timeout against Memphis during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game for the Maui Invitational championship on Wednesday, November 27, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Auburn rose to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll of the top 25 men’s college basketball teams after winning the Maui Invitational title, while Alabama slipped to No. 10.

Kansas defended Auburn’s No. 1 spot in the rankings, but the Southeastern Conference teams secured three of the top four spots.

Auburn was joined by fellow SEC schools No. 3 Tennessee and No. 4 Kentucky, with each team moving up four spots. Marquette was next at No. 5, followed by Iowa State, Gonzaga, Purdue, Duke and Alabama rounding out the top 10.

The Kansas Jayhawks received 35 of 61 first-place votes in the poll, while the Tigers got the remaining 26 and climbed two spots to No. 2.

Meanwhile, the UConn Huskies fell from No. 2 to No. 25 after losing 3-0 on Maui, narrowly managing to become only the second team in nearly four decades to go from No. 2 to No. 2 in a week 25 rise.

It was part of a whirlwind week of holiday week tournaments that resulted in six new teams being added to the rankings, led by No. 12 Oregon and No. 16 Memphis.

Kansas (7-0), which beat Duke last week, had increased its lead over the second-place team every week since the preseason poll and held a 107-point lead over the Huskies last week. But with the Tigers – ranked No. 1 in KenPom’s stats – beating Iowa State and North Carolina in the title game in Maui, that margin is just nine points this week.

In total, seven teams were eliminated from last week’s poll.

While UConn’s fall stood out, No. 17 Houston fell 11 spots after losses to Alabama and now No. 17-24 San Diego State at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

North Carolina also posted a sharp decline, slipping eight spots to No. 20 after losses to Auburn and Michigan State in Maui. Gonzaga fell four spots to seventh place after losing its Battle 4 Atlantis opener to West Virginia.

AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll (first-place votes in parentheses, SEC teams in bold):

Also receiving votes: Michigan State, 108, Arkansas 104, Texas 97, Michigan 95, Arizona State 89, Indiana 72, Drake 58, Xavier 33, Utah State 28, Louisville 27, West Virginia 26, Clemson 25, BYU 24, Dayton 24, Texas Tech 22, Nebraska 22, Mississippi State 20, Ohio State 19, Maryland 13, UCLA 13, Creighton 12, Saint Mary’s 11, Georgia 10, St. John’s 7, Loyola Chicago 4, Florida State 3, DePaul 3, UC Irvine 2, Columbia 2.

Exit: Indiana (No. 14), Arkansas (No. 19), Creighton (No. 21), Xavier (No. 22), Arizona (No. 24) and Mississippi State (No. 25) dropped out of the survey.

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