Duke ends Auburn’s 8-week stay at No. 1 in AP Top 25; Oregon, Illini return as postseason heats up

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Duke ended Auburn’s eight-week stay at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday, while the Tigers dropped to third behind Houston as all three programs began preparing for their conference tournaments.

The Blue Devils took advantage of back-to-back losses by Auburn to ascend to the top spot for the first time since November 2021, when Duke spent a week there in Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell season. The Blue Devils received 52 of 61 votes from the national media panel, while the Cougars picked up five and the Tigers held onto the other four.

“Just my luck to be No. 1 going into the postseason when it really doesn’t matter,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said with a laugh. “We haven’t talked about it one time. We have talked about being No. 1 when this thing is all said and done.”

The Blue Devils, who will be the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament when they begin play in Thursday’s quarterfinals, beat Wake Forest in a rout last week before topping rival North Carolina on Saturday in Chapel Hill.

The Cougars, the top seed in the Big 12 Tournament, climbed to their highest ranking of the season. Auburn fell three spots but will still be the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament, despite its close losses to then-No. 23 Texas A&M and then-No. 7 Alabama.

“Those are two teams capable of getting to the Final Four,” Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said after watching the Crimson Tide’s Mark Sears hit a buzzer-beater for a 93-91 overtime win in Auburn’s home finale Saturday.

Florida, which beat Alabama earlier in the week, moved up one spot to fourth while the Crimson Tide climbed two spots to fifth in Monday’s poll. St. John’s remained sixth after its overtime win over then-No. 20 Marquette on Saturday. Michigan State was seventh, Tennessee dropped four spots to eighth, Texas Tech was ninth and Clemson rounded out the top 10.

While some conferences are already crowning champions and awarding NCAA Tournament berths, the ACC and Big 12 are among the power…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/duke-ends-auburns-8-week-170152090.html

Author : Associated Press

Publish date : 2025-03-10 17:01:00

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