Men’s basketball AP poll: Florida solidifies No. 1 ranking as Arizona, Michigan tumble

We’re a week into the college basketball season, and Florida is still on top.

The Gators, after a solid 10-point win over Miami on opening night, held onto their No. 1 ranking Monday in the first true Associated Press poll of the season. 

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They looked every bit like the favorite to win the national championship that came with their preseason ranking last month on both sides of the ball, too. Thomas Haugh, who opted to remain at Florida despite the fact that he would have been a first-round NBA Draft pick, led the way with 19 points and 10 rebounds. They shut the Hurricanes down in the second half, too. As a result of the loss, Miami fell three spots to No. 17 in this week’s poll.

The top four teams in the poll remained unchanged, too, after all started out the season with a pair of wins. Duke remained at No. 2 after a pair of easy wins, though the Blue Devils have No. 5 Michigan State waiting for them on Tuesday night. Illinois won its first two games by an average of 58.5 points to retain the third spot. The Illini will have their first true test of the season against No. 16 Texas Tech in Lubbock on Tuesday, too. 

And UConn remained at No. 4 after back-to-back wins, including one over the defending champions in Boston. The Huskies took advantage of a very different Michigan team than the one that beat them in the title game in April, and Braylon Mullins dropped 23 points. As a result, Michigan fell to No. 20.

The first major movement in the poll came from Arizona, which fell to UCLA on the first night of the season. The Bruins led nearly the entire way in that contest, and even jumped up by 16 at halftime. They moved up 13 spots to No. 9 in this week’s poll, while Arizona slid down to No. 12. The Wildcats did bounce back with a 20-point blowout over Cal Poly days later, and Ivan Kharchenkov put up 38 points in the loss to UCLA. Arizona, even with the early loss, looks to be a true threat in the Big 12. 

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As for Florida, things won’t get much easier….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mens-college-basketball/breaking-news/article/mens-basketball-ap-poll-florida-solidifies-no-1-ranking-as-arizona-michigan-tumble-180456273.html

Author : Ryan Young

Publish date : 2026-11-09 18:04:00

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