A week of holiday tournaments and other high-profile matchups in men’s college basketball produced wholesale changes in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, including a top-five team falling out of the Top 25 entirely.
Kansas remains No. 1, thanks in large part to staving off Duke in Las Vegas. The Jayhawks received 19 of 31 first-place votes this week, but their overall lead has narrowed to just five poll points. Auburn, which might have had an even better week with its championship at the Maui Invitational, moves up to No. 2, claiming the other 12 first-place nods.
A couple of other SEC teams are also on the rise, as Tennessee moves up to No. 3 and Kentucky climbs to No. 6. Marquette vaults seven places to No. 4, and Iowa State hangs on at No. 5 despite being Auburn’s first victim in Maui.
TOP 25: Complete USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball poll
Purdue is back in the top 10, climbing five places to No. 7. Gonzaga slips four positions to No. 8 after an overtime loss to West Virginia in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Duke actually moves up a notch to No. 9, and Oregon debuts in the poll all the way at No. 10 after its Players Era Festival tournament triumph that culminated in a last-second win against No. 12 Alabama.
In all, six new teams enter the top 25 this week, including No. 15 Memphis, No. 17 Illinois and No. 21 Oklahoma. The Sooners captures the Battle 4 Atlantis title.
The list of dropouts has a number of big-name programs, but perhaps none bigger than Connecticut. The Huskies, ranked second last week, fall out of the poll after dropping all three games in a disastrous trip to Maui.
Indiana, Creighton, Arkansas and Arizona are also among the teams no longer ranked.
