Illinois just missed out on returning to the college basketball polls released Monday.
Illinois received 82 points in the AP Poll, as Arizona State and Illinois came the closest to returning to the AP Top 25 poll released Monday.
Kansas is back on top of the college basketball world after knocking off Baylor in a matchup of Big 12 heavyweights, while the Bears dropped to No. 2.
The Jayhawks (24-3, 13-1 Big 12) received 62 of 64 first-place votes from the national media panel to take over the No. 1 ranking for the second time this season. Kansas was atop the poll for one week in December, when it seemed as if just about every school that ascended to No. 1 promptly lost in a topsy-turvy start to the season.
Baylor (24-2, 13-1) received two first-place votes and fell to second after its 23-game winning streak came to an end. Gonzaga was No. 3 after a loss to BYU, and Dayton leapfrogged San Diego State for No. 4 after the Aztecs lost for the first time in a week when every team in the top 10 found itself in a new position from last week.
Penn State took the biggest tumble, from ninth to No. 16, after losses to Illinois and Indiana, while West Virginia fell three spots to No. 20 and Colorado dropped three spots to No. 21.
Michigan shot back into the Top 25 at No. 19 this week after the Wolverines ran their winning streak to five straight and seven of eight with victories at Purdue and Rutgers. Texas Tech and Michigan State also returned to the poll with the Red Raiders at No. 22 and the Spartans at No. 24.
Marquette tumbled from No. 19 all the way out after losing to Creighton and unranked Providence. Butler fell out from No. 21 and Arizona from No. 24 after the Wildcats lost in overtime to Oregon on Saturday.
Kansas claimed the top spot in the Coaches Poll on Monday after the Jayhawks defeated previous No. 1 Baylor on Saturday. The Bears dropped to No. 2, followed by Dayton at No. 3.
The Flyers benefitted from a weekend of upheaval at the top of the rankings by rising two spots from No. 5 to No. 3 following their 16th straight victory on Saturday.
Gonzaga and San Diego State rounded out the top-five at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, after both lost Saturday night.
Elsewhere, voters were unkind to the Big East and dropped Marquette and Butler out of the poll, leaving the conference with three ranked teams (No. 11 Creighton, No. 12 Villanova and No. 13 Seton Hall). After being unranked in the Coaches Poll last week, BYU entered at No. 18 following its victory over Gonzaga.
Houston, ranked No. 22 last week, fell from the Coaches Poll after dropping a 60-59 game at Memphis on Saturday. Their departure left the American Athletic Conference without a team in the Coaches Poll. The Cougars remained in the AP Top 25 at No. 25.
The only team in this week's Coaches Poll that did not move up or down was Oregon, which held steady at No. 16 after losing at Arizona State on Thursday and winning at Arizona on Saturday.
Illinois was not nearly as close to returning to the Coach's Poll, receiving only 25 points, while Houston received 58 points and was the first team out of the poll.
