Kansas maintained its grip on the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, while fourth-ranked Florida State has its highest ranking in nearly five decades.
The Jayhawks received all 65 first-place votes Monday to remain at the top for a third straight week and fourth overall this season, with the past two weeks coming as the unanimous choice ahead of Gonzaga and Dayton.
The Big Ten had a national-best six ranked teams, including No. 21 Illinois and No. 25 Iowa.
Creighton jumped four spots to No. 7 after claiming a share of the Big East regular-season title, followed by Kentucky and Michigan State — which rejoined the top 10 for the first time since early January after going from preseason No. 1 to unranked.
Duke, one of a record-tying seven teams to spend time at No. 1 this season, rounded out the top 10.
Voters in college basketball's Coaches Poll rewarded Villanova for claiming a share of the Big East title by elevating the Wildcats to No. 8 in the new poll released on Monday. Villanova rose four spots in the poll from No. 12 after beating Seton Hall and Georgetown to close the regular season.
The Wildcats even jumped Creighton, who came in at No. 9 in this week's poll. Villanova, Creighton and Seton Hall shared the Big East title. By contrast, Creighton is No. 7 in this week's AP Top 25 poll and Villanova is 11th. Otherwise, the AP voters and coaches were in agreement about who are the top teams in college basketball as Selection Sunday approaches.
Coaches Poll voters mirrored the AP voters by keeping Kansas, Gonzaga and Dayton as their top three while elevating Florida State to No. 4 after the Seminoles clinched the outright ACC title.
Baylor and San Diego State came in at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively in both polls.
Though still behind Villanova, Creighton did receive a nice bump in the Coaches Poll, rising five spots to No. 9 after winning at Seton Hall on Saturday.
Illinois remained ranked 22nd after an early week loss to Ohio State and then a Sunday win over Iowa.
