Despite last week's loss at Michigan State, Illinois climbed one spot to fourth and Iowa gave the Big Ten three teams in the top five in the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll on Monday.
Gonzaga continued to hold down the top spot in the Top 25, just as it has all season, receiving 59 of 63 first-place votes among national media members. But the Michigan Wolverines picked up the other four to climb into second while the Baylor Bears, whose unbeaten season was foiled by the Jayhawks on Saturday night, dropped back to third place.
West Virginia continued its steady climb, up four spots to No. 6 after its third consecutive win. Ohio State fell three spots to seventh after its loss to the Hawkeyes. Alabama, Houston and Villanova rounded out the top 10.
Another week, another major shakeup in college basketball's weekly Coaches Poll. The rankings released Monday feature a makeover in the top five with Baylor's first loss of the season triggering a new No. 2. It also heavily spotlights Big Ten powers, with four programs from the conference littered about the top 10.
Most prominent among those is Michigan, which jumped a spot to its highest ranking of the season at No. 2. Illinois held steady at No. 4, while Iowa's strong week boosted it four spots to No. 8. Rounding out the quartet of contenders is Ohio State, which dropped its third straight on Sunday but managed to hang around at No. 10. Its five-spot drop was the second-largest among ranked teams behind Virginia and USC both tumbling six spots.
The week's biggest riser in the poll was West Virginia. It defeated TCU and Kansas State in the last week to improve to six wins in its last seven games. The Mountaineers are No. 5 in the poll this week, their highest ranking all season.
Gonzaga received 31 of this week's possible 32 first-place votes, which is the most all season. It's the first time Baylor, which started the season at No. 1 in the Coaches Poll, did not earn a first-place vote. The only remaining first-place vote this week that did not go to Gonzaga went to Michigan.
