CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Duke Blue Devils have arrived at No. 1 once again in the latest Associated Press Top 25 men’s basketball poll released Monday. With Tennessee’s loss last week at Kentucky, and Duke’s impressive late-season roll, it’s little surprise the Blue Devils picked up 58 of 64 first-place votes. Gonzaga (6 first-place votes), Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee round out the top five. With the season fast-winding down, it’s becoming a question of who is hot and who is not. Kentucky is clearly hot. So is No. 13 LSU. No. 6 Nevada continues its roll and No. 9 Houston has remained a bit under the radar. Mid-American Conference front-runner Buffalo stayed in the Top 25 for the 15th straight week, but despite a pair of road wins did not move from the bottom (No. 25) spot. While there was some moving of the deck chairs throughout, no new teams joined the Top 25 this week.<doc-sep>We are less than a month away from Selection Sunday, and for the first time in a while, there was some serious movement in the top five of the AP Poll. The full rankings: RANK SCHOOL RECORD POINTS PREVIOUS 1 Duke (58) 23-2 1,594 2 2 Gonzaga (6) 25-2 1,502 3 3 Virginia 22-2 1,476 4 4 Kentucky 21-4 1,383 5 5 Tennessee 23-2 1,376 1 6 Nevada 24-1 1,240 7 7 Michigan 23-3 1,150 6 8 North Carolina 20-5 1,129 8 9 Houston 25-1 1,085 9 10 Michigan State 21-5 1,046 11 11 Marquette 21-4 987 10 12 Kansas 20-6 801 14 13 LSU 21-4 773 19 14 Texas Tech 21-5 733 15 15 Purdue 18-7 699 12 16 Florida State 20-5 525 17 17 Villanova 20-6 519 13 18 Louisville 18-8 507 16 19 Iowa State 19-6 426 23 20 Virginia Tech 20-5 408 22 21 Iowa 20-5 389 21 22 Wisconsin 17-8 250 20 23 Kansas State 19-6 249 18 24 Maryland 19-7 211 24 25 Buffalo 22-3 164 25 We'll start with Duke, which is back in the top spot. Tennessee's loss to Kentucky opened the door for the Blue Devils, who notched a dramatic win over Louisville and took care of N.C State this week. Gonzaga has a reasonable argument to be the top team, and the Bulldogs are up to No. 2. But it's hard to nitpick Duke here. The Blue Devils are 23-2 with a bevy of awesome wins, and one of their losses came without Cam Reddish for the full game and Tre Jones for most of it. There's not a scarier team in the land; when R.J. Barrett is your second best player, it's just laughable. Barrett would be the best player in the country some years. WEEKEND REVIEW: 6 lessons we learned from another loaded weekend | NET rankings Kentucky's beatdown over Tennessee was the reason for the top five shakeup. The Volunteers plummeted to No. 5, while every other top-five squad moved up a spot. It's a little surprising that the Wildcats only inched one slot higher despite dominating the then-No. 1 team in the country, but Duke, Gonzaga and Virginia all have pretty amazing resumes. Gonzaga could reasonably be ranked first; it beat Duke. Virginia only has two losses, and both came to the Blue Devils. You'd probably take Kentucky to beat Virginia on a neutral floor right now, but the Wildcats have four losses. That matters when we're talking about the best of the best. Kentucky also lost to LSU this week. Regardless, the triumph over Tennessee was a statement win, and the Wildcats are absolutely a national championship contender. The Ashton Hagans, Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson, P.J. Washington, Reid Travis starting five is one of the most lethal groups in America. Kentucky puts an end to the Tennessee reign Speaking of LSU, the Tigers were the highest risers in this week's AP Top 25, checking in at No. 13. LSU was ranked 19th last week. The Tigers' upset in Lexington was one of the most impressive wins any team has notched this season. And when you look at LSU's game log, it's just done a whole lot of winning lately. Will Wade's crew is 14-1 since Dec. 13 with wins over Kentucky, Auburn, Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Those are all likely tournament teams. LSU has the No. 12 offense in the country, per KenPom, and its two-man game between Tremont Waters and Naz Reid is a sight to behold. The Tigers surround those two with plenty of shooting and secondary playmaking. Kentucky and Tennessee are still the two-best teams in the SEC, but LSU is quietly 11-1 in the conference. It could absolutely take home the league crown. The most interesting conference championship race lies in the Big 12, and don't look now, but the Jayhawks are the highest-ranked team in the league after beating TCU and West Virginia this week. Kansas is 12th, Texas Tech is ranked 14th, and Iowa State rose four spots and is up to No. 19. Here's a look at the top half of the Big 12 standings: Big 12 standings Team Record Kansas State 9-3 Kansas 9-4 Texas Tech 9-4 Iowa State 8-4 Baylor 7-5 Remember, Kansas just needs to win a share of the Big 12 title to extend its streak. The Jayhawks and the Red Raiders will square off on Saturday in Lubbock. Make it a point to watch that one. BIG 12 RACE: Breaking down each team's chances at winning the up-for-grabs conference title Some other notes and tidbits: Villanova dropped four spots to No. 17 after a second half collapse against St. John's. The Wildcats are good, but the regression from last year was to be expected. Kansas State slipped five spots to No. 23 after a loss to Iowa State. K-State is still leading the Big 12, but it just feels like Kansas and Texas Tech are more dangerous right now. Iowa is still ranked 21st, which isn't particularly noteworthy, but this shot to down Rutgers was: HAIL MARY FOR THE WIN! Joe Wieskamp goes off-glass from the corner! @IowaHoops pic.twitter.com/0Nxwk7KWyf — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) February 17, 2019 More of that, please. We're in for some incredible moments over the next month and change.<doc-sep>
Chris Seward/Associated Press Zion Williamson and Duke have dominated the national headlines all season. Now the polls reflect that dominance. The Blue Devils retook the nation's top ranking after Tennessee fell to Kentucky, with Gonzaga moving into the No. 2 slot. Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee round out the Top Five. Here's a look at how the entire poll played out: 1. Duke 2. Gonzaga 3. Virginia 4. Kentucky 5. Tennessee 6. Nevada 7. Michigan 8. North Carolina 9. Houston 10. Michigan State 11. Marquette 12. Kansas 13. LSU 14. Texas Tech 15. Purdue 16. Florida State 17. Villanova 18. Louisville 19. Iowa State 20. Virginia Tech 21. Iowa 22. Wisconsin Video Play Button Videos you might like 23. Kansas State 24. Maryland 25. Buffalo Tennessee dropped four spots to No. 5 after the Vols were blown out on national television in their trip to Rupp Arena. PJ Washington scored a game-high 23 points, and Keldon Johnson added 19 in the Wildcats' 86-69 romp over the former No. 1 team in the country. Kentucky shot 54.7 percent from the floor and physically dominated every aspect of the game, getting to the line 33 times and out-rebounding Tennessee 39-26. Head coach John Calipari said Kentucky's loss earlier in the week to LSU helped his team against the Vols. "I hit them right after the game with LSU and said, 'Hey, that was a tough loss,'" Calipari told reporters. "But you know, we needed it. We need to go back to what we were, and sometimes you've got to get knocked in the head to know that. So the loss to LSU probably helped us win this game." The biggest upset of the week saw Michigan fall in a road matchup at Penn State. The Nittany Lions were just 1-11 in Big Ten play coming into the game but got a 26-point, 12-rebound effort from Lamar Stevens to take down the conference favorites. Michigan rebounded with a strong win over Maryland later in the week but still dropped one spot to No. 7. North Carolina's 69-61 loss to Virginia was the only other defeat by a Top 10 team last week. No Top 25 team lost more than once. Kansas State's five-spot drop to No. 23 was the largest of the week after the Wildcats were blown out at home by Iowa State. Villanova moved down four to No. 17 after a loss to St. John's. There were no teams that dropped out of the rankings.