Gonzaga’s offer for a wire-to-wire run at No. 1 continues.
Baylor is still there with the Zags.
Gonzaga received 60 votes in the first place from a media panel in the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released on Monday, and received one vote from last week. The second ranking received the other four votes in the first place in a week of little change.
Gonzaga and Baylor were 1-2 all season.
Michigan, Ohio and Illinois rounded out the top five for the second consecutive week. The Buckeyes held on, despite losing 92-87 to the Wolverines on Saturday.
The Zags (22-0, 13-0 West Coast Conference) ran Saint Mary’s and San Diego last week in their bid to become the first wire-to-wire number 1 since Kentucky in 2014-’15.
Gonzaga has won 26 consecutive games after beating San Diego 106-69 on Saturday and has not really been tested, despite playing one of the toughest schedules in the country.
“We are just getting more mature and understand that just winning these matches does not necessarily mean that we are going to achieve a guaranteed national championship,” said Andrew Nembhard. “We have to raise our bar and keep improving every day, so that’s what we’re trying to do. It’s shown in our play recently.”
Baylor (17-0, 9-0 Big 12) achieved its season-long place at No. 2 despite the fact that three more games were postponed due to COVID-19 issues. The Bears have not played since beating Texas on Feb. 2 and eight games have been postponed this season.
Baylor play Tuesday in Iowa.
Rising tide
Alabama moved up two spots this week to No. 6, the highest position since reaching No. 4 in 2006-07. The Crimson Tide has won three in a row since losing by three to no. 24 in Missouri.
Alabama is within the reach of its first South African conference title in the regular season in 19 years, after beating Vanderbilt 82-78 on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide is 13-1 in SEC play, 3½ games ahead of the 20th Arkansas and LSU. Alabama plays Wednesday in Arkansas.
Top 10 returns
No. 9 Iowa and No. 10 West Virginia returned to the top 10 this week.
The Hawkeyes, preseason no. 5, dropped out of the top 10 for the second time this season on February 8, but withdrew this week thanks to a four-match winning streak. Iowa beat No. 23 in Wisconsin and Penn State last week.
The mountaineers spent three weeks in the top 10 before dropping out on December 28th. West Virginia kicked off 14-84 Saturday, 84-82, to move up three spots in this week’s poll.
Jayhawks climb
Kansas is climbing after seeing his record in the AP Top 25 end two weeks ago.
The Jayhawks have won five in a row, including a six-point victory at No. 1. 18 Texas Tech last week, and in this week’s poll moved up six points to number 17. Kansas returned to the polls last week after dropping out on Feb. 8, finishing 231 consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25.
Poll movement
No new teams pulled in or out of the poll this week. … Nr. 11 Florida State made the biggest jump and took five spots after beating Pittsburgh. … Houston lost six places for the first time since Jan. 11, after losing to Wichita State and beating Cincinnati last week. … Nr. 15 Virginia dropped eight spots after losses to Duke and Florida last week. … Arkansas, no. 20, has his highest ranking since hitting 18 in 2014-’15 after beating Florida last week.