After two hard-fought road victories over Big 12 Conference opponents last week, Kansas University’s men’s basketball team stayed at No. 2 in the latest Associated Press poll, a spot behind Illinois for the seventh straight week.
The Illinois-Kansas run is the longest of its type in six years.
The Illini (18-0) beat Penn State and Northwestern last week for the best start in school history. They received 58 first-place votes and 1,759 points from the national media panel.
Kansas (13-0) won road games against Iowa State and Colorado, holding on to second place for the ninth straight week – the Jayhawks were No. 1 in the preseason poll and the first of the regular season. They were No. 1 on the 13 other ballots and had 1,710 points.
The last time two schools were 1-2 for this long was when Connecticut and Duke did it for 8 weeks in the 1998-99 season. They switched places the next two polls.
Wisconsin was the week’s lone newcomer at No. 24, jumping back in after a five-week absence and replacing George Washington, which fell out from No. 21.
Wake Forest, Duke and Oklahoma State each moved up one spot to third through fifth, while North Carolina, which lost 95-82 to Wake Forest on Saturday, dropped from third to No. 6.
Syracuse stayed seventh and Kentucky moved up one spot to No. 8.
Boston College continued its impressive climb, moving to No. 9, its highest ranking since being seventh in the final poll of 2000-01.
The Eagles (14-0), along with Illinois, Kansas and Duke (13-0) the only unbeatens in Division I, moved into the rankings two weeks ago at No. 25, then jumped to 13th last week. The Eagles won 73-53 at West Virginia in their only game last week.
Washington moved up four spots to round out the Top 10.
Gonzaga jumped five places to 11th, while Georgia Tech, which lost to North Carolina and North Carolina State last week, dropped from eighth to No. 12.
This is the first week out of the Top 10 for the Yellow Jackets (11-4), who were No. 3 in the preseason poll.
Arizona was 13th and was followed by Louisville, Texas, Connecticut, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Michigan State and Cincinnati.
The last five ranked teams were Pittsburgh, Alabama, Iowa, Wisconsin and Marquette.
Wisconsin (12-3) came in off a dramatic 62-59 win over Michigan State. The Badgers scored the last 11 points of the game to extend their home winning streak to 38 games, the longest in the country.
George Washington (11-3) lost 76-74 in overtime at home to Massachusetts on Saturday. The Colonials were ranked for six straight weeks, reaching as high as No. 19.
The week’s biggest jump was by Oklahoma which moved from 25th to No. 18 following wins over Connecticut and Baylor. The biggest drop was Mississippi State’s fall from 11th to No. 17 after losing at Tennessee before beating Arkansas at home.
Wisconsin moving back in gives the Big Ten four ranked teams, tying it for the most with the Big 12, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big East. The Southeastern Conference and Conference USA each have three teams in the Top 25.
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The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 16, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
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| Record | Pt | Pv | |
| 1. Illinois (58) | 18-0 | 1,759 | 1 |
| 2. Kansas (13) | 13-0 | 1,710 | 2 |
| 3. Wake Forest | 15-1 | 1,612 | 4 |
| 4. Duke | 13-0 | 1,525 | 5 |
| 5. Oklahoma St. | 13-1 | 1,442 | 6 |
| 6. North Carolina | 14-2 | 1,439 | 3 |
| 7. Syracuse | 17-1 | 1,407 | 7 |
| 8. Kentucky | 12-2 | 1,267 | 9 |
| 9. Boston College | 14-0 | 1,154 | 13 |
| 10. Washington | 15-2 | 991 | 14 |
| 11. Gonzaga | 13-3 | 876 | 16 |
| 12. Georgia Tech | 11-4 | 867 | 8 |
| 13. Arizona | 14-3 | 841 | 17 |
| 14. Louisville | 14-3 | 788 | 19 |
| 15. Texas | 13-3 | 778 | 10 |
| 16. Connecticut | 10-3 | 734 | 12 |
| 17. Mississippi St. | 15-3 | 669 | 11 |
| 18. Oklahoma | 13-2 | 511 | 25 |
| 19. Michigan St. | 10-3 | 500 | 15 |
| 20. Cincinnati | 14-2 | 442 | 18 |
| 21. Pittsburgh | 12-2 | 419 | 20 |
| 22. Alabama | 13-3 | 383 | 23 |
| 23. Iowa | 13-3 | 222 | 24 |
| 24. Wisconsin | 12-3 | 209 | – |
| 25. Marquette | 14-2 | 145 | 22 |
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Others receiving votes: George Washington 54, UCLA 49, Texas A&M 37, Miami 30, Charlotte 29, Florida 27, Maryland 27, Utah 24, S. Illinois 22, Notre Dame 18, Pacific 15, UTEP 12, Oregon 10, N.C. State 6, Vermont 6, W. Michigan 6, Old Dominion 5, Massachusetts 4, Nevada 2, Bucknell 1, St. Mary’s, Cal. 1.
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