Kansas University won the eight-team Orlando Classic with three victories, but remained No. 11 in the weekly Associated Press college basketball poll.
The AP top 25, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 30, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
Record Pts Prv
1. Kentucky (62) 7-0 1,622 1
2. Wisconsin (3) 7-0 1,511 2
3. Arizona 6-0 1,488 3
4. Duke 7-0 1,475 4
5. Louisville 5-0 1,260 6
6. Texas 6-0 1,254 7
7. Virginia 7-0 1,196 8
8. Wichita St. 4-0 1,165 9
9. Gonzaga 6-0 1,133 10
10. Villanova 6-0 1,075 12
11. Kansas 5-1 1,063 11
12. North Carolina 5-1 864 5
13. San Diego St. 5-1 784 15
14. Ohio St. 5-0 759 16
15. Miami 7-0 697 17
16. West Virginia 7-0 601 21
17. Michigan 5-1 454 19
18. Arkansas 6-0 438 25
19. Michigan St. 5-2 423 20
20. Iowa St. 3-1 330 13
21. Maryland 7-0 306 _
22. Oklahoma 4-2 254 _
23. Butler 5-1 222 _
24. Illinois 6-0 104 _
25. Utah 5-1 88 _
**Others receiving votes:** N. Iowa 83, UConn 76, Oklahoma St. 69, Providence 56, VCU 52, Syracuse 49, Florida 40, Georgetown 30, Creighton 29, Washington 17, NC State 12, Wyoming 10, California 8, Seton Hall 5, St. John’s 5, Nebraska 4, Baylor 3, UCLA 3, Mississippi 2, Old Dominion 2, TCU 2, Notre Dame 1, Saint Mary’s (Cal) 1.
**My AP top 25 ballot:**
**1 – Kentucky:** Points scored by last three opponents: 28, 44, 38. Next up is Texas on Friday in Lexington.
**2 – Duke:** Blue Devils shoot .601 from inside the arc, .387 from outside it and turn it over on just 13.6 percent of their possessions, fourth best in the country, per kenpom.com. They also rebound 41.2 percent of their misses. Crazy efficient.
**3 – Wisconsin:** Duke visits Wednesday night in a possible preview of Final Four teams. Must-watch game in a week packed with many.
**4 – Arizona:** The Wildcats made 20 of 24 foul shots, compared to 13 of 24 from San Diego State in a two-point game. Practice your free throws.
**5 – Virginia:** Held Rutgers to 26 points, making it four times in eight games that the Cavaliers have held the other team to 42 or fewer points.
**6 – Louisville:** Cards shoot just .586 from the line and .240 from three, yet would be a No. 2 seed if brackets came out today. How does that compute? They play incredible defense. Three-point defense (.194) best in nation, two-point defense and turnover rate eighth-best. Opponents are so exhausted trying to figure out how to score on Rick Pitino’s relentless competitors that they can’t even shoot free throws (.533). Maybe that last stat has a little to do with a weak schedule so far.
**7 – Texas:** If the Longhorns can’t give Kentucky a game Friday, what does that say about their chances of winning the Big 12? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
**8 – Gonzaga:** A Saturday trip to Arizona represents chance for Zags to show they belong in the Top 10.
**9 – Wichita State:** Shockers have nation-best 35-game winning streak in games played in the regular season. Last loss was March 2, 2013 at Creighton.
**10 – Kansas:** Freshman Cliff Alexander’s averages per 40 minutes played: 20.7 points, 12.9 rebounds, 3.2 blocks, 4.6 personal fouls. He and Perry Ellis playing well together. If Alexander can play with same aggression and curb fouls a little the dynamic duo will be able to team up more often.
**11 – Villanova:**Defense elevates this team. ‘Nova does such a good job of challenging shots in the paint that opponents make just 38 percent of their two-point attempts.
**12 – San Diego State:** A check of weather.com shows that temperatures will fluctuate more than usual in san Diego this week. Tuesday’s forecast calls for a high of 68, followed by 69 on Wednesday, 68 on Thursday and back to 69 on Friday.
**13 – Ohio State:** Freshman D’Angelo Russell leads team in scoring (18.0), ranks second to Shannon Scott in assists (5.4) and steals (1.8) and is second to Marc Loving in three-point percentage (.483). If Russell can score Tuesday night on Louisville, he can score on anybody. Well, maybe not Kentucky.
**14 – North Carolina:** Lost to Butler, but bounced back with victories against UCLA and Florida to take fifth place in the Bahamas tourney. Kennedy Meeks, the 6-foot-9, 280-pound sophomore, produced 18 points, 13 rebounds against Florida.
**15 – Maryland:** Coach Mark Turgeon, in the wake of five transfers, said he would reassess his coaching style to stem the trend. Maybe he did, or maybe it’s easier to win without disgruntled players weighing themselves down with selfish motives. Terps are undefeated with victories against Arizona State and Iowa State. Freshman Melo Trimble has played so well that nobody’s crying about the departure of starting point guard Seth Allen.
**16 – Michigan:** Next up for Wolverines, Syracuse, in Tuesday night game in Ann Arbor. Three-point shooters can burn many zones, but not Jim Boeheim’s 2-3 variety that gets out on shooters. Syracuse almost as good at defending the three (.266) as it is poor at shooting threes (.198).
**17 – Iowa State:** It doesn’t pay to foul Georges Niang. He’s made 23 of 25 free throws. Maryland kept him off the line (1 for 2) and won by nine points.
**18 – Michigan State:** Spartans coach Tom Izzo delivered the quote of the week when asked about whether Branden Dawson’s flu could have been a factor in his poor shooting game (4 for 15) against Kansas: “A dead man can make a layup.”
**19 – Miami, Fla.:** Big 12 transfer update: Sheldon McClellan (Texas) and Angel Rodriguez (Kansas State) combining for 31.6 points, .456 three-point shooting.
**20 – West Virginia:** Turgeon and Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins won’t be holding mutual pity party over rash of offseason transfers. They rather like the players they’re coaching. Huggins, a 100-percent genuine article, is one of the easier guys for whom to root in the coaching business. Ditto for Turgeon.
**21 – Arkansas:** Thursday night game at Iowa State a must-watch between contrasting styles. Outcome could say plenty about both teams’ worthiness in top 25.
**22 – Utah:** Deadly from three (.446), Utes do a great job of drawing fouls. Wichita State pays Wednesday night visit to Huntsman Center to play Utes. Winner of this one will be rewarded for it on Selection Sunday.
**23 – Oklahoma State:** Cowboys not getting national love yet, in part because of soft schedule, but also because the nation hasn’t caught on to the big impact from 5-11 LSU transfer Anthony Hicks.
**24 – UConn:** Huskies led Texas until Jonathan Holmes hit a three-pointer from the left baseline with two seconds left for a one-point victory.
**25 – Illinois:** Rayvonte Rice, a native of Champaign, was not offered a scholarship by his hometown school when Bruce Weber coached there. John Groce, Weber’s replacement at Illinois, had tried to get him to commit to Ohio. Instead, he started for two seasons at Drake and then said yes to Groce the second time. In his second season with the Illini, Rice leads the team with 17.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.8 steals and a .571 three-point shooting percentage. He produced 17 points, seven rebounds and three steals in eight-point victory against Baylor. Big game coming up Tuesday at Miami.
