TCU is ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press college basketball poll, which means 70 percent of the Big 12’s teams are ranked, including Texas at No. 9 and Kansas at No. 10, which is where the Jayhawks have been ranked for three weeks in a row.
Iowa State is 12th, West Virginia 18th, Oklahoma 19th, Baylor 22nd and TCU 25th.
The 15-team ACC has six ranked schools.
The AP’s top 25 teams, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sunday, 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 (65) 12-0 1,625 1
2. Duke 10-0 1,548 2
3. Arizona 12-0 1,502 3
4. Louisville 10-0 1,344 4
5. Virginia 11-0 1,336 6
6. Wisconsin 10-1 1,322 5
7. Villanova 11-0 1,214 7
8. Gonzaga 11-1 1,170 8
9. Texas 10-1 1,149 9
10. Kansas 9-1 1,096 10
11. Wichita St. 8-1 966 11
12. Iowa St. 9-1 821 13
13. Washington 10-0 798 16
14. Utah 8-2 796 14
15. Maryland 11-1 678 17
16. Notre Dame 11-1 536 21
17. St. John’s 9-1 517 20
18. West Virginia 10-1 464 22
19. Oklahoma 7-3 436 15
20. North Carolina 8-3 414 24
21. Ohio St. 9-2 411 12
22. Baylor 9-1 203 _
23. N. Iowa 10-1 162 _
24. Colorado St. 11-0 144 _
25. TCU 11-0 120 _
**Others receiving votes:** Georgetown 85, San Diego St. 72, VCU 70, California 32, Miami 27, Arkansas 22, Indiana 11, LSU 7, Old Dominion 7, Florida 4, Penn St. 4, Oklahoma St. 3, Seton Hall 3, Butler 2, Minnesota 2, Davidson 1, Valparaiso 1.
**My top 25 AP ballot:**
**1 – Kentucky:** The better the opponent, the better the Wildcats play. Boredom brings out the worst in them. Against UCLA, Kentucky suffered a scoring drought that lasted 2:46, but it didn’t prevent a 24-0 start, which grew to 41-7 by halftime. Bored the second half, Kentucky hung on to win, 83-44.
**2 – Duke:** Everybody knows you can’t win without a bench in big-time college basketball, unless of course you do. Duke’s bench played 30 minutes in 10-point victory against UConn and went scoreless on 0 for 5 shooting, did not have an assist and turned it over five times.
**3 – Virginia:** Harvard (7-2) is not a bad basketball team. It’s just that Virginia makes everyone look bad. Maybe this statistic will make the nation sit up and take notice of just how phenomenal a defensive team Virginia is: In a 76-27 loss to the Cavs, Harvard’s five starters combined to shoot 1 for 32. That is not a misprint: 1 for 32. Harvard had one assist for the game.
**4 – Arizona:** Jumped to 15-2 lead in its first road game, at UTEP, but found itself down by a bucket 20 minutes of game clock later. Prevailed with tough defense, causing 18 turnovers to win 60-55.
**5 – Wisconsin:** Nice road test at Cal awaits Badgers tonight at 8 on ESPN2.
**6 – Louisville:** Rick Pitino’s quick, rugged, hard-working Cardinals could take some fun out of the college basketball season by ending Kentucky’s shot at an undefeated season with an upset Saturday. This pits the nation’s two most efficient defenses, per kenpom.com, which ranks Virginia third.
**7 – Gonzaga:** All five starters score in double figures, the team shoots .582 from inside the arc and .395 behind it, making Zags one of the nation’s toughest teams to defend.
**8 – Texas:** Point guard Isaiah Taylor hopes to be back by Jan. 3, the conference opener vs. Texas Tech. The Longhorns have survived without him, generally playing well, although they committed 15 turnovers in a 10-point victory against so-so Long Beach State.
**9 – Villanova:** One of three top 10 schools nicknamed Wildcats, Villanova remains undefeated despite trailing three times at halftime. The most dramatic comeback, from 15 points down, came in an overtime victory against Syracuse. ‘Nova closed a five-point gap in the final 14 seconds to force overtime.
**10 – Kansas:** Among Big 12 schools, Jayhawks rank second to Iowa State (.754) in free-throw shooting (.746) and second to Kansas State (.400) in three-point shooting (.395).
**11 – Wichita State:** Shockers overcame an 11-point deficit in the final five minutes to edge Alabama by a point. Standout guard Ron Baker credited coach Gregg Marshall with putting the players in the right frame of mind for the fantastic finish. “He brings us into the huddle and was completely positive, trying to fuel our fire even more,” Baker said. “That’s the kind of coach you want to play for, and we responded to it.”
**12 – Washington:** Shawn Kemp Jr., son of the prolific six-time NBA All-Star, has made huge strides as a senior, thanks in part to doctors finding the best means of managing his Graves’ Disease, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. The hard-dunking Kemp is averaging 10.6 points and 4.3 rebounds for the undefeated Huskies.
**13 – Maryland:** Terps came into Gallagher-Iba Arena and outscored Oklahoma State 28-10 for a stretch at the end of the first half and beginning of the second, the key to a 73-64 triumph.
**14 – Iowa State:** High-flying, slender, 6-foot-9 forward Jameel McKay had a strong debut off the bench against Drake with eight points and five rebounds.
**15 – Oklahoma:** Once Buddy Hield heats up, so will the Sooners, and he will heat up. Hield made 7 of 7 three-pointers in the season-opener, but has made just 31 percent of his threes since.
**16 – Utah:** Larry Krystkowiak, good guy, good coach. He did a terrific job at Montana, has turned around Utah and took a CBA team to the title game. Nobody could have won with the Bucks when he had his chance there. Prediction: Krystkowiak one day will coach a team to an NBA title.
**17 – North Carolina:** The Heels can’t shoot threes (.285) and their best offense is a missed shot because they rebound nearly 45 percent of their misses.
**18 – St. John’s:** Johnnies have had strong non-conference showing with victories against Minnesota and at Syracuse, but will have a tougher time staying in rankings than most think because Big East is underrated, a strong top-to-bottom conference.
**19 – Ohio State:** Senior center Amir Williams had a chance to show he can play against top competition in loss to North Carolina, but it didn’t happen. He scored one point in 19 minutes and remains a shot-blocker who hasn’t developed much of an offensive game. He did block four shots against UNC.
**20 – Notre Dame:** Ten of 12 games have ended with Fighting Irish winning by double digits, but they haven’t played a schedule that will prepare them for the ACC.
**21 – Baylor:** Junior Taurean Prince, team’s leading scorer, shoots better from three (60 percent) than from the line (50 percent). Time to try shooting jumpers from the line?
**22 – VCU:** Bottom line on the Rams: They don’t turn it over very often (15.8 percent of possessions, 15th in nation) and their foes turn it over a ton (24.9 percent, 12th in nation). … VCU’s 21-point victory at Cincinnati came with Larry Davis filling in for popular Bearcats coach Mick Cronin, out indefinitely with an unruptured aneurysm in an unspecified location. It was diagnosed after Cronin visited a doctor in an attempt to determine the source of headaches.
**23 – California:** Junior Tyrone Wallace (19.5 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 50 percent from three) will try to prove Bears are legit tonight against the Badgers, omnivorous, nocturnal mammals of the weasel family. Safety tip: When encountering a bloated, nocturnal animal during the daytime, keep your distance and call local authorities. It very well could be a sick animal, as in rabid.
**24 – Northern Iowa:** Coach Ben Jacobson once paid Wichita State a serious compliment when at a charity golf event he was asked what is easier, playing Wichita State or golfing. “Golf is easier,” Jacobson told the Des Moines Register. “Golf is really hard. But playing Wichita State is really hard. They were just so good.” He attributed the Shockers success to defensive rebounding and “great late shot-clock play.”
**25 – TCU:** Big 12 play will determine the extent of the Horned Frogs’ improvement, but they are undefeated and two really good football schools, Mississippi State and Mississippi, were among their victims.
