Kansas moved up to No. 8 in the Associated Press college basketball Top 25 poll, released Monday.
The Big 12 has by far the biggest presence of any conference in the rankings, with six of its 10 teams making an appearance, a remarkable 60 percent of its members. The only other league with half as strong a penetration as that is the newly formed American Conference, which has 30 percent (Louisville, Cincinnati and Memphis) of its members in the top 25.
The AP top 25, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 19 and 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. Arizona (61) 18-0 1,621 1
2. Syracuse (4) 18-0 1,559 2
3. Michigan St. 17-1 1,497 4
4. Villanova 16-1 1,377 6
5. Wichita St. 19-0 1,368 5
6. Florida 15-2 1,303 7
7. San Diego St. 16-1 1,211 10
8. Kansas 13-4 1,117 15
9. Wisconsin 16-2 1,074 3
10. Iowa 15-3 1,041 14
11. Oklahoma St. 15-3 971 9
12. Louisville 16-3 804 18
13. UMass 16-1 781 16
14. Kentucky 13-4 769 13
15. Cincinnati 17-2 736 19
16. Iowa St. 14-3 644 8
17. Ohio St. 15-3 549 11
18. Duke 14-4 447 23
19. Saint Louis 17-2 421 24
20. Pittsburgh 16-2 419 22
21. Michigan 13-4 362 NR
22. Kansas St. 14-4 221 NR
23. Memphis 13-4 201 17
24. Baylor 13-4 170 12
25. Oklahoma 14-4 111 25
**Others receiving votes:** Creighton 98, UConn 62, Gonzaga 59, California 44, Colorado 26, UCLA 23, Harvard 12, George Washington 8, Missouri 6, Texas 5, Xavier 4, SMU 2, New Mexico 1, Virginia 1.
**My AP top 25 ballot:**
**1 – Arizona:** Former Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics great Dennis Johnson, who died of a heart attack in 2007 while coaching a D-League practice, was known as a great defender, good scorer and terrific leaper. Just about every time his leaping ability came up during telecasts, one of the announcers would bring up stories about the jumping ability of his brother, Joey Johnson, who played at Arizona State. Joey once had his vertical leap measured at 52 inches and once dunked on an 11-foot-7 hoop to win a contest.
Nick Johnson, Joey’s son and Dennis’ nephew, leads the Wildcats in scoring, and like the rest of the team’s key players is known as an excellent defender.
**2 – Syracuse:** Having one of the top freshmen (point guard Tyler Ennis) and seniors (C.J. Fair) is such a nice place to start for any team. Ennis, Fair and sophomore Jerami Grant all played 40 minutes in 59-54 victory against Pittsburgh, a Big East retro game played in the ACC. The Orange bench scored just two points. Grant’s uncle, Harvey Grant, played 11 years in the NBA after playing at Clemson and then Oklahoma.
**3 – Michigan State:** The most interesting numbers column on the Spartans’ statistics page is GP, games played. That might be the first time anyone has ever typed that sentence, but it happens to be true. Gary Harris and Denzel Valentine are the only Spartans to appear in all 18 games, thanks to injuries and illnesses. Yet, the Spartans keeping winning, their only loss coming at the hands of giant-killer North Carolina.
**4- Wichita State:** Indiana State entered Saturday’s road game against Wichita State unbeaten in Missouri Valley League play and Sycamores guard Dawon Cummings had a big day, scoring 19 points. Good thing Cummings made the trip because the rest of the team made 9 of 37 field goals (.243) and 2 of 13 three-pointers (.154).
**5 – Villanova:** Coach Jay Wright is one of the most universally well-liked college basketball coaches by alumni, students, strangers who recognize him in public, etc. Not only that, he dresses like a sportswriter.
**6 – Florida:** Victory against Kansas started Gators on a nine-game winning streak next put to test Thursday at Alabama.
**7 – San Diego State:** Legitimate national-title contenders, the Aztecs have won 15 in a row after suffering lone loss, to Arizona.
**8 – Iowa:** Fran McCaffery was 26 when he became head coach at Lehigh University. He left there to become an assistant to Digger Phelps at Notre Dame (1988-99) and has been a head coach ever since leaving ND. I tried interviewing him after the press conference announcing Digger’s ouster, or was it a “resignation” or “retirement”? McCaffery was too ticked to talk. Couldn’t blame him. Notre Dame forced Phelps into retirement too early. As if to honor the son of an undertaker, my car died on the way back to Chicago that day.
**9 – Kansas:** Strangest play during a 2-0 week: Conner Frankamp, blessed with best shooting range on the team, has the ball 25 feet from hoop with shot clock dwindling and passes it to a center 22 feet from the hoop in the Oklahoma State game. He’ll have a nice career for KU and some day he’ll be able to look back on that play and laugh.
**10 – Kentucky:** Julius Randle, team’s leading scorer and rebounder, has not had a turnover-free game, averages 3.3 a contest and 4.8 in Wildcats’ four losses.
**11 – Oklahoma State:** Marcus Smart won’t miss any time with wind burn caused by the breeze of Wayne Selden’s elbows swinging close to Smart’s face.
**12 – Wisconsin:** Great unbeaten ride while it lasted. Losses at Indiana and at home to Michigan have the Badgers on a streak of another kind.
**13 – Cincinnati:** Sean Kilpatrick is one of those college basketball players who seems as if he’s been playing for his school for 10 years. Maybe that’s because Kilpatrick has hit 10 years worth of big shots. His scoring averages, starting with freshman season: 9.7, 14.3, 17.0, 18.6.
**14 – Louisville:** The nice thing about the name Richard is it comes with so many options. Cards coach Pitino goes by Rick. His son, distinguishing himself as a separate person and coach, goes by Richard, a nice touch. But the full name just doesn’t seem the right fit for outspoken NFL Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman. He could choose from one of the many of the nicknames that stem from Richard: Dick, Rich, Richie, Rickey. Any suggestions on which might be most fitting?
**15 – Pittsburgh:** Throw-back Panthers play at slow pace and seldom shoot three-pointers. That might frustrate some ACC teams.
**16 – Duke:** As Jabari Parker hit the freshman wall, Rodney Hood continued to shoot great: .517 overall, .847 from the line, .457 from three.
**17 – Michigan:** Since Mitch McGary’s season-ending injury, Wolverines have gone 7-0, making John Beilein candidate for national coach of the year honors. Why should this year be any different?
**18 – Ohio State:** Buckeyes take three-game losing streak into Lincoln, Neb., tonight.
**19 – Iowa State:** Cyclones try to end three-game losing streak Saturday in Hilton Coliseum against Kansas State.
**20 – Massachusetts:** Year of living dangerously continues. Minutemen have average margin of victory of five points during active six-game losing streak.
**21 – St. Louis:** Billikens doing it all without a single player from the state of Missouri on the roster.
**22 – Memphis:** Ten-point home loss to UConn not the Tigers’ finest two hours.
**23 – Kansas State:** Since taking over for departed Frank Martin, Bruce Weber has a 20-2 record against Big 12 schools located outside the state of Kansas.
**24 – Oklahoma:** The only coach ever to lead five different schools to the NCAA Tournament, Kruger has Sooners on course for second consecutive tourney appearance.
**25 – UCLA:** Bruins lost at Utah despite monster game from 6-foot-9, 230-pound sharp-shooter Kyle Anderson (28 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, 5 for 5 three-point shooting).