After spending a week on the outside looking in, the Kansas men’s basketball team is back in the Top 10 of the weekly Associated Press Top 25.
Powered by a road win at Iowa State and a comeback victory at home over then-No. 20 West Virginia, the Jayhawks jumped five spots from No. 13 to No. 8 in the latest poll released Monday morning.
KU’s next opponent — the Trae-Young-led Oklahoma Sooners, 8 p.m. tonight at Allen Fieldhouse — fell out of the poll entirely after losing to Texas over the weekend, their fifth loss in a row and eighth in the last 10 games. Oklahoma had been No. 23 in the AP Top 25.
The top four spots in this week’s poll remained unchanged, with Virginia, Michigan State, Villanova and Xavier holding down spots 1 through 4.
Duke, which had been ranked 12th a week ago, made the biggest jump of the week, up seven spots to No. 5.
Texas Tech, which sits tied with Kansas atop the Big 12 standings with four games to play in the race, moved up one spot to No. 6, setting up a heck of a showdown of two Top 10 teams in Lubbock, Texas, this weekend.
West Virginia fell one spot to No. 21, which rounded out the Big 12 presence in this week’s poll.
In separate but related news, [the Jayhawks also made a move up in ESPN.com’s Bracketology][1] over the weekend, jumping from a No. 2 seed back onto the 1 line.
Joe Lunardi has Kansas slated as a No. 1 seed in the West region and playing their first two rounds in Wichita before, if they survive, heading out to Los Angeles for the Sweet 16.
The other No. 1 seeds in the latest Bracketology update are: Virginia (South), Villanova (East) and Xavier (Midwest).
Here’s a look at the complete AP Top 25:
1 – Virginia (42), 24-2
2 – Michigan State (19), 26-3
3 – Villanova (4), 24-3
4 – Xavier, 24-4
5 – Duke, 22-5
6 – Texas Tech, 22-5
7 – Gonzaga, 25-4
8 – Kansas, 21-6
9 – Purdue, 24-5
10 – North Carolina, 21-7
11 – Cincinnati, 23-4
12 – Auburn, 23-4
13 – Wichita State, 21-5
14 – Arizona, 21-6
15 – Clemson, 20-6
16 – Ohioa State, 22-7
17 – Michigan, 22-7
18 – Rhode Island, 21-4
19 – Tennessee, 19-7
20 – Nevada, 23-5
21 – West Virginia, 19-8
22 – Saint Mary’s, 25-4
23 – Houston, 21-5
24 – Middle Tennessee, 22-5
25 – Florida State, 19-8
[1]: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology