Auburn’s reign at No. 1 in the college basketball poll remains intact despite a loss to No. 3 Florida. The Tigers retained their top spot with 34 first-place votes from a 61-person media panel, narrowly ahead of No. 2 Alabama.
UConn, the two-time defending national champion, has dropped out of the poll for the first time in two years after a 68-62 loss to St. John’s on Friday. The Huskies have lost three of their last five games and now sit fourth in the Big East conference, 3½ games behind St. John’s.
Florida has reached its highest ranking since 2014 with a 90-81 win over Auburn, marking its first true road victory over a top-ranked team in program history. The Gators’ second win over a top-ranked team this season came against then-No. 1 Tennessee at home on January 7.
Other notable changes include No. 13 Arizona climbing seven places after beating BYU and No. 12 Texas Tech last week, while No. 16 Ole Miss moved up six places after taking down No. 15 Kentucky and beating LSU 72-70 on Dre Davis’ last-second shot.
In the conference watch section, the SEC dominated the poll with at least nine teams in the top 10 for the seventh straight week. The Big Ten has six ranked teams, followed by the Big 12 with five and the Big East with three.
Source: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/43781850/auburn-loss-edges-alabama-stay-no-1-ap-top-25