Duke Remains Atop AP Poll
Duke and Michigan State were 1-2 in The Associated Press college basketball poll for the third consecutive week Monday.
There wasn't much other movement in the Top 25, as the first six teams remained the same and no teams moved in or out of the rankings.
The Blue Devils (9-0), who were off last week, received 63 first-place votes and 1,767 points from the national media panel to hold onto the No. 1 ranking for the fourth straight week.
Michigan State (8-0), which squeaked by Kentucky 46-45 Saturday to extend its winning streak to 19 games, was No. 1 on eight ballots and got 1,699 points, 74 more than Stanford (6-0), which was also off last week.
Tennessee was fourth, while Illinois, which beat then-No. 7 Arizona on Saturday in a rematch of the Illini's loss to the Wildcats in the championship game of the Maui Invitational, remained fifth and Wake Forest stayed No. 6.
Florida, Seton Hall and Kansas each moved up one place to seventh through ninth, while Arizona dropped three places to round out the Top Ten.
The Wildcats, who were the preseason No. 1, continued the nation's longest run of consecutive weeks in the Top Ten, with six polls this season and all 19 last season. Stanford is one week behind the Cardinal were in the Top Ten every week last season after being No. 13 in the preseason poll.
Connecticut led the Second Ten for the second straight week, followed by Syracuse, Southern California, Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Alabama, Oklahoma, Iowa and Maryland.
The last five ranked teams were Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Mississippi and Arkansas.
Cincinnati, which sandwiched wins over Oakland and UNLV around a loss to city rival Xavier, dropped five places to 22nd, while the week's biggest jump was Iowa's move from No. 22 to 19th following a 99-94 victory over Missouri in double overtime.
Next week's poll should have quite a shakeup, with two games between Top Ten teams this week and three others between ranked teams two of them involving Tennessee.
In Tuesday night's Jimmy V Classic at East Rutherford, N.J., the Volunteers play Virginia and Michigan State faces Seton Hall.
On Thursday night, Duke meets Stanford in the Pete Newell Classic in Oakland, Calif.
Tennessee then is at Syracuse on Friday, and Arkansas is at Oklahoma on Saturday.
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