Tennessee No. 1 while Kansas tumbles in Top 25 shakeup

Field Level Media|published: Mon 9th December, 13:52 2024

Syndication: The Knoxville News-Sentinel

Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier (2) and Tennessee forward Felix Okpara (34) celebrate an offensive play by Tennessee guard Grant Hurst, not pictured, during a college basketball game between Tennessee and Syracuse held at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center in Knoxville, Tenn., on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024.

Tennessee is No. 1 in the Top 25 for the first time in six seasons while Iowa State reached its highest ranking since the 1950s after a tumultuous week in the AP poll.

Kansas, which had been No. 1 since the preseason poll, dropped nine spots to No. 10 after suffering consecutive losses to Creighton and Missouri.

The Volunteers (8-0) earned 58 first-place votes and leapfrogged Auburn (8-1) to the top spot. Tennessee is off to its best start since the 2000-01 season and hit No. 1 for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign.

The Tigers earned three first-place votes after losing to Duke last week. Iowa State (7-1) received the other first-place vote on its way to No. 3, its highest ranking since 1956-57.

Duke (7-2) jumped five spots to No. 4 and Kentucky (8-1) rounds out the top 5.

Florida (9-0) jumped four spots to No. 9, giving the SEC five teams in the top 10. Alabama (7-2) jumped three spots to No. 7. In all, nine SEC teams are in the Top 25.

Five teams entered the poll this week: Michigan, Michigan State, Clemson, UCLA and Mississippi State.

Baylor, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Illinois and North Carolina all dropped out.

The rest of the Top 25:

11. Purdue (8-2)

12. Oregon (9-1)

13. Oklahoma (9-0)

14. Michigan (8-1)

15. Houston (5-3)

16. Clemson (9-1)

17. Texas A&M (8-2)

18. UConn (7-3)

19. Ole Miss (8-1)