College basketball rankings: UConn overtakes Houston for No. 1 in final AP Top 25 ahead of NCAA Tournament
Houston's stay atop the AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll ended Monday after three weeks as voters moved UConn back into the No. 1 spot ahead of the start of this week's NCAA Tournament. UConn earned 61 of the 62 first-place votes and Houston received the other one. The Cougars dropped just one spot to No. 2 in the poll.
UConn spent six weeks earlier this season at No. 1 in the AP poll before Houston supplanted it in mid-February. The reigning champions were ranked No. 6 in the preseason but have not been ranked lower than No. 5 this season. The Huskies enter March Madness this week as the No. 1 overall seed in the East Regional and the betting favorite to repeat.
Houston lost its top spot after falling to Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament Championship Game, 69-41, just its fourth loss on the season. Houston landed a No. 1 seed in the South Regional. Purdue, ranked No. 3 in the AP poll this week once again, earned the third No. 1 seed and will play in the Midwest Regional.
Voters split from the selection committee to round out the top five with Iowa State moving up three spots to No. 4 this week after a Big 12 Tournament championship run that included wins over Houston, Baylor and Kansas State. The selection committee ranked the Cyclones as the No. 8 overall team and the final No. 2 seed in the bracket, while North Carolina, ranked No. 5 in the AP poll this week, secured the the fourth and final No. 1 seed in this year's bracket.
AP Top 25
1. UConn (61)2. Houston (1)3. Purdue 4. Iowa State 5. North Carolina 6. Tennessee 7. Auburn 8. Marquette 9. Arizona 10. Illinois11. Creighton12. Kentucky13. Duke14. Baylor15. Saint Mary's16. South Carolina17. Kansas18. Gonzaga19. Alabama20. Utah State21. BYU22. Texas Tech23. Wisconsin24. San Diego State
