Duke Tops AP Top 25 as March Madness Approaches; Purdue and St. John’s Make Top 10 Comeback

Duke University has clinched the top seed in the NCAA Tournament and has been ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll of the regular season.

In the latest AP men’s basketball poll released on Monday, Duke secured 50 out of 57 first-place votes from a media panel. This announcement came just a day after the Blue Devils were crowned the top overall seed for the NCAA Tournament.

Trailing Duke, Arizona captured the No. 2 spot and received seven first-place votes. Meanwhile, Michigan, Florida, and Houston completed the top five. Notably, Michigan, despite being the favorite to win the national championship according to betting odds, did not receive any first-place votes in the poll. The final rankings will be revealed on April 7, following the national championship game.

Purdue, ranked No. 8, made a significant leap back into the top 10, ascending 10 spots after defeating Michigan 80-72 in the Big Ten tournament championship.

Virginia climbed to No. 9, marking its highest ranking since reaching No. 2 in the 2022-23 season. St. John’s also returned to the top 10, securing the No. 10 spot after a decisive victory over UConn in the Big East championship game.

Duke maintained the top spot after adding a second straight Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title to its regular-season title. The Blue Devils were No. 1 over the final four weeks of the regular season, extending their all-time record to 151 weeks at No. 1.

Miami (Ohio)’s run in the AP Top 25 came to an end after its 87-83 loss to to UMass in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The RedHawks still made the NCAA Tournament and will play SMU in the First Four Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, about an hour’s drive from their Oxford campus.

Rising and falling

After the Boilermakers’ big jump, No. 16 Vanderbilt climbed six places after reaching the SEC tournament title game.

No. 13 Illinois, No. 15 Nebraska and No. 20 Texas Tech had the biggest drops, each losing four places.

The Illini fell after blowing a 15-point lead in a 91-88 overtime loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament. The Red Raiders dropped after being blown out by Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament. The Cornhuskers lost by 16 to Purdue.

In and out

Miami (Ohio) was the only team to drop out of this week’s poll.

The other Miami, the one in Florida, moved into the poll at No. 23 after reaching the ACC tournament semifinals. The Hurricanes are a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament West Region, but got a tough draw, facing No. 10 Missouri in St. Louis, about 90 minutes from the Tigers’ campus.

Conference watch

The Big Ten has six ranked teams while the Big 12, SEC and ACC have five apiece. The Big 12 has three of the top six.

The Big East and West Coast have two ranked teams each.

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AP March Madness: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness