News / Sports
Week 5 AP Top 25: Men’s NCAA College Basketball Rankings
UCLA and Pittsburgh hold down top spots as Ohio State and Florida fall.
It seems that the AP Rankings knew what they were doing last week when they gave the top spot to the UCLA Bruins in College Basketball. UCLA remained the AP’s #1 team. UCLA received 68 more points than last week’s #2 Pittsburgh.
UCLA managed to beat Long Beach State and UC Riverside convincingly but their schedule this week looks a little more formidable. The Bruins will be taking on Cal State Fullerton on Dec. 5 before facing off against #6 Texas A&M on Saturday.
Pittsburgh picked up 15 first place votes to land at #2 in the AP Week 5 Rankings. They had no problems with Robert Morris or Auburn over the past week, and their schedule for this week doesn’t look to challenging with Duquesne and Buffalo.
North Carolina jumped up to #3 with their ACC/Big 10 Challenge win over Ohio State. The Tar Heels also added a victory over Kentucky to gain 2 first place votes. North Carolina has the equivalent of an off week with their only game scheduled being High Point on Saturday.
Alabama jumped two spots to grab the #4 AP Ranking. They had easy wins over Louisiana-Monroe and Tennessee State over the past week but will meet Notre Dame on Thursday, a team that could challenge their 7-0 record.
Ohio State fell two spots to #5 after their loss at North Carolina on November 29. They bounced back with a 20 point victory over Valparaiso on Saturday. They’ll have to wait until Saturday to play again. Next up is Cleveland State.
Texas A&M climbed three spots in the AP Rankings and are now #6. Their test will be this week as they face off against #9 LSU on Tuesday then #1 UCLA on Saturday. If they stay perfect through the week they could find themselves atop the AP next week.
Duke and Florida share the #7 spot in the AP Rankings with both schools heading in opposite directions. Duke is coming off of big wins against Indiana and Georgetown while Florida followed their 56 point blowout of Southern University with a 4 point loss to Florida State.
Duke will take on Holy Cross on Wednesday and then meet George Mason on Saturday. Florida will look to rebound with their game against Providence on Wednesday.
The Tigers of LSU moved up to #9 with wins over McNeese State and Tulane but their test comes on Tuesday when they play #6 Texas A&M. They get another dose of the Lone Star State when they play Texas on Sunday.
Wichita State continued to impress the voters and grabbed the #10 spot in the AP Rankings. They blew out UMKC by 30 points on November 29 and followed that up with a win over then #15 Syracuse. The Shockers only game this week is on Saturday when they take on Wyoming.
AP Week 5 Top 25
1. UCLA (55) 6-0 1,781
2. Pittsburgh (15) 8-0 1,713
3. North Carolina (2) 6-1 1,619
4. Alabama 7-0 1,550
5. Ohio State 7-1 1,510
6. Texas A&M 7-0 1,385
7. Duke 7-1 1,168
7. Florida 7-2 1,168
9. LSU 4-1 1,099
10. Wichita State 6-0 1,016
11. Wisconsin 7-1 996
12. Kansas 6-2 947
13. Washington 6-0 908
14. Arizona 5-1 850
15. Butler 9-0 817
16. Memphis 5-1 816
17. Marquette 8-1 731
18. Gonzaga 8-1 703
19. Connecticut 7-0 694
20. Nevada 7-0 461
21. Syracuse 7-1 374
22. Oklahoma State 9-0 157
23. Maryland 8-1 135
24. Xavier 6-1 123
25. Georgia Tech 6-2 120
