Duke heads into March Madness ranked No. 1 in AP Top 25, Purdue, St. John's back in top 10

Duke is the No. 1 effect successful the NCAA Tournament and No. 1 successful the last AP Top 25 of the regular season.

The Blue Devils received 50 first-place votes from a 57-person media sheet successful The Associated Press men's hoops canvass released Monday, a time aft they were named the apical wide effect successful the NCAA Tournament.

No. 2 Arizona received 7 first-place votes, with Michigan, Florida and Houston rounding retired the apical five. The Wolverines, the betting favourite to triumph the nationalist championship, did not person a first-place ballot successful the poll. The last rankings volition beryllium released April 7, a time aft the nationalist title game.

No. 8 Purdue jumped 10 spots backmost into the apical 10 aft beating Michigan 80-72 successful the Big Ten tourney rubric game.

No. 9 Virginia moved up a spots for its highest ranking since reaching No. 2 successful 2022-23. No. 10 St. John's besides returned to the apical 10 aft blowing retired UConn successful the Big East rubric game.

Duke maintained the apical spot aft adding a 2nd consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference tourney rubric to its regular-season title. The Blue Devils were No. 1 implicit the last 4 weeks of the regular season, extending their all-time grounds to 151 weeks astatine No. 1.

Miami (Ohio)'s tally successful the AP Top 25 came to an extremity aft its 87-83 nonaccomplishment to to UMass successful the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The RedHawks inactive made the NCAA Tournament and volition play SMU successful the First Four Wednesday successful Dayton, Ohio, astir an hour’s thrust from their Oxford campus.

Rising and falling

After the Boilermakers' large jump, No. 16 Vanderbilt climbed six places aft reaching the SEC tourney rubric game.

No. 13 Illinois, No. 15 Nebraska and No. 20 Texas Tech had the biggest drops, each losing 4 places.

The Illini fell aft blowing a 15-point pb successful a 91-88 overtime nonaccomplishment to Wisconsin successful the Big Ten Tournament. The Red Raiders dropped aft being blown retired by Iowa State successful the Big 12 Tournament. The Cornhuskers mislaid by 16 to Purdue.

In and out

Miami (Ohio) was the lone squad to driblet retired of this week's poll.

The different Miami, the 1 successful Florida, moved into the canvass astatine No. 23 aft reaching the ACC tourney semifinals. The Hurricanes are a No. 7 effect successful the NCAA Tournament West Region, but got a pugnacious draw, facing No. 10 Missouri successful St. Louis, astir 90 minutes from the Tigers' campus.

Conference watch

The Big Ten has six ranked teams portion the Big 12, SEC and ACC person 5 apiece. The Big 12 has 3 of the apical six.

The Big East and West Coast person 2 ranked teams each.

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

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