Virginia Men’s Basketball Is Unanimous No. 1 In AP Top 25; Michigan Is 7th

Everyone in the AP has agreed Virginia’s men’s basketball team is the best in the nation this year.

AP Top 25 Men’s Basketball Poll news

The Cavaliers earned all 65 first-place votes in Monday’s poll after finishing four games ahead of the field in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season race.

Virginia joined fellow ACC team Duke as squads to be unanimous No. 1 in the AP Top 25 this season. The Cavs were predicted to finish sixth in the ACC during the preseason.

Villanova took the No. 2 spot (having jumped from No. 4), while Xavier remained third.

Michigan State fell to fourth, followed by Duke and Gonzaga. Michigan climbed eight spots to No. 7 after beating the Spartans and Purdue to win a second straight Big Ten Tournament title.

No. 15 Arizona — which won the Pac-12 regular-season title — and No. 21 Houston had the second-largest climbs, with each rising four spots.

Meanwhile, Rhode Island had the biggest drop. The Rams fell eight spots to No. 25 following a 30-point home loss to St. Joseph’s and then a defeat at Davidson.

Florida and Miami were ranked 23rd and 24th, respectively.

Kentucky and Middle Tennessee both fell out of the poll after brutal losses to end their seasons.

Here are the full poll standings:

1		Virginia (65) ACC Record: 28-2	PV Rank 1 Points 1,625
2		Villanova Big East Record: 27-4	4 1,516
3		Xavier Big East Record: 27-4	3 1,510
4		Michigan State Big Ten Record: 29-4	2 1,346
5		Duke ACC Record: 25-6	5 1,340
6		Gonzaga West Coast Record: 28-4	7 1,254
7		Michigan Big Ten Record: 28-7	15 1,231
8		Cincinnati American Athletic Conference (AAC) Record: 27-4	10 1,213
9		Kansas Big 12 Record: 24-7	6 1,129
10		Purdue Big Ten Record: 28-6	8 1,096
11		Wichita State American Athletic Conference (AAC) Record: 24-6	11 861
12		North Carolina ACC Record: 22-9	9 852
13		Tennessee SEC Record: 23-7	16 825
14		Texas Tech Big 12 Record: 23-8	12 784
15		Arizona Pac-12 Record: 24-7	19 739
16		Auburn SEC Record: 25-6	14 692
17		Ohio State Big Ten Record: 24-8	13 603
18		West Virginia Big 12 Record: 22-9	20 486
19		Clemson ACC Record: 22-8	18 422
20		Saint Mary’s (Cal.) West Coast Record: 28-4	22 385
21		Houston American Athletic Conference (AAC) Record: 24-6	25 247
22		Nevada Mountain West Record: 26-6	21 218
23		Florida SEC Record: 20-11	– 192
24		Miami (FL) ACC Record: 22-8	– 191
25		Rhode Island Atlantic 10 Record: 23-6	17 86

Caption:CHICAGO, IL – MARCH 27: DaJuan Coleman #32 of the Syracuse Orange shoots against Mike Tobey #10 of the Virginia Cavaliers in the second half during the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional Final at United Center on March 27, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena

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