OU Men Ranked 12th In Latest AP Basketball Poll

The Sooners are off to a 12-0 start to the season and moved up two spots this week.

Monday, December 23rd 2024, 3:34 pm

By: CBS Sports

The AP Top 25 college basketball poll released Monday featured Tennessee holding on to its No. 1 ranking despite a strong surge from No. 2 Auburn.

The Volunteers received 41 first-place votes, while the Tigers snagged the other 21 votes for the top spot.

Last week, Auburn received 12 first-place votes from the voters. The Tigers are coming off an 87-69 win over Purdue last week to strengthen their case as the top team in the country. Auburn has won its last four games since suffering its first loss earlier this month to Duke on the road.

Kentucky dropped six spots to No. 10 following an 85-65 loss to Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic last weekend. The Wildcats entered last weekend having won their last three games since suffering their first loss to Clemson in the ACC/SEC Men's Challenge.

Ohio State used a dominant second-half effort to cruise by Kentucky to notch the biggest win of coach Jake Diebler's early tenure with the program.

1	Tennessee	(41)11-0	—	1528
2	Auburn	(21)11-1	—	1505
3	Iowa St.	10-1	—	1415
4	Duke	10-2		1344
5	Alabama	10-2		1258
6	Florida	12-0		1239
7	Kansas	9-2		1097
8	Marquette	11-2		1038
9	Oregon	11-1		970
10	Kentucky	10-2		959
11	UConn	10-3		903
12	Oklahoma	12-0		850
13	Texas A&M	10-2		811
14	Gonzaga	9-3		757
15	Houston	8-3		615
16	Ole Miss	11-1		506
17	Cincinnati	10-1		494
18	Michigan St.	10-2		426
19	Miss. St.	11-1		423
20	San Diego St.	8-2		319
21	Purdue	8-4		270
22	UCLA	10-2		246
23	Arkansas	10-2		158
24	Illinois	8-3		135
25	Baylor	7-3		123




Auburn closes the gap for No. 1Last week, Auburn received 12 first-place votes from the voters. This week, the Tigers got nine more first-place votes to shrink the gap for the top-ranked team in the country. Tennessee (rightfully) remains No. 1, but Auburn is on its heels. The Tigers have one of the best overall résumés, and it's hard to see anyone but Bruce Pearl's program jumping to No. 1 if Tennessee were to lose in the immediate future.

Oklahoma should be ranked higher

Oklahoma has been one of the more surprising teams this season. The Sooners are off to a 12-0 start to the season and are coming off a dramatic win over Michigan last week. Oklahoma dropped one spot in last week's poll and moved up just two spots this week. Although Oklahoma's (current) résumé isn't as strong as some of the other teams ahead of them in the poll, there's a strong case for the Sooners (at minimum) to be ranked in the top 10. It was surprising when Oklahoma dropped last week, and it's even more shocking that the voters aren't ranking the Sooners higher. The good news is that Oklahoma will have a chance to boost its résumé soon when SEC play begins.

The SEC remains dominant in the polls

For the first time since at least the start of the 2012-13 season, one league has at least 10 teams ranked in the Top 25. That conference would be the SEC, which features five teams ranked in the top 10 and 10 teams ranked overall. Arkansas and Mississippi State both re-entered the poll this week. Mississippi State upset Memphis on the road and Arkansas won its fifth consecutive game last week. The main takeaway is the SEC is going to be a gauntlet.