Auburn and Duke remain atop the AP Top 25. The rest of the poll was a big jumble.

Auburn was the unanimous pick at No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving all 61 votes from a media panel in the poll released on Monday. The Tigers held the top spot for the eighth straight week following lopsided wins over Ole Miss and then-No. 17 Kentucky.

Duke was No. 2 for the second straight week after blowing out Miami and Florida State despite playing without guard Tyrese Proctor due to a bone bruise in his left knee.

No. 3 Houston moved up a spot after beating Texas Tech and Cincinnati, while Tennessee climbed to No. 4 following Jahmai Mashack’s last-second 3-pointer from well beyond halfcourt to beat Alabama 79-76.

Florida rounded out the top five, dropping two places after losing to Georgia and beating Texas A&M.

No. 8 Michigan State joined Auburn and Duke as the only teams to have the same ranking as last week.

Rising Red Storm

St. John’s has pulled off quite the turnaround in its second season under coach Rick Pitino.

The Red Storm (26-4, 17-2 Big East) have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2019, but are pretty much a lock to end the drought after clinching their first Big East regular-season title in 40 years with Saturday’s 71-61 win over Seton Hall.

“We’re just getting started,” Pitino told the Madison Square Garden crowd after the win.

St. John’s also beat Butler last week and moved up a spot in this week’s poll to No. 6, its highest ranking reaching No. 5 in 1990-91.

In and out

No teams moved in or out of this week’s poll.

Rising and falling

No. 14 Louisville made the biggest move of the week, climbing five places following wins over Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. No. 13 Maryland moved up three places after losing to Michigan State by three on Tre Holloman’s last-second heave from beyond midcourt and beating Penn State.

No. 22 Texas A&M had by far the biggest drop, losing 10 places after losing to Vanderbilt and Florida, stretching its losing streak to four straight.

No other team dropped more than two places.

Conference watch

The SEC continued its dominance with three of the top five and eight total in the Top 25 this week. The Big 12 has three teams in the top 10 and five ranked teams, while the Big Ten also had five teams in the poll. The ACC has three, the Big East two and the American and West Coast conferences have one ranked team apiece.

No. 2 USC has best women’s ranking in 39 years

Southern California has its best ranking in 39 years after moving up to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll on Monday.

The Trojans won the Big Ten regular-season title Saturday, beating then-No. 2 UCLA for the second time this year. That victory vaulted USC up two spots for its highest appearance in the poll since the team was second on Jan. 5, 1986. USC garnered six first-place votes from a 31-member national media panel.

“A goal was to come here and bring USC back to what it was at one point,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a phone interview. “Recognition of our history and admiration of the history and its a neat feeling in the present moment.”

Texas remained the top choice after receiving the other 25 first-place ballots. The Longhorns beat Georgia, Mississippi State and Florida last week to wrap up a share of the SEC title with South Carolina.

The Bruins fell to fourth with UConn right in front of them. South Carolina, which won a coin flip to get the top seed in the SEC Tournament, was fifth. Notre Dame dropped three places to six after losing to Florida State last week.

North Carolina State and TCU were seventh and eighth. The Wolfpack shared the ACC regular season crown with Notre Dame while the Horned Frogs won their first Big 12 title after beating Baylor on Sunday.

LSU fell to ninth after the Tigers dropped both their games, losing to then-No. 20 Alabama in overtime and to Ole Miss. The Tigers also will be without star Flau’Jae Johnson for the SEC Tournament as she recovers from shin inflammation.

Oklahoma rounded out the top 10.