Kansas strengthened its grip on No. 1 in the AP Top 25 but the rest of the top 10 turned into a jumble of teams swapping places.
The Jayhawks picked up five first-place votes in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, receiving 49 from a 61-person media panel. No. 2 UConn had seven first-place votes, No. 3 Gonzaga earned two and No. 4 Auburn three. Iowa State climbed two spots to round out the top five.
The shuffling started with No. 8 Alabama’s 87-78 loss to No. 6 Purdue, a game that dropped the Crimson Tide six spots and bumped the Boilermakers up seven. Losses by Duke and Arizona shook up the top 10 further.
The No. 12 Blue Devils dropped six spots from last week after their 77-72 loss to No. 9 Kentucky. The Wildcats climbed 10 spots for their first top-10 ranking this season. Arizona lost 103-88 at No. 19 Wisconsin and fell eight spots to No. 17. The Badgers are ranked for the first time this season.
Kansas backed up its win over North Carolina in the season’s opening week by beating Michigan State and Oakland last week.
Top 12 remains unchanged in AP Women’s Poll >> No. 19 TCU entered The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll with its best ranking in 16 years while the first 12 teams, led by No. 1 South Carolina, were unchanged.
The Gamecocks remained the unanimous No. 1 team, receiving all 31 first-place votes from a national media panel. They routed their two opponents last week by an average of 36.5 points. South Carolina visits No. 5 UCLA on Sunday.
No. 2 UConn, No. 3 USC and No. 4 Texas followed South Carolina. No. 6 Notre Dame heads west to play the Trojans in a top-10 clash on Saturday. LSU, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Kansas State round out the first 10.
NBA
‘Inside the NBA’ will air on ESPN and ABC >> “Inside the NBA” will continue, even though games will no longer be airing on TNT at the end of this season.
The popular studio show will appear on ESPN and ABC beginning next season as part of a settlement between Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA.
Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT Sports, sued the NBA in New York state court in August after the league did not accept the company’s matching offer for one of the packages in its new 11-year media rights deal, which will begin with the 2025-26 season.
Lakers to give Pat Riley his own statue >> The Lakers announced that they have commissioned a statue to stand in Star Plaza immortalizing Pat Riley, who won four championships with the “Showtime” Lakers of the 1980s. Riley also won championship rings with the Lakers as a player and an assistant coach.