Gonzaga’s offer for a No. 1 wire-to-wire race continues to grow.
Baylor is still there with the Zags.
Gonzaga received 60 first-place votes from a media panel in the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released on Monday, getting one vote last week. Runner-up Bears received the other four votes for first place in a week of little change.
Gonzaga and Baylor were 1-2 throughout the season.
Michigan, Ohio State and Illinois completed the top five for the second consecutive week. The Buckeyes held on, despite losing 92-87 to the Wolverines on Saturday.
The Zags (22-0, 13-0 West Coast Conference) ran over Saint Mary’s and San Diego last week in their bid to become the first No. 1 strand since Kentucky in 2014-15.
Gonzaga won 26 consecutive games after beating San Diego 106-69 on Saturday and was not really tested, despite playing one of the country’s toughest schedules.
“We are just getting more mature and we understand that just winning these games does not necessarily mean that we will have a guaranteed national championship,” said goalkeeper Andrew Nembhard. “We have to raise our level and continue to improve every day, so that’s what we’ve been trying to do. It’s been kind of demonstrated in our game lately.”
Baylor (17-0, 9-0 Big 12) maintained his position throughout the season at No. 2, despite having three more games postponed due to problems with COVID-19. The Bears haven’t played since defeating Texas on February 2 and had eight games postponed this season.
Baylor is due to play at Iowa State on Tuesday.
High tide
Alabama moved up two places to 6th place this week, its highest ranking since reaching 4th place in 2006-07. Crimson Tide has won three consecutive victories since losing three to No. 24 Missouri.
Alabama is within reach of its first regular season title at the Southeast Conference in 19 years, after struggling to beat Vanderbilt 82-78 on Saturday.
Crimson Tide has 13-1 SEC play, 3½ games ahead of No. 20 Arkansas and LSU. Alabama plays in Arkansas on Wednesday.
Top 10 returns
9th in Iowa and 10th in West Virginia returned to the top 10 this week.
The pre-season number 5 Hawkeyes emerged from the top 10 for the second time this season on February 8, but returned this week thanks to a four-game winning streak. Iowa won No. 23 Wisconsin and Penn State last week.
The Mountaineers spent three weeks in the top 10 before giving up on December 28. West Virginia dropped Texas’s 14th place 84-82 on Saturday, moving up three places in this week’s poll.
Climbing Jayhawks
Kansas is climbing after seeing its AP Top 25 record finish two weeks ago.
The Jayhawks won five consecutive wins, including a six-point win over Texas Tech’s 18th position last week, and moved up six places to 17th in this week’s poll. Kansas returned to the poll last week, after giving up on February 8, ending a period of 231 consecutive weeks in the AP’s Top 25.
Voting movement
No new teams entered or left the poll this week. … No. 11 Florida State had the biggest jump, winning five places after beating Pittsburgh. … No. 12 Houston lost six places to leave the top 10 for the first time since January 11, after losing to Wichita State and beating Cincinnati last week. … No. 15 Virginia fell eight positions after defeats to Duke and Florida State last week. … No. 20 Arkansas has its highest rating since reaching No. 18 in 2014-15 after beating Florida last week.