Gonzaga returned to familiar territory on Monday, capturing the No. 1 ranking in the first Associated Press Top 25 poll of the season.
The Bulldogs, who were No. 1 in the preseason poll, grabbed 55 of 61 first-place votes to take the top spot. They held that spot wire-to-wire last season before falling to Baylor in the national championship game.
Earning the other six first-place votes was No. 2 UCLA, which won an early season Top 5 matchup against then-No. 4 Villanova, which fell one spot from the preseason ranking.
Rounding out the top five were No. 3 Kansas and No. 4 Michigan. The first four teams all stand at 2-0, with Villanova at 1-1.
Purdue (2-0) moved up a spot to No. 6, followed by Duke (3-0), Texas (1-1), Baylor (1-0) and Illinois (2-0).
Duke, in the first week of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 42nd and final season with the Blue Devils, climbed two spots. They were just one of two teams from the traditionally strong Atlantic Coast Conference to make the season’s first Top 25, joined by No. 18 North Carolina.
In all, the SEC led the way with six Top 25 teams, followed by the Big Ten (five) and Big 12 and Pac-12 (three). The ACC was joined by the Big East and American Athletic Conference with two teams each, while the West Coast Conference and Atlantic 10 had one apiece.
Texas, with an 86-74 loss to Gonzaga, fell three spots, as did Kentucky, which dropped the season opener to Duke.
Joining the Top 25 was No. 24 Florida, which topped Florida State 71-55. Southern California moved in at No. 25 with wins over Cal State Northridge and Temple.
The loss to Florida sent then-No. 20 Florida State out of the poll. A second ACC team, Virginia, tumbled out of the Top 25 with a 66-58 loss to Navy.
–Field Level Media