Indiana, Duke and Michigan remained the top three teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll. Look all the way to the bottom and you won't see Kentucky's name for the first time since John Calipari became coach of the Wildcats.
Indiana, which has been No. 1 since the preseason poll, saw its lead over Duke shrink a little bit. The Hoosiers (8-0) received 45 first-place votes Monday from the 65-member national media panel, two fewer than last week.
Duke (8-0) for the second straight week had the other first-place votes. The Blue Devils beat Ohio State last week giving them wins over teams ranked second, third and fourth in a span of 15 days. The other such run was Arizona beating teams ranked first, fourth and fifth from the regional semifinals to the NCAA championship game in 1997, a span of 11 days.
Kentucky (4-3) lost to Notre Dame and Baylor last week, the latter a loss that snapped the Wildcats' 55-game home winning streak, the longest in the nation. Kentucky had been ranked in the last 61 polls, 11 of those weeks at No. 1. The run started with the preseason poll of 2009-10, the start of the Calipari Era when the Wildcats started young lineups which were usually gutted the next season by the NBA draft. The Wildcats won Kentucky's eighth national championship in April then had six players taken in the draft including Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as the first two picks.
Duke has the longest current run in the poll — 101 weeks which started with the preseason poll of 2007-08. Kansas has the second-longest run at 69 weeks.
Syracuse was fourth followed by Louisville, Florida, Ohio State, Arizona, Kansas and Gonzaga.
Colorado (6-1) was the other team to drop out of the rankings, falling from 19th after losing to Wyoming.
Notre Dame (7-1) moved back in to the poll at No. 22 after a two-week absence. Wichita State (8-0), which beat Tulsa and Air Force last week, moved in at No. 24. The Shockers were ranked for the last five weeks of last season.
Cincinnati was ranked 11th followed by Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Georgetown, Creighton, San Diego State, New Mexico, Michigan State and North Carolina.
Oklahoma State, after its first loss of the season on the road against Virginia Tech, fell in both polls. The Cowboys are now No. 22 in the USA Today/ESPN poll and No. 23 in the AP poll
OSU was 15th in the AP poll and 17th in the USA Today/ESPN poll last week.
AP poll
1. Indiana (45) 8-0 1,605 1
2. Duke (20) 8-0 1,577 2
3. Michigan 7-0 1,467 3
4. Syracuse 5-0 1,384 6
5. Louisville 6-1 1,332 5
6. Florida 6-0 1,324 7
7. Ohio St. 5-1 1,254 4
8. Arizona 5-0 1,190 9
9. Kansas 6-1 1,079 10
10. Gonzaga 8-0 1,054 12
11. Cincinnati 7-0 919 17
12. Missouri 6-1 866 16
13. Illinois 8-0 654 22
14. Minnesota 8-1 584 21
15. Georgetown 5-1 545 20
16. Creighton 7-1 469 11
17. San Diego St. 5-1 410 23
18. New Mexico 8-0 402 25
19. Michigan St. 6-2 347 13
20. North Carolina 6-2 321 14
21. UNLV 5-1 285 24
22. Notre Dame 7-1 278 —
23. Oklahoma St. 5-1 263 15
24. Wichita St. 8-0 245 —
25. NC State 4-2 234 18
Others receiving votes: Kentucky 186, Virginia Tech 170, Pittsburgh 164, Oregon 155, Alabama 96, UConn 92, Baylor 49, Colorado 44, Boise St. 22, Butler 18, Maryland 9, Temple 9, Miami 7, Colorado St. 5, Wyoming 5, Murray St. 4, LSU 1, Marquette 1.
USA Today/ESPN poll
1. Indiana (25) 8-0 768 1
2. Duke (6) 8-0 749 2
3. Michigan 7-0 701 3
4. Syracuse 5-0 660 5
5. Florida 6-0 629 7
6. Louisville 6-1 612 6
7. Ohio State 5-1 598 4
8. Arizona 5-0 564 9
9. Kansas 6-1 534 10
10. Gonzaga 8-0 522 12
11. Missouri 6-1 427 15
12. Cincinnati 7-0 415 16
13. Creighton 7-1 299 11
14. Illinois 8-0 283 22
15. San Diego State 5-1 270 21
16. North Carolina 6-2 248 13
17. Michigan State 6-2 222 14
18. UNLV 5-1 210 20
19. Kentucky 4-3 196 8
20. New Mexico 8-0 182 23
21. Minnesota 8-1 149 —
22. Oklahoma State 5-1 122 17
23. Georgetown 5-1 121 25
24. N.C. State 4-2 115 18
25. Notre Dame 7-1 92 —
Others receiving votes: Pittsburgh 89, Wichita State 47, Colorado 41, Oregon 40, UConn 38, Virginia Tech 38, Alabama 27, Baylor 18, Wyoming 9, Kansas State 8, Murray State 7, Butler 6, Miami 5, Mississippi 5, Colorado State 3, Memphis 3, Boise State 2, VCU 1.
