Ohio State No. 2 in latest AP poll

Associated Press

Duke is back on top of The Associated Press’ college basketball poll for the first time in just over a month. St. John’s is back in the Top 25 for the first time in over a decade.

The Blue Devils (25-2) jumped from fifth to No. 1 on Monday after a week that saw the top four teams in the poll all lose. The move to the top is the biggest since Kansas went from sixth to No. 1 in November 2003, the last time the top four all lost in the same week.

Duke, which was No. 1 in the preseason poll and for the first eight weeks of the regular season, received 35 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel.

Five other teams received first-place votes this week, another indication of the parity this season.

The only change near the bottom of the rankings was that St. John’s (17-9), which beat a top 10 team for the fourth time this season with a win over Pittsburgh on Saturday, moved in at No. 23. The Red Storm were last ranked in November 2000.

Ohio State stayed No. 2 with 10 first-place votes, while Kansas dropped from No. 1 to third with five first-place votes.

Pittsburgh, No. 1 on 12 ballots, stayed fourth and Texas, which got one first-place vote, fell two spots to fifth.

San Diego State, BYU, which had two first-place votes, Purdue, Notre Dame and Arizona rounded out the top 10.

Ohio State followed Duke to No. 1 holding the top spot for four weeks before Kansas took over for one week.

WOMEN’S POLL

Connecticut is back at No. 1.

UConn received 37 of the 40 first-places votes Monday in the women’s college basketball poll by The Associated Press. Second-ranked Stanford got the other three.

The Huskies spent a record 51 straight weeks at No. 1 before their loss to the Cardinal on Dec. 30 dropped them down a spot. Ever since falling to second in the poll on Jan. 3, UConn had been moving closer to Baylor before the Lady Bears lost to Texas Tech on Saturday.

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