Men's ballot breakdown | Louisville rising, Memphis falling

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25 The top 25 teams in The Associated Press mens college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, and total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking.

RK., TEAM REC.

PTS.

PREV.

1.

Auburn (59) 23-2 1,499 1 2.

Florida (1) 22-3 1,387 T-3 3.

Duke 23-3 1,382 T-3 4.

Alabama 21-4 1,335 2 5.

Houston 21-4 1,290 6 6.

Tennessee 21-5 1,147 5 7.

Texas A&M 20-5 1,140 8 8.

Iowa State 20-5 1,034 10 9.

Texas Tech 20-5 969 12 10.

St.

Johns 22-4 933 9 11.

Wisconsin 20-5 879 16 12.

Michigan 20-5 734 20 13.

Purdue 19-7 732 7 14.

Michigan State 20-5 724 11 15.

Missouri 19-6 573 21 16.

Marquette 19-6 527 18 17.

Kentucky 17-8 518 15 18.

Clemson 21-5 499 23 19.

Arizona 17-8 362 13 20.

Maryland 20-6 361 25 21.

Mississippi State 18-7 325 22 22.

Memphis 21-5 308 16 23.

Kansas 17-8 193 17 24.

Mississippi 19-7 177 19 25.

Louisville 20-6 137 NR Others receiving votes: New Mexico 117, Saint Marys 63, UCLA 56, Creighton 27, Illinois 22, Connecticut 20, George Mason 15, Gonzaga 14, High Point.

THE NEWS-GAZETTES TOP 25 Illinois beat writer Scott Richey is in his 10th season as an AP Top 25 voter.

Heres how his 15th regular-season ballot of the 2024-25 season shook out: RK., TEAM PREV.

1.

Auburn 1 2.

Duke 2 3.

Florida 3 4.

Alabama 4 5.

Houston 6 6.

Texas A&M 8 7.

Tennessee 5 8.

St.

Johns 7 9.

Iowa State 10 10.

Texas Tech 12 11.

Wisconsin NR 12.

Michigan 25 13.

Kentucky 17 14.

Mississippi State 15 15.

Maryland 18 16.

Missouri 22 17.

Clemson 24 18.

Michigan State 14 19.

Purdue 9 20.

Memphis 11 21.

Arizona 13 22.

Marquette 21 23.

Mississippi 16 24.

New Mexico NR 25.

Kansas 23 Whos up The most unlikely ranked team this week (and any week, really) is Louisville.

Not because the Cardinals have been overrated.

More because what first-year coach Pat Kelsey has accomplished this season is a borderline miracle.

Kelsey inherited a program that went 12-52 overall and 5-35 in the ACC in two seasons under Kenny Payne.

Now, Louisville has 20 wins for the first time since the 2019-20 season and is back in the AP Top 25 for the third time this season.

All accomplished while dealing with a slew of injuries for an entirely rebuilt team.

Aly Khalifa and Kobe Rodgers are redshirting after both suffered knee injuries at the end of the 2023-24 season.

Kasean Pryor (knee) and Koren Johnson (shoulder) joined them with season-enders suffered in November and December, respectively.

Whos down Memphis had a chance to join the new-look Pac-12 when the now basically abandoned conference reforms in 2026.

The Tigers, like the rest of the AAC teams the Pac-12 targeted, opted to stay put.

Every conference realignment decision is driven by football, but Memphis basketball is paying the price while the university and athletic department wait on an ACC invite thats only going to come if that conference also implodes.

The Tigers took care of business in their nonconference slate with big wins agianst Missouri, Connecticut, Michigan State and Clemson, but AAC play gives them zero margin for error.

Like Sundays overtime loss at Wichita State, which goes down as a Quad III loss and probably cost Memphis a seed line or two in NCAA tournament projections.

Who to watch Michigan State and Purdue have, at one point this season, been on top of the Big Ten standings.

Now both teams, who will meet Tuesday with the No.

14 Spartans hosting the No.

13 Boilermakers (6 p.m., Peacock), are chasing Michigan.

The winner in East Lansing, Mich., will have a better chance to stay in the title race, with Michigan State also getting a crack at the 12th-ranked, league-leading Wolverines on Friday (7 p.m., Fox)..

This article has been shared from the original article on newsgazette, here is the link to the original article.