Gonzaga’s bid for a round from wire to number 1 continues to fight.
Baylor is still there with the Zags.
Gonzaga received 60 first-place votes from a media panel in the Associated Press men’s basketball poll, published Monday, with a vote last week. The bears ranked second received the other four votes from the first place in a week of small changes.
Gonzaga and Baylor were 1-2 all season.
Michigan, Ohio and Illinois completed the top five for the second week in a row. The Buckeys held on despite losing 92-87 to Wolverines on Saturday.
The Zags (22-0, 13-0 West Coast Conference) beat Saint Mary’s and San Diego last week in an attempt to become the first wire-to-wire no. 1 from Kentucky in 2014-15.
Gonzaga has won 26 straight games after blowing San Diego 106-69 on Saturday and has not really been tested despite playing one of the toughest programs in the nation.
“We are just getting older and we understand that just winning these games does not necessarily mean that we will get a guaranteed national championship,” said goalkeeper Andrew Nembhard. “We have to raise our level and improve every day, so we tried to do it. It’s been kind of in our game lately.”
Baylor (17-0, 9-0 Big 12) maintained its place throughout the season in 2nd place, despite the fact that it postponed three more games due to COVID-19 problems. The Bears have not played since beating Texas on Feb. 2 and have had eight games postponed this season.
Baylor is scheduled to play Iowa State on Tuesday.
The rising sea
Alabama climbed two places to 6th this week, the highest ranking since reaching 4th in 2006-07. Crimson Tide has won three in a row since losing by three to Missouri’s 24th.
Alabama is on the verge of its first Southeastern Conference regular season title in 19 years, after meeting with Vanderbilt 82-78 on Saturday.
The Crimson Sea is 13-1 in the SEC game, 3½ games ahead of no. 20 Arkansas and LSU. Alabama plays Arkansas on Wednesday.
Top 10 return
No. 9 Iowa and No. 10 West Virginia returned to the top 10 this week.
Hawkeyes, pre-season no. 5, came out of the top 10 for the second time this season on February 8, but moved back this week due to a run of four wins. Iowa defeated No. 23 Wisconsin and Penn State last week.
The Muntenians spent three weeks in the top 10 before giving up on December 28th. West Virginia eliminated Texas No. 14 84-82 on Saturday to climb three places in this week’s poll.
Jayhawks go up
Kansas climbs after seeing its record in the AP Top 25 ranking two weeks ago.
The Jayhawks won five in a row, including a six-point win over Texas Tech No. 18 last week and climbed six places to 17th in this week’s poll. Kansas returned to the polls last week after giving up Feb. 8, ending a 231-week span in the Top 25 AP.
Survey movement
No new teams entered or left the poll this week. … Nr. 11 Florida State had the biggest jump, winning five places after beating Pittsburgh. … No. 12 Houston lost six places to exit the top 10 for the first time since Jan. 11 after losing to Wichita and defeating Cincinnati last week. … No. 15 Virginia dropped eight places after losing to Duke and Florida State last week. … Nr. 20 Arkansas has the highest ranking since finishing 18th in 2014-15 after beating Florida last week.