Houston retained its No. 1 spot at the top of the final USA Today Coaches Poll ahead of the 2023 NCAA Tournament in updated rankings Monday. The Cougars earned 21 first-place votes -- eight fewer than last week after its AAC Tournament title game loss to Memphis on Sunday -- narrowly edging out Alabama and Purdue following Selection Sunday.
Alabama, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament as revealed by the selection committee on Sunday, earned eight first-place votes and landed at No. 2 in this week's poll, up three spots from last week. The Crimson Tide garnered 759 total points in coming up just shy of Houston's 777. They finished their pre-NCAA Tournament run with an SEC regular season title and on Sunday also clinched the SEC Tournament title.
Purdue, which ranks No. 3 this week, earned two first-place votes after a perfect week in which it clinched the Big Ten Tournament championship to go with its regular-season crown. No. 5 Kansas earned the outstanding first-place vote, while No. 4 Marquette did not earn any. The Golden Eagles won the Big East regular season and Big East Tournament and moved up two spots from its previous season high of No. 6 last week.
Rounding out the top 10 this week is No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Texas, No. 8 Arizona, No. 9 Gonzaga and No. 10 Virginia.
Here is the final Coaches Poll rankings ahead of the NCAA Tournament. First-place votes are in parentheses below.
Coaches Poll Top 25
1. Houston (21)
2. Alabama (8)
3. Purdue (2)
4. Marquette
5. Kansas (1)
6. UCLA
7. Texas
8. Arizona
9. Gonzaga
10. Virginia
11. Baylor
12. UConn
13. Kansas State
14. Xavier
15. Miami
16. Duke
17. Texas A&M
18. San Diego State
T19. Saint Mary's
T19. Indiana
21. Tennessee
22. Creighton
23. TCU
24. Missouri
25. Florida Atlantic
Others receiving votes: Iowa State 47; Kentucky 29; Penn St. 24; Northwestern 23; Providence 21; Oral Roberts 20; Utah St. 14; VCU 9; Maryland 6; Kent St. 6; NC State 5; Memphis 4; Pittsburgh 3; Charleston 3; Michigan St. 1.
