Baylor took its first loss of the season on Saturday in a 71-58 defeat on the road to Kansas that left only one undefeated team -- No. 1 Gonzaga -- left standing in college basketball. So on Monday it prompted a substantial shakeup inside the top five of the AP Top 25, with the Bears falling out of the No. 2 spot for the first time all season.
Slotting in at No. 2 in their place is Michigan, which dismantled Indiana on Saturday to claim its seventh consecutive win. The Wolverines (18-1, 13-1 Big Ten) missed nearly a month of action in January and February on a COVID pause, but have won five straight games since their return. They can clinch the Big Ten regular-season title Tuesday against Illinois, which stands in second in the race. And they are already well-positioned to secure a No. 1 seed in Jerry Palm's latest Bracketology.
The No. 2 ranking for Michigan is its highest under coach Juwan Howard and the highest as a program since John Beilein got them to the No. 2 spot in 2019, per data from college basketball reference.
As for Gonzaga, it closed its regular season Saturday with an 86-69 win over Loyola Marymount to complete a wire-to-wire run -- from preseason to the end of its regular season -- as the No. 1 team in the sport. The Bulldogs garnered 59 first-place votes, drawing some lingering votes away from Baylor backers after it lost over the weekend. Baylor dropped to No. 3 and did not receive any first-place votes for the first time all season.
AP Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sunday, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week's ranking:
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gonzaga (59) | 24-0 | 1,571 | 1 |
| 2 | Michigan (4) | 18-1 | 1,512 | 3 |
| 3 | Baylor | 18-1 | 1,450 | 2 |
| 4 | Illinois | 18-6 | 1,350 | 5 |
| 5 | Iowa | 18-7 | 1,266 | 9 |
| 6 | West Virginia | 17-6 | 1,210 | 10 |
| 7 | Ohio State | 18-7 | 1,163 | 4 |
| 8 | Alabama | 19-6 | 1,130 | 6 |
| 9 | Houston | 20-3 | 1,109 | 12 |
| 10 | Villanova | 15-4 | 942 | 8 |
| 11 | Florida State | 14-4 | 897 | 11 |
| 12 | Arkansas | 19-5 | 847 | 20 |
| 13 | Kansas | 18-8 | 785 | 17 |
| 14 | Creighton | 17-6 | 669 | 13 |
| 15 | Texas | 14-7 | 650 | 14 |
| 16 | Oklahoma | 14-7 | 584 | 7 |
| 17 | Oklahoma State | 16-6 | 553 | NR |
| 18 | Texas Tech | 15-8 | 494 | 18 |
| 19 | San Diego State | 19-4 | 406 | 22 |
| 20 | Loyola Chicago | 21-4 | 367 | 21 |
| 21 | Virginia | 15-6 | 362 | 15 |
| 22 | Virginia Tech | 15-5 | 335 | 16 |
| 23 | Purdue | 16-8 | 192 | NR |
| 24 | Colorado | 19-7 | 150 | NR |
| 25 | Wisconsin | 16-9 | 106 | 23 |
Others receiving votes: BYU 101, USC 88, Clemson 47, Florida 24, Tennessee 19, St. Bonaventure 16, Oregon 15, Missouri 13, Wichita State 11, Maryland 9, Toledo 8, Connecticut 5, Belmont 5, Winthrop 4, North Carolina 4, UCLA 2, Louisville 2, UC Santa Barbara 1, Drake 1.