Auburn has risen to No. 1 in The Associated Press men's basketball poll for the second time at the top in program history, while Georgia, another Southeastern Conference program, is in the rankings for the first time in 14 years.
Bruce Pearl's Tigers (15-1) earned 60 of 62 first-place votes to move up one spot Monday after previous No. 1 Tennessee suffered its first loss of the season, falling at Florida, to end a five-week reign at the top. Auburn has been No. 1 only once before in the AP Top 25, during a three-week period in January and February 2022, and is the third team to top the poll this season.
Auburn's only loss came at Duke in early December and the Tigers have won eight straight games, although there is no word on when star forward Johni Broome might be ready to play after suffering an ankle injury in the team's win. Saturday over South Carolina.
The Tigers' rise made them the headliners of another SEC poll, with the league having nine teams in the AP Top 25, including three in the top five and five in the top 10.
Iowa State moved up one spot to No. 2, achieving its highest ranking in program history, followed by Duke, Alabama and Florida. The Blue Devils and Gators each earned a first-place vote.
The top level
The Volunteers (15-1) had been No. 1 since Dec. 9 and were Division I's last undefeated team before a 30-point loss to Florida. They bounced back by beating Texas, but still fell five spots to No. 6.
Marquette was next at No. 7 as the only team to remain in the same spot as last week, followed by Kentucky, preseason No. 1 Kansas and Houston to round out the top 10.
Growing
No. 12 Michigan State and No. 20 Michigan had the biggest jumps of the week, both rising four spots. Florida and No. 17 Purdue were next, moving up three spots.
In total, 15 teams that were ranked last week were promoted in the latest poll.
Falling
While Tennessee's drop was notable, No. 19 Illinois had the biggest drop of the week, dropping six spots after a weekend home loss to USC.
Two-time reigning national champion UConn matched the Volunteers' five-spot drop, ranking 14th after last week's loss at Villanova.
Six teams that were ranked last week dropped in Monday's poll.
Welcome
The No. 23 Georgia Bulldogs, No. 24 Wisconsin and No. 25 Baylor were the additions of the week. And for Georgia it's been a while.
Mike White's Bulldogs (14-2) have their first AP Top 25 ranking since spending a week at No. 24 in January 2011. That single appearance was the only time the program was ranked since the 2002-03 season, but the Bulldogs are After a week that saw wins against then-No. 6 Kentucky and then No. 17 Oklahoma for the program's first consecutive wins against ranked opponents since the season 2006-07.
Both the Badgers and Bears have spent several weeks in the poll this season.
Goodbye (for now)
West Virginia (No. 21) and UCLA (No. 22) joined the Sooners in being left out of this week's poll.
Conference surveillance
The SEC, which had 10 ranked teams on Dec. 23 and Dec. 30, had nine ranked teams for the fifth time this season, including No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 15 Mississippi State and No. 21 Mississippi.
The Big Ten followed with six, followed by the Big 12 with four. The Big East had two, followed by the Atlantic Coast, West Coast, American Athletic and Mountain West conferences with one each.
